Don’t use the wrong battery
If your laptop, PC or phone battery is dying you’ll need to find a replacement. Jonathan Parkyn explains how to spot the signs of failure and avoid dangerous fakes
Replace your laptop battery
The clearest sign a laptop battery is failing is if it no longer holds a full charge for as long as it used to. Other clues include sudden shutdowns when the battery still shows charge, an unusually hot chassis, or bulges and warping in the case. Batteries in poor health can leak or fail completely, potentially damaging your laptop.
You can check your battery’s health in Command Prompt. Click Start, type cmd, then right-click the Command Prompt result and choose ‘Run as administrator’. At the prompt, type powercfg /batteryreport ( 1 in our screenshot below) and press Enter. This generates a ‘battery-report.html’ file showing your battery’s health, usually saved under C:\Users\your username or C:\Windows\system32, as indicated in the Command Prompt window 2 .
Generate a battery report for your laptop using Command Prompt
Locate the file on your computer and double-click to open it. Focus on ‘Battery capacity history’, which shows the battery’s designed charge (Design Capacity – 1 in our screenshot below) versus what it can currently hold (Full Charge Capacity 2 ) in mWh. While there’s no universal threshold, consider a replacement when it falls to around 50–60 per cent. Check your manufacturer’s guidance for model-specific advice.