TIL about a weird fix for a laptop that wouldn't charge past 80%

Had a client's Dell laptop that would just stop charging at 80% no matter what. The choice was between replacing the whole battery or trying a firmware update from Dell's support site that I'd never heard of before. I went with the firmware update, which took about 15 minutes, and it actually worked perfectly. Has anyone else run into this kind of weird battery limit issue with other brands?

2 comments

2 Comments

robertgreen6d ago

Ever try a power drain? My old HP did the same thing and holding the power button down with the battery out for a minute fixed it. What brand was giving you trouble?

king.stella6d ago

Yeah, power drains can be weirdly effective for stuff like that. I saw a tech forum post once where @robertgreen's method worked for a bunch of people with stuck laptops. Makes you wonder what kind of charge gets stuck in there, lol.