Nitro 7 (AN715-51) Battery Percentage Won't Increase Despite Laptop Getting Power

Bewolf86
Bewolf86 Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
edited December 2023 in 2020 Archives
This issue has been going on for a long time now. I got the laptop at the beginning of September, 2019. I understand that there are lots of people asking questions about battery not charging, by my case seems somewhat unique. I have noticed that in many cases people report the fact that the battery icon in the bottom right, when hovered over, says (plugged in, not charging). However, in my case, this icon and the acer care center checkups to not detect any issues with the battery. Essentially, the A/C Adapter is supplying power to the unit, but the battery percentage won't increase. A soft battery reset was performed (holding down power button for about a minute) to no avail. I have not done a hard reset yet. It is unclear whether the battery is defective or if it is a software issue/an issue with the algorithm reading the battery capacity. Based on the fact that the laptop gets power from the A/C Adapter, I ruled out the adapter being defective. Seeing as the laptop does not in any way recognize the issue, it could be a software problem. I had assumed, however, that the battery itself was simply defective and needed to be replaced, so we called Acer Support and, in a long and tedious process, sent it in to be expected around the end of November. The laptop was sent back and everything seemed to be working just fine. The battery would charge again and there seemed to be no issue, despite a few quirks I noticed in performance when I initially received the laptop back (which have since subsided, unsure whether the performance is related). However, the paper stated that they had run tests and they only replaced the A/C Adapter, which made no sense given the fact that the laptop was getting power. Seeing as it was charging again, I assumed the problem may have been fixed and I am still unsure how they got the battery to start working again or how their diagnostics brought up no issues with the battery. Yesterday I noticed that the laptop was once again experiencing the same issue- the battery would not increase at all. It decreases if unplugged but remains mostly stable when plugged in (maybe 1% decrease after a long amount of time). It is now at 17% and it has not gone up. I thought maybe some software was preventing this, so I played with it plugged and unplugged and tried to find out if CoolBoost or some other function was telling the laptop not to charge. So I'm seeking a few suggestions, and keep in mind I likely will be calling acer support again, but I doubt that one of their lower level assistance employees will be much aid: is there anything I should know about that may be causing the problem, is it more likely the battery or the software, and are there any solutions I could attempt on my own before resorting the replacing the laptop or the battery or messing with the software/drivers? Thank you in advance for any assistance with my problem. As you can probably tell, it is upsetting that sending it in did not actually fix the problem, and I desire a solution that hopefully won't require waiting another month the go through the whole process again.
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Answers

  • jawbreakuh
    jawbreakuh Member Posts: 1 New User
    Bump - having the exact same issue and have tried everything you mention, except sending it in, which they've asked me to do.  I think I'll wait and see how others respond to you before I pull my RAM upgrades and pay to FedEx this out.
  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    [SOLVED]
    I had the same issue mentioned above with my battery not charging on my AN715-51-796C laptop. I sent mine in for repair but Acer couldn't not replicate the issue. They gave me a free Chicony power adapter. My laptop seemed to be working fine with the new adapter until a month later I started having the same issue again. I called Acer again but they couldn't provide any new help other than to send me another power adapter. I decided to perform a very general Google search on "laptop battery not charging" and found a CNET article titled: "How to fix a Windows 10 laptop that's plugged in but isn't charging". The article provides straightforward instructions on how to resolve the issues. Listed below is the link, with the instructions outlined. So far, the fix is working for me. Hopefully it will help others having this same issue. 


    • Open the Device Manager by searching for it or right-clicking the Start button and selecting Device Manager.
    • Click Batteries on the list to expand it and you should see two items: Microsoft AC Adapter and Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery.
    • Right-click ON EACH ITEM (BOTH) and choose Uninstall device. Yes, you are uninstalling your laptop's battery drivers, but don't worry because they will automatically be reinstalled when you restart your laptop.
    • Shut down your laptop.
    • Unplug the power cable from your laptop.
    • If your laptop has a removable battery, remove it. My laptop does not have a removable battery. I tried skipping this step but it didn't work, so I removed the bottom panel of my laptop and then removed the battery by disconnecting it from the motherboard.
    • Put the battery back in if you removed it.
    • Plug in your laptop.
    • Power on your laptop.
    • Click the battery icon in the system tray and you should see that your laptop is plugged in and charging.


  • Bewolf86
    Bewolf86 Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    The percentage of the battery will not go up. I know the power outlet and charger are working because the laptop gets power and works fine when plugged in. However, the battery percentage does not increase and even goes down slowly over time. This issue has been going on for a long time: I got the laptop in the beginning of September last year and it started some time after that. I understand that there are lots of people asking questions about battery not charging, by my case seems somewhat unique. I have noticed that in many cases people report the fact that the battery icon in the bottom right, when hovered over, says (plugged in, not charging). However, in my case, this icon and the acer care center checkups do not detect any issues with the battery. Essentially, the A/C Adapter is supplying power to the unit, but the battery percentage won't increase. A soft battery reset was performed (holding down power button for about a minute) to no avail. I have not done a hard reset because the laptop doesn't have a built in battery reset button. It is unclear whether the battery is defective or if it is a software issue/an issue with the algorithm reading the battery capacity. The worst part is that I sent the laptop in hoping to get it fixed and Acer did not help at all. They sent the laptop back, said they had run tests and found no issue, and supplied me with another charging cable even though that was not the issue. Somehow they got the battery to charge up to around 46% so I thought the issue had been solved somehow. However, soon after that, the laptop would not charge again. Now I have to leave it plugged in 24/7 so it stays powered. As I said, I am unsure whether the battery is faulty or the software, but it is very upsetting that Acer was not able to or simply did not fix the faulty laptop. I'm sort of posting this as a last resort to hopefully get some answers. I have posted this issue before and received an answer about a hard battery reset to do but it requires going in the laptop and removing the battery from the motherboard, and since I don't know much about the inside systems of a laptop I am tentative to do that. I have more information since my last post as well. I was able to charge the laptop up to 100% on two instances. I am not sure why this happened or how quickly it charged (if it charged really fast it would mean the software was all messed up) but, after doing a prompted reset, the battery was back at 100%. The first time this happened I tried doing a sort of battery reset I saw online where you let it drain to below 10%, charge it up, and repeat a few times, but it didn't charge back up. The second time this happened wasn't long ago and the laptop is currently at 94% and not increasing. I guess I'm looking for some guidance about whether it is a software issue or the battery is faulty and needs to be replaced. Also, for those who know about the warranties at acer, I have a base level one year warranty (I'm pretty sure) and I'm not sure if that means I can just send this laptop back in and get a new one or at least try to get it repaired again. I would prefer not to be stuck with a faulty battery after my warranty runs out in less than 5 months. Given the current epidemic, it is unlikely I will be able to send the laptop in any time soon, and I hope that means my warranty can be extended to some capacity (?). I want your opinions and advice: should I perform the hard reset where I remove the battery, try to fix the software, or send the laptop back in? I doubt acer call center people would be able to help at all as they didn't before. I am also not sure if removing the battery voids the warranty. Lastly, if I were to do a factory reset or reset the battery reading software in some way (any tips?), do you think that would solve the problem, as it is very possible the software is just messed up? Thank you in advance, and sorry for writing such a long brick wall of a paragraph.
  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    JWA1979 said:
    [SOLVED]
    I had the same issue mentioned above with my battery not charging on my AN715-51-796C laptop. I sent mine in for repair but Acer couldn't not replicate the issue. They gave me a free Chicony power adapter. My laptop seemed to be working fine with the new adapter until a month later I started having the same issue again. I called Acer again but they couldn't provide any new help other than to send me another power adapter. I decided to perform a very general Google search on "laptop battery not charging" and found a CNET article titled: "How to fix a Windows 10 laptop that's plugged in but isn't charging". The article provides straightforward instructions on how to resolve the issues. Listed below is the link, with the instructions outlined. So far, the fix is working for me. Hopefully it will help others having this same issue. 


    • Open the Device Manager by searching for it or right-clicking the Start button and selecting Device Manager.
    • Click Batteries on the list to expand it and you should see two items: Microsoft AC Adapter and Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery.
    • Right-click ON EACH ITEM (BOTH) and choose Uninstall device. Yes, you are uninstalling your laptop's battery drivers, but don't worry because they will automatically be reinstalled when you restart your laptop.
    • Shut down your laptop.
    • Unplug the power cable from your laptop.
    • If your laptop has a removable battery, remove it. My laptop does not have a removable battery. I tried skipping this step but it didn't work, so I removed the bottom panel of my laptop and then removed the battery by disconnecting it from the motherboard.
    • Put the battery back in if you removed it.
    • Plug in your laptop.
    • Power on your laptop.
    • Click the battery icon in the system tray and you should see that your laptop is plugged in and charging.


    The instructions I gave above work but I'm constantly having to perform it.  
  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    I decided to contact Acer again, for the third time, about my laptop failing to charge the battery, even after I received it back from Acer from the first repair. The first time I sent it in for repair, Acer told me they couldn’t find any issues and delivered my laptop back to me with a new charging adapter. At the time, Acer believed that the issue was because of a bad charging adapter. Once the problem kept happening even with the new charging adapter, I contacted Acer again, for the second time. They only wanted to send me out another new charging adapter, and told me to contact them if the second new charging adapter failed to fix the issue. It didn’t resolve the issue. Upon contacting Acer again for the third time, I explained in detail that the only temporary fix to the charging issue was to unplug/plug the battery from the motherboard. I also explained to them that many people are having the same issue with this model laptop. Acer decided to open my repair ticket again and ask me to ship my laptop to them. I noticed this week that the repair had been completed and that my laptop is being shipped back to me. I called Acer yesterday to find out what kind of repairs were performed. They told me that they had to replace the main board (motherboard). I should be receiving my laptop tomorrow in the mail. I’ll work with it for a while and let everyone know if the repair fixed the issue. Hopefully so. 
  • ala202
    ala202 Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    While you're waiting on repairs, if you choose to, it turns out something freaks the motherboard out when you remove the charger or plug in while it's off/sleeping/hibernating. I had the same issue exactly, mine never said "plugged in not charging" just "plugged in" and never charged, acer sent an ac adapter which of course didn't fix it. So if you're willing to baby your laptop, once you do the hard battery reset, unplugging the battery from the motherboard, don't plug in the charger until you power it up, and leave it powered on (turn off any sleep settings) until it charges. I also advise to never leave it plugged in when you power off/hibernate either, because I had mixed results of that freaking it out again (perhaps power fluctuations, I don't really know), but so long as it's on, charging works and it doesn't freak out.
  • Alfieri
    Alfieri Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    JWA1979 said:
    I decided to contact Acer again, for the third time, about my laptop failing to charge the battery, even after I received it back from Acer from the first repair. The first time I sent it in for repair, Acer told me they couldn’t find any issues and delivered my laptop back to me with a new charging adapter. At the time, Acer believed that the issue was because of a bad charging adapter. Once the problem kept happening even with the new charging adapter, I contacted Acer again, for the second time. They only wanted to send me out another new charging adapter, and told me to contact them if the second new charging adapter failed to fix the issue. It didn’t resolve the issue. Upon contacting Acer again for the third time, I explained in detail that the only temporary fix to the charging issue was to unplug/plug the battery from the motherboard. I also explained to them that many people are having the same issue with this model laptop. Acer decided to open my repair ticket again and ask me to ship my laptop to them. I noticed this week that the repair had been completed and that my laptop is being shipped back to me. I called Acer yesterday to find out what kind of repairs were performed. They told me that they had to replace the main board (motherboard). I should be receiving my laptop tomorrow in the mail. I’ll work with it for a while and let everyone know if the repair fixed the issue. Hopefully so. 
    Let us know if that finally worked!
  • TampaLarry
    TampaLarry Member Posts: 1 New User
    JWA1979 said:
    I decided to contact Acer again, for the third time, about my laptop failing to charge the battery, even after I received it back from Acer from the first repair. The first time I sent it in for repair, Acer told me they couldn’t find any issues and delivered my laptop back to me with a new charging adapter. At the time, Acer believed that the issue was because of a bad charging adapter. Once the problem kept happening even with the new charging adapter, I contacted Acer again, for the second time. They only wanted to send me out another new charging adapter, and told me to contact them if the second new charging adapter failed to fix the issue. It didn’t resolve the issue. Upon contacting Acer again for the third time, I explained in detail that the only temporary fix to the charging issue was to unplug/plug the battery from the motherboard. I also explained to them that many people are having the same issue with this model laptop. Acer decided to open my repair ticket again and ask me to ship my laptop to them. I noticed this week that the repair had been completed and that my laptop is being shipped back to me. I called Acer yesterday to find out what kind of repairs were performed. They told me that they had to replace the main board (motherboard). I should be receiving my laptop tomorrow in the mail. I’ll work with it for a while and let everyone know if the repair fixed the issue. Hopefully so. 
    Did the ACER repair work?  I am having the same issue and I want to be sure there is a solution before my 30 day return time ends later this week!!
  • kuzzy00
    kuzzy00 Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
    Same issue with my Acer Nitro 7 - had it repaired twice by PB Tech (retailer in Auckland, NZ)

    Specs:
    Operating System  Windows 10 Home 64-bit
    CPU  Intel Core i7 @ 2.60GHz 56 °C Coffee Lake 14nm Technology
    RAM 32.0GB
    Motherboard CFL Citigo_CFS (U3E1)

    I've tried all known methods on this forum. It's clearly a product fault - and several users are wishing for a product recall. 
    I've installed new RAM. Many people I know who bought the product have the same fault.
    It seems to occur with Hibernation and Sleep Cycles getting all messed up. 

    Last time i found if i plugged directly into the wall (no adapter) it increased the voltage and charged the laptop (110v vs 230v)
  • kuzzy00
    kuzzy00 Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
    Have you tried the power into the wall without the adapter?
    I had the same issue as yours - I figured its the adapter that's the issue (110v vs 230v). It seems it doesn't get enough power when running through multiplugs. 
  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    edited May 2020
    JWA1979 said:
    I decided to contact Acer again, for the third time, about my laptop failing to charge the battery, even after I received it back from Acer from the first repair. The first time I sent it in for repair, Acer told me they couldn’t find any issues and delivered my laptop back to me with a new charging adapter. At the time, Acer believed that the issue was because of a bad charging adapter. Once the problem kept happening even with the new charging adapter, I contacted Acer again, for the second time. They only wanted to send me out another new charging adapter, and told me to contact them if the second new charging adapter failed to fix the issue. It didn’t resolve the issue. Upon contacting Acer again for the third time, I explained in detail that the only temporary fix to the charging issue was to unplug/plug the battery from the motherboard. I also explained to them that many people are having the same issue with this model laptop. Acer decided to open my repair ticket again and ask me to ship my laptop to them. I noticed this week that the repair had been completed and that my laptop is being shipped back to me. I called Acer yesterday to find out what kind of repairs were performed. They told me that they had to replace the main board (motherboard). I should be receiving my laptop tomorrow in the mail. I’ll work with it for a while and let everyone know if the repair fixed the issue. Hopefully so. 
    Did the ACER repair work?  I am having the same issue and I want to be sure there is a solution before my 30 day return time ends later this week!!
    It seems that the motherboard replacement that Acer performed fixed my battery charging issue. I can plug/unplug my computer when it's on or off and the charging system seems to work fine now. I hope that the fix resolved the issue for good. I'll update everyone if the charging issues returns. Thanks.
  • Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
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    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
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  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    That doesn't work. I've tried and Acer tried, but it didn't work. Only a new motherboard will work. 
  • Brazilrome
    Brazilrome Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
    I got mine today for repair. I have same issue the laptop doesn’t charge tai all. First time they send me new charger, it doesn’t work.
    Now they change the battery and update bios. Now everything look’s like working.
  • Bewolf86
    Bewolf86 Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Thanks for all of the comments and information guys. From what I've gathered there appears to be a fault with most Nitro 7's of a certain model which causes it to stop charging. This fault also seems to be a result of plugging/unplugging the charger when the laptop is off, which supposedly freaks the motherboard out. JWA1979 seems to be on to something when he had acer replace the motherboard. I'll look into that. Keep us up to date on whether that works. Otherwise, I believe you guys are with me in wanting some sort of product recall, given the amount of cases I've heard about. Clearly this is not an isolated issue. Do you guys know anything about getting in touch and requesting a recall? If not, I'll try to call acer again and get them to actually fix the issue rather than giving me another charger. Thanks again.
  • Bewolf86
    Bewolf86 Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
          I have posted a question about a faulty battery/motherboard in the Acer Nitro 7. Many people have commented since then who share the same issue with the same model. This is not an isolated incident. Some have posited a theory that plugging in/unplugging the charger while the laptop is off freaks the motherboard out. Most of us who have called have been sent a new charger, which didn't fix the issue. Temporary fixes include unplugging/plugging the battery from/in the motherboard (hard battery reset), among other things, such as a prompted restart of the computer. One person ended up having the motherboard replaced, which seems to be working so far. If all of these ideas are true, then a certain batch of Nitro 7 laptops was sent out with finicky motherboards, causing the battery not to charge.
          In terms of the product recall, it seems wrong to me that despite the amount of complaints there has been no attempt by acer to fix everyone's issue. The only way to get it fixed is to bug them a few times until they realize it is not an issue with the charger. Based on the accounts of many users, the issue is not isolated. Therefore, it should not be handled on a case-by-case basis, but rather through a product recall. If anyone could share information on how acer handles product recalls or when they feel it necessary to do so, that would be great. If an acer employee sees this, I simply want answers to the issue and an acknowledgement of the fact that many people have experienced a similar issue. If this is not addressed as a widespread issue in Nitro 7 laptops, then I'll likely send it in for a motherboard replacement. Anyway, I hope Acer does the right thing. Most of all, I just want information.

    Here is a link to the thread I created. There are also various other threads you can find on the issue.
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/857942?breakffcache=3811c

  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Thank Bewolf86 for your last comment. My laptop is still working properly with the new motherboard. I can't believe that Acer is still handing out replacement chargers and batteries. Their technicians need to get on the same page concerning the issue and the correct repair process. I'd definitely like to know how to request a recall. Thanks again.  
  • @JWA1979 and @Bewolf86 I was checking the models an515-54 and an715-51 and both have the same bios, see:

    Would updating the bios to version 1.30 solve the problem?
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
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  • JWA1979
    JWA1979 Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Updating bios doesn't fix the issue. I've tried, Acer has tried and it doesn't work. Don't waste your time. 
  • @JWA1979Even updating the bios to version 1.30 that was released in May?
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
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