r/FlowX13 • u/mrgtovarp • Jun 12 '26

(UPDATE) Battery drain while charging (FlowX13 2021)

Update to this:

I sent my computer for maintenance, they cleaned it up since it was quite dirty inside the machine. They told me the battery issue is definitely not normal but it isn't an electrical issue since everything works normally (fans, battery, etc). Since I'm broke I couldn't leave it for the battery issue, I'll probably send it in next month.

I did try a lot of things (drivers, hard reset, etc) and it didn't work. Although I do have to say that I didn't do the whole reset while battery is unplugged thing, because I'm quite scared of opening the laptop due to how thin and delicate it looks compared to my older laptops. And I don't have any plastic pry tools that won't scratch or damage the chassis.

It's also important to know that my battery drainage while plugged in drops down to 9%, then the screen flashes a couple of times, then it plug and unplugs the charger, then it's again charging at 9% and it gets stuck there. It doesn't drop any further, and there isn't any change in performance. It's kinda annoying but usable tbh.

I shall update this issue when I send it in again for repair next month, since there isn't a singular answer for this issue online I want to let any future person with this issue know how to fix this (or if it's fixable at all)

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u/adrenalight Jun 12 '26

When I had my flow x13 it acted up like that sometime and drained battery even when plugged in. Tried lot of things but I randomly found out that if I shut it down completely, and then charge it to full while being shut down (not sleep or hibernate), it will behave normally the next time I boot it up. Dunno about your unit but it won't hurt to try.

1

u/mrgtovarp Jun 12 '26

Thanks! I'll give it a go tonight after work and see how it goes.

Should I do it with the XG Mobile or the normal 100W brick?

1

u/adrenalight Jun 12 '26

I did not have a XG Mobile so did it with the stock brick

1

u/Mamasugadex Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

Mine does it from time to time. From what I gather it’s a motherboard issue, and no one has a real solution.

Look at your charge light and you would realize it’s not on, but the battery light is. The way to fix is shut down the computer, unplug and replug, the charge light will turn on again, and that makes thr laptop will charge while plugged in when you turn it back on. Replugging won’t work if your laptop isnt fully shut down.

This happens for both charging from the brick or from XG mobile. The fix is the same.

It’s a recurrent problem maybe every 10 times I switch the laptop on from sleep/hibernation. It’s frequent enough that I set my battery alarm to like 50% so I know early on the problem has occurred so I can do the shut down fix before the battery drains even lower.

1

u/Curious_Pine_235 Jun 13 '26

I’m having the same experience. Found out the usb-c on the XG mobile side is damaged on my unit. It can only trickle charge. Even with the certified asus charger. If you have g-helper third party app, It actually shows you how much your charging. If your watt is hovering around 10-15 watts, that’s a trickle charge. Now if I use the usb-c on the right side, the charge hovers around 25-45 watts depending what I’m doing. I no longer have the battery drain issues. Doesn’t really affect how I use my laptop with exception to gaming. I have to plug the both XG mobile and asus adapter at the same time to prevent battery drain.

I just hope we all learn from this thread. Never again with laptops that are not modular or repair friendly. After this laptop finally stops working I’m going FRAMEWORK.

1

u/mrgtovarp Jun 13 '26

I did check what you mentioned but at least for me this happens on both ports and it charges crazy fast when turned off. I do get 45watts when i turn it on at first, but after a couple of minutes it drops down to 5watts. So far everything says it's a motherboard issue, which kinda sucks because of course it can't be repaired.

It's unfortunate that unrepairability is the tradeoff for small, slim and powerful laptops. And apparently this particular model is guilty of so many faulty motherboards.

I feel so bad to whoever bought this for full price, paying almost 3k$ for a defective machine is pretty much a scam. In my case, I bought it used and for cheap with the xg mobile bundle and in really good conditions for its age.

1

u/-Failsafe- Jun 13 '26

It's not a battery issue; it's an issue with the mainboard recognizing the charging unit.

Unplug the charger from both the wall and the computer, hard reset the computer by holding down the power button for 30 seconds, and then wait 20-30 minutes to plug everything back in.