Laptop owners who suspect their battery is failing have a built-in Windows diagnostic tool available to them, and it requires no third-party software. The utility, Powercfg, monitors and maintains a computer's energy and system settings, but its battery-checking functions are most useful on laptops. A failing battery can slow a laptop's performance and eventually prevent it from booting at all, making early diagnosis worthwhile.
Powercfg can also be run on a desktop computer, where it helps monitor energy efficiency and adjust sleep and hibernation states. On a laptop, however, it functions as a fuller administration utility, and its effects are easier to observe.
The warning signs of a dying laptop battery range from slower charging than normal to a complete, random shutdown. A laptop may also begin to bulge, which indicates a swollen battery with components that are breaking down.
Running the tool is straightforward. A user opens the Terminal window as an administrator by pressing Win+X and clicking Terminal (Admin), then types commands there. Command Prompt also works: press Win+R, type cmd in the window that appears and press Enter.
The command powercfg /batteryreport produces a full rundown of the laptop's current status as an HTML report saved to the computer's files, and the Terminal indicates where to find it. The report lets users compare full charge capacity with design capacity, the figure the laptop was built for. A small gap is acceptable, but anything below 40 percent needs replacement, according to Dell.
A second command, powercfg /energy, runs a 60-second check on the battery and the laptop's efficiency and also saves an HTML report to the location shown. It identifies apps and devices that may need reconfiguring because of power drain.
Together the two commands allow users to diagnose battery trouble themselves. If the battery turns out to be severely damaged or is causing problems with the laptop, replacement is the likely next step.
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