When need this service:

Generally, laptop batteries become problematic after 3~5 years or 500~700 charge cycles. If your laptop is older, your battery has likely been living on borrowed time and is ready to be replaced.  Here are signs It’s Time to Get Your Laptop a New Battery.

Little Use Time

One of the most obvious signs it may be time to reassess your laptop battery is if it dies much sooner than it used to. On average, a full charge should produce about six hours of power or longer depending on the programs used. If your laptop is barely making it past a couple hours, it’s likely a sign the battery needs replacing.

Unexpected Power Issues

While the occasional glitch may not always signify battery issues, be sure to make a note of how often your laptop powers down on you. If your Mac or PC powers off unexpectedly, and especially after a recent charge, you can likely assume a faulty battery is the cause. Try charging your laptop again, but if the problem persists your battery may be out of juice permanently.

Slow Charge

In addition to issues stemming from charging, it may also be a warning sign if your laptop charges exceptionally slowly. A healthy laptop battery will charge quickly and retain its power when disconnected from the charger. If your laptop is charging at a snail’s pace, you may need to replace your laptop battery.

Overheating

All laptops are designed to cool themselves during use and dispel excess heat. If you notice your laptop is hot to the touch, your battery is likely working too hard and unable to cool itself. Often, an excessively hot laptop will also be noisy since the internal fans are working overtime to cool the gadget. NOTE: Always unplug your laptop and stop use if the machine is overheating to avoid further damage.

System Report

In addition to performance issues, most laptops are already equipped with technology to check their overall health. For Mac users, expect to receive a battery service warning when service is needed. For Windows users, consider generating a battery report to check your battery’s health. Depending on the messages from your laptop, you can easily determine whether it’s time to replace your laptop battery.

Useful tech hints:

HP Notebook PCs – Testing and calibrating the battery (Windows)

The capacity of a battery changes over time. To know the condition of your battery, test and calibrate your battery if necessary.

Because of this change in battery capacity, the charge level indicator in Windows might not show 100% charged. To know the condition of your battery, test your battery and calibrate it if necessary. Calibrating the battery resets the battery gauge to accurately display the charge level in Windows. In this document, two methods of testing and calibrating the battery are explained. Also, a manual method for calibrating the battery is presented.

HP provides diagnostic software you can use to test hardware components on your computer and confirm hardware failures. The Battery Test checks your system to make sure the battery is functioning properly.

Depending on which version of Windows or HP PC Hardware Diagnostics you are using, the information and graphics in this procedure might vary slightly.

Turn on the computer, press “Esc” or “F11” (depends on the model) to open HP PC Hardware Diagnostics Windows.

In the list of Component Tests, click Power.

Select Battery Check, and then click Run once.

Wait while the test is in progress. The Battery Test takes about two minutes.

Select Test Logs to see the results of the battery test.

Check the following for suggested actions, and then write down the battery status and Failure ID. Keep the battery status and Failure ID so you have them available if you need to contact Pro Computer.

The information in the table is also available in the Test Logs section on the main menu.

Dell Laptop PC – How to Check Battery Health Status

Method 1

1. Turn on the computer and tap F2 key at the Dell logo screen.
2. On the left pane, under General, select Battery Information.
3. Verify the battery health information as illustrated (Figure 1).

Method 2

Check Battery Health Status in Diagnostics

SupportAssist, ePSA, or PSA preboot computer assessment diagnostic test can help identify a potential battery failure.

1. Power on the computer and tap F12 key at the Dell logo screen.
2. In the One Time Boot Menu, select Diagnostics, and press the Enter key.
3. In the Preboot diagnostics, respond to the user prompts appropriately.
4. Review the test results for battery.

Apple Mac notebook Check the condition of battery

To view your battery’s condition, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Battery  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

Look at Battery Health on the right. You may see any of the following conditions:

• Normal: The battery is functioning normally.
• Service recommended: The battery is performing normally, but its ability to hold a charge is less than when it was new. You may want to consider replacing the battery.

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