How do you check whether the battery of your laptop is broken?

With the tips below, you can check whether your battery is broken.

• Tip 1. Check the power cable.
• Tip 2. Check the adapter.
• Tip 3. Check the charger or the charging port of the laptop.
• Tip 4. Replace the battery.

First, check whether the power cable of your adapter is broken. A cable can break in various ways, and you can't always see it on the outside. A desk chair running over the cable or a rabbit gnawing or pulling on it, for example. Check if your laptop does charge with a different power cable. Is that the case? Replace the power cable.

Tip: try not to fold the cable to prevent it from breaking

If your laptop works with the charger in the socket but the battery won't charge, check the adapter. The power of a broken adapter is too low to charge the battery. A laptop with an empty battery won't even turn back on if the adapter is broken. Test if the battery charges with a different adapter. Doesn't that work? Replace the adapter.

A charger should easily fit in a charging port. If it doesn't, something is broken or skewed on the inside. First, check if there isn't any dirt or dust in the charging port. There's often a pin in the charger or charging port. Sometimes, the pin is skewed because you've applied too much pressure. If the pin of the charger is skewed, you have to buy a new charger. Is the pin the charging port is skewed, you should have your laptop repaired.

The laptop works with the power cable plugged in, but switches off right away without a power cable. If the tips above don't work, it's likely than the battery itself is broken. The most frequently-used batteries are made of Lithium-ion. They last about 3 to 5 years. In some cases, you can replace the battery yourself. You should only do that if you have technical skills. In other cases, your laptop has to be repaired.