Do you have a Lenovo laptop that does not detect the battery? You have plugged it in but nothing happens except an error in detecting the battery. And because the battery is not detected, your device will not charge.
The battery is a crucial part of your Lenovo laptop as it allows you to take it on the road. It allows you to use your laptop anywhere. You can access emails, work, or watch videos while you are at your favorite cafe or on a plane for example. So getting an error such as “battery not detected” is not ideal.
Luckily, there are ways to solve this issue and it doesn’t have to mean that you need either a replacement laptop battery or a new laptop. There are different reasons why the battery is not detected and therefore there are different solutions you can try. In this article, we share these solutions with you.
So, read on to find out how to solve the problem of the Lenovo battery not being detected.
Table of Contents
Examples of Battery-Related Errors
There are different messages regarding battery errors, depending on the version of Windows you have on your Lenovo laptop. They can appear as warning pop-ups in the center of your screen or as small text alerts at the bottom of the screen where the battery icon is located. Examples of error messages include:
- Battery not present / No battery present
- No battery detected / The battery is not detected
- Consider replacing your battery
What Causes The Error Messages?
It is not always easy to determine the cause behind the error message. Often they are triggered by an out-of-date driver or software, overheating, or damaged battery or laptop hardware.
The easiest thing to do is to work through the solutions one by one. When you find the solution, you probably find the cause too.
How to Fix Lenovo Not Detecting a Battery
As we mentioned, there are several reasons why this can happen. Below, you will find different solutions to try. You can start with the top solution and work your way through them until you find the one that works for you.
1. Restart Your Lenovo Laptop
While this may sound overly simple, sometimes it is all that is needed. Especially, if you have not shut your laptop down properly for a while. Laptops, like other computers, need to be shut down completely from time to time to allow updates to take place.
So if you keep your laptop in hibernation mode when you are not using it rather than shutting it down every time, try restarting it and see what happens.
2. Let Your Battery Cool Down
An overheated battery may sometimes trigger the battery not detected error message. If the battery feels hot, simply let your PC cool down. When the battery has cooled down, try plugging the battery charger in again.
3. Clean the Battery Compartment
A build-up of dust and dirt in the battery compartment can prevent the battery from being detected. Clean the compartment and then plug in the charger to see if the problem is solved.
4. Check Your Hardware
If your Lenovo laptop will not charge when you have plugged it into a power outlet, and the above suggestions provided no results, troubleshoot your laptop for a hardware issue. This will detect any issues in the hardware.
Check your power cable for signs of damage. If the cable or the plug is damaged, it will not transfer the charge from the power outlet to your computer. Next, check the AC adapter. If the adapter is faulty, it will stop your Lenovo battery from charging. Try a different AC adapter to see if the laptop will charge.
5. Power Reset
If all the hardware seems to be in working order, try resetting your Lenovo. This method often solves the battery-not-detected issue. Shut down the laptop first and then unplug the charger. Next, remove the battery from the laptop. While the battery is out, press and hold the power button for thirty seconds. Release the power button.
Insert the battery back in its place and plug the charger into the laptop. Turn on the computer and check if it is now charging.
6. Battery Driver Update
Even though resetting the power works for many, it does not work for all. The next method you can try is updating an outdated battery driver. If you have an out-of-date or missing battery driver, this would cause you to get the “plugged, not charging” error message.
How do you update your battery driver? You will need to go to the manufacturer’s website. From there, you will be able to download the latest version of the battery driver on your laptop. Once it has been downloaded, you can install it.
Your other option is to use Driver Easy, which is a good option if you are not sure which system your laptop is running. It is a program that will automatically identify and find the correct driver for your laptop. Using Driver Easy means that you won’t accidentally download and install the wrong driver for your Lenovo.
7. BIOS Update
The next fix you can try is to update your Basic Input Output System, BIOS for short. This software is stored on your computer’s Motherboard on a small memory chip. The BIOS can be used to troubleshoot and identify hardware issues on a computer. If there is an issue with the BIOS firmware, your laptop may not detect the battery.
To solve this issue, update the BIOS on your device. Head to the Lenovo support page and use the system to detect your computer. On the product page, find Driver & Software and then BIOS. Now you can follow the on-screen instructions to update BIOS. When finished, plug your charger in again to see if the problem has been solved.
Note that you should back the data on your device before you update BIOS. Otherwise, if an error were to occur while you are updating BIOS, you could lose the data.
8. Windows Update
You need to keep the operating system on your laptop up-to-date because it helps to keep the hardware and software running as expected. The update can also scan your device for problems such as a battery not being detected, and fix them.
To check for updates, click on the Start menu from the control panel and choose Settings, Updates & Security. Click Windows Update and then Check for Updates.
Replacing Faulty Lenovo Laptop Battery
If you have tried all of the above and the issue remains, you may need to replace the battery, the charger, or even the laptop, depending on how long you have had it.
If your laptop is still under warranty, replacements should not cost you anything. You can look up your warranty details on Lenovo’s site. Alternatively, you can take it back to the store where you bought it or contact customer services. You will need to give customer services the serial number of your laptop.
How to Keep Your Lenovo Battery Healthy
You can avoid issues with the battery, by taking certain steps to protect its health. You can change your battery and laptop settings to help preserve battery power. For example, turning off lights on a backlit keyboard or limiting connected devices can reduce the drain on the battery.
When you are not using your laptop, put it in hibernation mode. This is better than Sleep or Standby Mode as it saves information to the hard disk rather than RAM and it will not use any power until you turn it back on. However, if you know you will not need to use your laptop for a while, it is best to shut it down properly.
If you use your laptop for activities such as streaming or gaming, close them when you are not using them. Otherwise, when they are open in the background, they will continue using the battery.
Keep your laptop up-to-date by checking for updates routinely. Keeping all the systems updated will help your laptop run as well as possible and reduce the consumption of the battery. This is good practice anyway as outdated software can be a threat to the overall health of your laptop.
Conclusion
While nobody wants to see the message “battery not detected” on their laptop, it is not necessarily an issue that requires you to replace your battery or other parts of your laptop. There are multiple reasons and multiple solutions to the problem and most of the time it is quickly fixed.
For a recap on Lenovo battery issues, we can recommend this video from PC Monkey.
We hope one of the solutions we shared in this article solved the battery issue on your Lenovo computer. If you would like to ask us anything else about Lenovo batteries, you can write your questions in the comments section.