If your laptop's battery won't hold a charge, has low autonomy, or the charging cable isn't working, you may be able to fix it yourself by trying some of these solutions from our in-house tech experts.
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Tips to preserve your battery life
Check your charger
You may come across charging issues (slow charge, discharge, no charge) when you use a charger that didn't come with your device. That's why it's important to always use the charger that initially came with your laptop.
Your laptop may not be charging because:
- The charger isn’t compatible with your laptop.
- The charger isn’t powerful enough.
- The charger is not plugged into the port.
- The charging cable doesn’t have the power requirements for the charger or laptop.
Try these tips to fix it:
- Use the charger and cable that came with your laptop.
- Check that your charger is securely connected to the charging port on your device.
- To optimize the charge, charge your laptop when it's turned off.
Tips to preserve your battery life
Battery saver
You can activate this option to avoid losing battery due to apps you're not currently using. Battery saver will automatically turn off the identified applications.
To run this option, go to “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Power & battery”.
- If you want it to run each time the battery goes down to a defined level:
- Select “Battery saver” and choose the level you want.
- If you want it to run now and leave it on until you charge your laptop:
- Select “Turn on now” next to “Battery saver”.
- → For Windows 10: Turn on “Battery saver status until next charge”.
Display settings
- Reduce the duration time of an active display:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Power & battery” > “Screen and sleep”.
- Choose a shorter duration at step “On battery power” > “Turn off my screen after”.
- Reduce the brightness:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Display” > “Brightness”.
- Remove “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes” or “Help improve battery by optimizing the content shown and brightness box”, and then choose your preferred brightness level.
- Reduce the screen refresh rate:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Display” > “Advanced display” and then select a lower rate in “Choose a refresh rate”.
- Use a dark wallpaper:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “Personalization” > “Background” and choose something dark for your desktop wallpaper.
- Use a dark theme:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “Personalization” > “Themes” > “Current theme” and choose a dark theme.
Reduce the duration time of an active display | Reduce the brightness |
Use a dark theme | Use a dark wallpaper |
Power settings
- Allow Windows to change the settings itself:
- Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Troubleshoot” > “Other troubleshooters” then select “Run” next to “Power”.
- Select a shorter duration time for sleep mode:
- Select “Start” > “Settings” > “System” > “Power & battery” > “Screen and sleep”.
- In “On battery power” select “My device to sleep after" > "Choose a shorter duration”.
- To activate sleep mode by closing the laptop lid:
- Type "control panel" in the search bar and select it in the results.
- In the “Control Panel” menu, select “Power options” > “Choose what closing the lid does”.
- Press the power button:
- Most devices will allow you to turn off your display by pressing the power button.
- To activate this feature type "control panel" in the search bar and select it in the results.
- In the “Control Panel” menu, select “Power options” > “Choose what the power buttons do".
More tips
- Keep your laptop plugged in until it’s fully charged, then remove it from the charger.
- Restart your laptop — this can sometimes fix problems that can shorten battery life.
- Turn on Airplane Mode when you don’t need the Internet or Bluetooth.
Check your battery health
How to take care of your battery in Windows
Windows 11
The most common batteries used for laptops are lithium-ion. When you understand how they function, you'll be able to get the most out of your device and preserve its battery!
- After your battery is discharged and charged (normal use), the capacity of the cells in your battery reduces over time.
- When you're using your laptop, ensure that the battery gets below 50% before charging it again — it’s one way to slow its deterioration.
Tips to maximize your battery health
As with all batteries, lithium-ion cells deteriorate over time with normal use. That's why we put together this list of useful tips for preserving battery life:
- Rather than using your laptop for short periods of time while it’s connected to the charger, make sure that the battery level stays between 20% and 80%.
- If your laptop has the “Smart charging” feature, turn it on — it’s a really useful tool.
- Avoid using your laptop (including charging) when it's exposed to high temperatures.
- Avoid closing your laptop fully charged or fully discharged — the trick is to keep it between 20%-80% as much as possible.
- If your notice that your laptop's battery has expanded and is clearly visible from its mechanical shell, stop using it and contact Back Market Customer Care by logging in to your account, going to “My orders” and clicking on “Ask for help”.
Get your battery report in Windows 11
You can also get more information about your battery usage and its remaining capacity in Windows 11:
- Click “Search” on your taskbar, type “Command prompt” right-click (or press and hold) “Command prompt” > “Run as administrator” then select “Yes”.
- Once in the command prompt, type “powercfg/batteryreport” and select “Enter” — your battery report is an HTML file kept in a folder on your laptop (the "Command Prompt" window will tell you where it is located).
- Open the “File Explorer”, browse the file where the report is located, and then double-click the HTML file of your report so it can show on your web browser — look for “Battery usage”, “The installed battery”, and your “Recent usage”.