Swift Edge SFA16-41 not charging after BIOS upgrade?

Hello,

My Swift Edge SFA16-41 received a BIOS update to version 1.09 yesterday, and today it does not seem to be charging. I've tried two different chargers and neither seems to work (and I tested both in another computer so I know they are working). If I look at the battery indicator in the status bar, it says "plugged in" so it does register that the charger is plugged in, yet my battery percentage continues to drop. I've stopped most software at this point and just have a browser window open, so there is no heavy load on the system. I've powered down and rebooted a couple of times as well, but still no luck.

Another thing I noticed after the BIOS update: Previously, there was a setting to not charge the battery to more than 80% to keep the battery fresh. After the BIOS update, I noticed that my battery was at 100%. I went into the BIOS settings and could no longer find the battery setting. Am I crazy, or did that setting disappear?

I went to the Downloads section and downloaded the previous BIOS version (1.08) but it will not allow me to downgrade. Is it possible to load the previous version of BIOS to see if that fixes things for me?

Thanks.

Accepted answers

All comments

dirtysox

Update:

I shut my laptop down for a couple hours, and it did charge up. So it seems to be a problem with charging while it's turned on. Weird.

dirtysox

Final update for those who may come searching later….

After living with this problem for a couple of months, I finally opened a case with Acer support, since I was still (barely) under warranty. The Acer tech had me do a batter reset, which involved powering the laptop down, and then pushing a paperclip in the battery reset hole (which I had never noticed before) for 9 seconds. Then he had me power up, go to Device Manager in Windows, and uninstall the two drivers listed under Battery. After another restart, everything seems to be working again as expected. My laptop now charges while in use and does not drain while plugged in.

Also, the setting for charging the battery to only 80% was not in the BIOS, it is in the Acer Care Center settings. I'm not sure how it got turned off, but it seemed to happen about the same time my charging prolems started.

So ultimately, I don't know if the BIOS upgrade caused this issue, or if it's just a coincidence that it started at about the same time.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1258513#Comment_1258513

I recommend not to use the 80% battery charge limiter in Acer Care, limiting the charging of the adapter interferes with BIOS and MS ACPI battery control protocol (the 2 battery drivers you uninstalled in Device Manager). there is nothing to be gained limiting the adapter charging as the battery longevity "theory" is just a myth (internet hype) pushed by bloatware media and laptop vendors as the Holy Grail for battery maintenance.

cp071116

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1258513#Comment_1258513

I created an account just to officially thank you for posting this. My charging issues were driving me CRAZY, and this fixed a months-long problem in under five minutes. My friends and family will tell you I need to work on letting my emotions out, but they weren't there when a 3 AM battery reset nearly brought me to tears as I watched the godsforsaken thing finally hold a charge.

For anyone else experiencing the same thing, it did also (roughly) coincide with a BIOS update for me, and the thing that finally clued me in that it wasn't a motherboard, dead battery, or charger issue was that one port would work to charge and the other wouldn't. I still experienced the same issue of only charging when the laptop was powered down (or at least, very, very minimal charging when it was actively in use), and the blue "charging" light was on 24/7 regardless of whether the laptop was plugged in or not. Again, only mentioned here in case others come looking with the same symptoms on a laptop that shouldn't be dying yet. I kept getting help desk info that told me I was going to have to replace hardware, but if you're seeing the same thing, it might be battery reset time.