Why Is My Laptop Not Charging When Plugged In?

Quick answer: what to check first

Work from the wall to the laptop. Most people start with the battery because it is the part they have heard of, but the battery is usually the last thing that fails in the chain.

1. Try a different wall socket, and plug the charger in directly, not through an extension or surge protector.
2. Check that the charger brick is fully plugged into its own mains lead, and that the lead is firmly in the brick.
3. Look at the charging light on the laptop or the plug end, and feel whether the brick is slightly warm.
4. Inspect the cable and the plug tip for kinks, splits, burn marks or bent pins.
5. Do a power reset (steps below), then restart.
6. Check the Windows battery driver and any charge-limit setting.
7. Only then suspect the battery or the charging port.

If you only have ten minutes, do steps 1, 2 and 5. Those three fix a surprising number of cases.

Why is my laptop plugged in but not charging?

The charging path has four parts, and a fault in any one looks the same from the outside: the power source, the charger, the laptop's charging port and board, and the battery.

• Power source: a dead socket, a worn extension, a tripped surge protector, or unstable supply after a power cut.
• Charger: internal failure of the brick, a damaged cable (usually near the plug ends), or the wrong charger for the laptop.
• Laptop side: a loose or dirty charging port, a broken solder joint on the port, or a fault in the charging circuit on the motherboard.
• Battery and software: a worn-out battery, a corrupted battery driver, a charge-limit setting, or a BIOS quirk.

The aim of the checks below is to find which of the four you are dealing with, cheapest and easiest first.

Step 1: Test the power source

Power in many homes and offices is unstable, so rule this out before anything else.

1. Unplug the charger and plug in something you know works, such as a phone charger or lamp, in the same socket. If that does not work either, the socket or extension is the problem.
2. Plug the laptop charger straight into a wall socket. Extension boards and cheap surge protectors often fail quietly and can carry power that is too weak or flickering for a laptop charger.
3. If the supply has just come back after a power cut, wait a minute and plug in again. Some chargers and protectors need a short pause to reset.
4. Try another room if you can. A bad wiring point is rare but it happens.

If the charger works at another socket, you have found it. Use a good-quality surge protector or power strip for the laptop from now on, since voltage spikes when the supply returns are one of the commonest ways chargers and boards get damaged.

Step 2: Check the charger and cable

Chargers are the most common failure and the cheapest to replace, so test them carefully.

What to look and feel for

• Frayed, kinked or flattened sections of cable, especially within a few centimetres of the brick and the plug end.
• A plug tip that is bent, discoloured or has a burnt smell.
• A brick that is completely cold, which can suggest no output, or one that is too hot to hold, which suggests it is failing. Slightly warm is normal.
• A light on the brick or the plug end, if your model has one. No light with the mains lead connected usually means the charger is dead.

Wiggle test, done gently

With the laptop on and the charging icon visible in the taskbar, flex the cable gently near the plug end. If charging keeps starting and stopping, the cable is breaking internally. Do not keep doing this; it damages the port.

Try a known good charger

If a friend has the same laptop model, borrow their charger for a minute. This is the single most useful test because it separates the charger from everything else. Only use one that matches your laptop: same connector, same voltage, and the same or higher wattage. A lower wattage charger may run the laptop but charge slowly or not at all.

For USB-C laptops, also try a different USB-C cable and plug into a different USB-C port if the laptop has more than one marked for charging. Many cables are for data and low power only and cannot supply what a laptop needs.

Step 3: Look at the charging port

The port takes a lot of abuse from pulling, tripping over the cable and carrying the laptop with the charger attached.

1. Switch the laptop off and unplug everything.
2. Shine a torch into the port. Look for lint, dust, a bent centre pin, or a plug that sits loosely in the socket.
3. If you see lint, remove it with a wooden toothpick or a soft plastic tool, gently, and never a metal pin on the central contact.
4. Plug in the charger. It should click or sit firmly with no wobble. If you can move the plug up and down by more than a tiny amount, the port is worn or its mounting has cracked.

A loose port is a repair job. Continuing to use it at an angle that makes it charge tends to crack the board around the port, which turns a small repair into a bigger one. If you have to hold the plug in a certain position to charge, treat that as a warning, not a workaround.

Step 4: Do a power reset

A power reset clears small electronic glitches that can stop a laptop recognising its charger. It is safe and often works.

Laptop with a removable battery

1. Shut down, unplug the charger, and remove the battery.
2. Hold the power button for 30 seconds, then release.
3. Put the battery back, connect the charger, and power on.

Laptop with a built-in battery (most modern ones)

1. Shut down fully, using Shut down and not Restart. Unplug the charger and any USB devices, memory cards and adaptors.
2. Hold the power button for 30 to 40 seconds. Nothing will seem to happen. That is normal.
3. Plug in the charger only, wait a minute, then press the power button.

Some makes have a tiny reset hole on the underside, which you press with a straightened paperclip. Check your model's manual before using it. Do not open the laptop to disconnect the battery unless you know exactly how; leave that to a technician.

Step 5: Fix Windows battery and charging settings

If the charger is fine and the light comes on but Windows says 'plugged in, not charging', the cause may be software.

Reinstall the battery driver

1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
2. Expand Batteries. You should see 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery' and often an AC adapter entry.
3. Right-click the battery entry and choose Uninstall device. Do not tick any option to delete driver software if one appears.
4. Shut down, unplug the charger, wait 30 seconds, plug back in and start the laptop. Windows reinstalls the driver automatically.

Check for a charge limit

Many brands include a battery care or conservation mode in their own app (for example in the manufacturer's settings or support app on your laptop) or in the BIOS setup. When on, it deliberately stops charging at a percentage below full. Look for words like Battery Care, Conservation Mode, Battery Health or Charge Limit, and turn it off if you want a full charge.

Install updates

Open Settings, Windows Update and install everything, including optional driver updates. Then check the laptop manufacturer's support page for a BIOS or firmware update for your exact model. Only update the BIOS with the charger connected and never switch off during the update.

Check the battery's condition

Open Command Prompt and run powercfg /batteryreport. It saves an HTML report in the folder shown on screen. Compare design capacity with full charge capacity. A big gap means the battery is worn, which explains short runtime but not a laptop that will not charge at all.

How do I know if it is the battery, the charger or the port?

Use what you have already learned to narrow it down.

• Works with a borrowed charger: your charger or cable is faulty. Replace it.
• Light on charger but no charging, loose plug: the port is likely worn or broken.
• Laptop runs on the charger with no battery installed (removable battery models) but not with it: the battery has failed.
• Charges intermittently, only at one angle: the port or its solder joints.
• Charger fine, port fine, battery shows 0 percent and will not wake: a deeply discharged or dead battery, or a charging circuit fault on the board.
• Laptop shuts off the instant you remove the charger, even after hours plugged in: the battery is no longer holding any charge.

If you replace a battery or charger, buy one that matches your exact model number. Cheap lookalikes can charge slowly, run hot, or damage the charging circuit.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the ICT AccessPoint team

We repair laptops and build websites and business systems. Have a question this guide did not answer? Message us.

This guide is general advice. Every device and business is different, so if you are unsure, ask a technician before you act.