Computer slows down when unplugged

Question

Recently, I found that when I unplug my laptop, the speed of my laptop drops significantly.  I've tried entering into High-Performance Mode and have searched through the advanced power management settings.  Regardless of what I do, the laptop slows down immediately after I unplug it.  When I plug it back in, the computer returns to normal.

I thought that maybe there's a program running in the background that increases in CPU usage when on battery power, however, when I unplug the laptop, the CPU usage actually drops significantly.  When plugged back in, the CPU usage increases again and everything returns to normal.

I would possibly attribute this to a degrading battery, but I've only had the laptop for about a year.  Plus, I noticed that this problem occurred abruptly -- not over a period of time.  The computer hasn't had any physical damage or trauma done to it.

I'm using an Acer laptop (Spin SP513-51) with an Intel Core i5-6200U CPU and 8 GB of RAM.

Thanks in advance!

Edit:

I have reinstalled Windows 10 (keeping my personal files) and found no change.

Answer 1

Which version of Windows is installed? Learn how to find out:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...

It could suggest you need to update your chipset drivers and BIOS.

I recommend you update the most critical ones: BIOS, Chipset, Display Driver, Network adapters.

Second option

uninstall your display driver then restart

Boot to the Windows 10 desktop

Press Windows key + X

Click Device Manager

Expand Display adapters

Right click the current display adapter

Click Uninstall

Exit Device Manager

Restart

If that does not work, well, we need to try something else. Try resetting the BIOS:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/reset-pc-bios-...

Answer 2

Thanks!  I went to Acer's website and upgraded the BIOS.  Everything is running smoothly on battery again!

Answer 3

Hi thechnotom, I am Rob a volunteer, and a 10 time and dual award MVP specializing in Windows troubleshooting. I will be happy to try to help you with this battery and power issue.

Start - Settings - System - Battery - is Battery saver On and set too low?

If On turn Off to see if that helps.

Yes, you would normally expect setting it to high performance would keep the responsiveness the same while the battery had a reasonable power level.

Check with Acer Support & Forums as they may have something loading, even a driver, which is controlling the battery and power funtions.

Acer - USA - Service and Support - Drivers

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support

Acer - Community/Forums

http://community.acer.com/

Acer - Worldwide

http://www.acer.com/worldwide/

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Troubleshooting:

Make a Restore Point - Start - type in --> Restore ...... find at top and click on - Create

Right Click Start Button - Device Manager - Batteries - double click each in turn - Drivers tab - Update driver - OK - after doing both go back to same spot and Uninstall - OK <-- that will refresh the driver stack.

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Turn off the computer and remove A/C power then remove the battery - if possible clean the battery terminals with a pencil eraser (some can't be cleaned).

The battery could be worn - Use this method to check the battery and create a report :

WinKEY +X - or Right Click in the lower left corner - Command Prompt (Admin) OR Windows PowerShell

Copy/paste or type :

powercfg -energy -output %userprofile%\desktop\energy-report.html

hit Enter

That creates "energy-report.html" and puts it on the Desktop.

double click the file on your desktop

Scroll down to Battery Information :

Design Capacity

Last Full Charge

Copy and paste those into a reply here so we can interpret them for you.

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Also in a Command Prompt (Admin) OR Windows PowerShell - navigate to a folder where you have Write rights such as \YourUserName\Documents

Type or Copy and Paste each of these and press enter after each : (if C: is where your Documents folder is)

C:

CD\

CD %userprofile%\Documents

powercfg /BATTERYREPORT

That puts Battery-Report.html in your Documents folder.

Please let us know the results and if you need further assistance.