New battery charging only up to 96%

[Rigo]

HP Pavilion 11-N008TU x360 - cheap laptop
Replaced the battery with a brand new genuine one but it will not charge past 96% so that I can't do calibration.
Strange thing it's only charging intermittently, the charging drops out, for a brief moment, 5 to 10 seconds and then comes back. When the drop happens the screen dims down briefly so it creates some kind of annoying blinking effect.
Have upgraded the BIOS, no joy.
Have tried different adapters no joy.
Tried the hard reset thing no joy.
Runs ok on battery only.
Runs ok on charger only.
Battery diagnostic will not complete with the charger plugged in.
With charger off diagnostics say battery is fine but needs to be calibrated.
Win10 and drivers all up-to-date.
Worrying thing, charging stops even when shutdown and lid closed.
Is it the battery?
Is it the motherboard?
Job is already paid for by customer at heavy discount as this is a cheap lapy but with the time spent on a simple job this is now turning into a losing challenge.
Thanks folks for any contribution

 

[tek9]

Did you try discharging the battery and charging it back up again? I know some laptops (Lenovo, specifically) have a feature where it won't charge above 95% if the battery is at 95% when you plug it in. The battery needs to be discharged to below that threshold before it'll charge again and go to 100%.

 

[Diggs]

I think this is typical behavior for a laptop battery (LiIo). You don't keep these cells at 100%. They get cycled on and off near their peak but are reported at 100%. The power plan is unique to each laptop but the further away from 100% the battery stays the longer it will last.

The dimming should be able to be controlled through Power Settings (or Advanced Power Settings).

 

[sapphirescales]

This happened to me a few days back when I ordered a "genuine" HP battery off eBay. Surprise, surprise, the thing was a Chinese counterfeit. Open a case against the seller and buy from someone else. You likely got scammed. It's NOT "normal" for a laptop battery to cause the laptop to constantly disconnect from power. Yes, sometimes you get a battery that won't charge all the way to 100% but under NO circumstances should the battery cause the computer to go from battery power to AC power intermittently unless it's a defective piece of crap or if you have an issue with the motherboard/jack. If the computer runs fine on AC without intermittently powering off then it's likely a battery problem.

 

[SlickMinnow]

With charger off diagnostics say battery is fine but needs to be calibrated.

Have you actually tried a recalibration?

 

[Rigo]

Did you try discharging the battery and charging it back up again? I know some laptops (Lenovo, specifically) have a feature where it won't charge above 95% if the battery is at 95% when you plug it in. The battery needs to be discharged to below that threshold before it'll charge again and go to 100%.

This model hasn't got the option to run memtest till dead in the UEFI diagnostics, only short 12min tests. So after replacing the battery I booted MemTest86+ from USB to drain the battery.
On recharging, when I noticed it was intermittently disconnecting from AC, I applied the latest BIOS which made the USB drive unavailable as boot option now. Can't revert to previous BIOS version as I made the mistake not to back it up first and HP doesn't list older versions for download. Well, I couldn't find
I've reset the secure boot keys, enabled/disabled CSM no joy.
So draining it now is gonna be painful

 

[Rigo]

I think this is typical behavior for a laptop battery (LiIo). You don't keep these cells at 100%. They get cycled on and off near their peak but are reported at 100%. The power plan is unique to each laptop but the further away from 100% the battery stays the longer it will last.

The dimming should be able to be controlled through Power Settings (or Advanced Power Settings).

The calibration procedure says to make sure it say 100% before running it.
For the dimming I've indeed setup High Performance and everything on highest and never depending on options, still happens when the charger drops off

 

[Rigo]

This happened to me a few days back when I ordered a "genuine" HP battery off eBay. Surprise, surprise, the thing was a Chinese counterfeit. Open a case against the seller and buy from someone else. You likely got scammed. It's NOT "normal" for a laptop battery to cause the laptop to constantly disconnect from power. Yes, sometimes you get a battery that won't charge all the way to 100% but under NO circumstances should the battery cause the computer to go from battery power to AC power intermittently unless it's a defective piece of crap or if you have an issue with the motherboard/jack. If the computer runs fine on AC without intermittently powering off then it's likely a battery problem.

Yes it's indeed from eBay but I've been buying from this particular seller so I have some confidence in his stuff.
On battery only the laptop runs fine with no dimming, same as on AC only with the battery disconnected.
So it could still be a battery problem as you suggest, I'd have to order another one to confirm that.

 

[Rigo]

Have you actually tried a recalibration?

As the procedure states to make sure the battery says 100% I haven't tried

 

[Pork Chop]

Perhaps your experiencing the Windows 10 bug that I am experiencing.

Got a 2020 MSI gaming laptop. Battery is always at 9X%. Right now it's stuck at 94%. Recently it was stuck at 96%. Sometimes I see it at 100%.

I have seen this issue on other laptops, too.

 

[SlickMinnow]

As the procedure states to make sure the battery says 100% I haven't tried

I wonder how it would act if you considered the current 96% to be 100% for the cal. Just a thought. Also, have you run a Battery Report (powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html") ? Curious what the current full charge capacity is vs the design capacity. May point you in a direction. I've also run up against some 'hidden' throttling in Windows charging as opposed to charging from within the uefi. In a recent case for me I had an Alienware laptop charging to 60% in Windows. I could make it charge to 100% while booted to uefi and letting it sit there plugged in. I stumbled on a preinstalled utility that capped the charge at 60% for day to day use (in order to preserve battery cycle life). Hope that helps some. This one's tough without another battery or two to just slap in there to compare...

 

[sapphirescales]

Yes it's indeed from eBay but I've been buying from this particular seller so I have some confidence in his stuff.

The counterfeits are getting better and better by the day. You know how you can tell for 100% certain? Try to peel the sticker off the battery. If it peels easily and is really thin then it's a knockoff. The Chinese cheap out on absolutely everything, including their stickers. If it's one of those thin battery packs then look at the printing under high magnification (either a really strong magnifying glass or a microscope). The knockoff will have noticeably lower quality print. You can also try to see if there's a weight difference. I've never tried this but I've heard that the knockoff batteries are 5-10% lighter. It's not really possible to tell just by feeling them. You need an accurate scale.

EDIT: Of course, it's also possible that the battery is genuine but it's defective. If it's older and hasn't been stored properly then that might be why it's messed up. There should be a manufacture date on the battery. If there isn't then that's another sign that it's probably counterfeit.

 

[Markverhyden]

Some linux distro's, Mint comes to mind, may report battery charge. Try booting from a distro on a USB stick.

 

[Rigo]

I could make it charge to 100% while booted to uefi and letting it sit there plugged in.

Just tried that and still charging intermittently in UEFI as well

 

[Rigo]

Try booting from a distro on a USB stick

Won't be able to do that as since updating the BIOS it no longer detects USB in UEFI for boot selection

 

[Rigo]

You can also try to see if there's a weight difference. I've never tried this but I've heard that the knockoff batteries are 5-10% lighter. It's not really possible to tell just by feeling them. You need an accurate scale.

I've got a 2 decimals scale (for my expresso shots ), will give it a shot as I still have the original.

 

[sapphirescales]

I've got a 2 decimals scale (for my expresso shots ), will give it a shot as I still have the original.

Report back, please! I've never tried this myself so I have no idea if it's true, but other people online say there's a measurable weight difference. Might be worth me investing in a scale as these counterfeiters are getting better and better. The guy you bought the battery from might not even be aware it's counterfeit.

 

[Markverhyden]

Won't be able to do that as since updating the BIOS it no longer detects USB in UEFI for boot selection

Can't flip to Legacy/MBR?

 

[Rigo]

I wonder how it would act if you considered the current 96% to be 100% for the cal. Just a thought. Also, have you run a Battery Report (powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html") ? Curious what the current full charge capacity is vs the design capacity. May point you in a direction. I've also run up against some 'hidden' throttling in Windows charging as opposed to charging from within the uefi. In a recent case for me I had an Alienware laptop charging to 60% in Windows. I could make it charge to 100% while booted to uefi and letting it sit there plugged in. I stumbled on a preinstalled utility that capped the charge at 60% for day to day use (in order to preserve battery cycle life). Hope that helps some. This one's tough without another battery or two to just slap in there to compare...

Done the battery report as attached, not sure what I'm looking for?

 

[Rigo]

Can't flip to Legacy/MBR?

Yes I can but it makes no difference in detecting the USB stick.
Gonna try a USB DVD drive