Laptop charging but not increasing battery charged percentage

Question

My HP Probook 4530s (Windows) can charge when it is shut down but cannot increase the battery charged percentage while charging when it is on (although it shows that the charger is plugged in and charging).

Why is this happening and how I can make it show the current battery charged percentage again?

Answer 1

HPs, similar to Dell, often use a third wire communication with the power adapter. That allows the computer to know what size power adapter is plugged in.

Your problem could be one of two problems. The power adapter could be bad. In which case, just try another one. Or, your motherboard could be damaged. If that is that is the case, it’s probably the power jack.

The easiest thing to try here is a different power adapter. You might also be able to go into BIOS setup and it might tell you if it recognizes the power adapter or not. I think HP is a bit more limited in this regard though. Tapping F10 during power on usually gets you in to BIOS setup for HP.

Whatever it is, either the power adapter or motherboard is not delivering enough power to charge the battery when the computer is on.

There is an off chance the battery is just bad and taking too much power to charge. But I really think this sounds unlikely with your description. You’ve indicated the battery charges when the power is off, and I am assuming it runs on battery properly with a reasonable amount of run time.

Answer 2

Let your laptop running until it's only at a few percent left, and then charge it. Let it charge for a while (maybe half an hour) while it's turned on. If you unplug your charger after some time and if the battery percentage is correct, it should shut down within a minute or so. If this happens, the problem can be your battery. If it stays on for quite a while, even when it's at a few percent, the problem will be where this percentage is calculated.

In any case, this problem seems to be hardware related, and it's best to let somebody look at it that has some expertise.