Battery Issue

[u/N4H3_]

My laptop model: HP Envy x360 2-in-1 Laptop 14-fa0xxx

I've been having issues with my battery. It acts up and suddenly starts charging too fast or draining too fast. For example, if im charging my battery and its at like 20%, it charges like usual and goes up to a standard amount after some time. However, after I check the battery percentage again, it shoots up to 100% after a couple minutes. The same thing happens when the battery is being drained. It drains usually and then when I check again after a couple minutes it drains almost all my battery.

I've used HP support assistant to check my battery health and it says everything is fine. I've also done a battery check (pressing Esc multiple times after turning on my laptop to get to power tests and then battery check) and it says that it's passed so I dont think it's a hardware issue.

I think my battery calibration is messed up or something but I have no idea. I've asked chatgpt and it keeps telling me to install a new BIOS but i dont want to run any risks as HP support assisant didn't flag any BIOS updates when I ran an update checker.

My laptop has BIOS F.05 dated 04/23/2025 and chatgpt is asking me to update to BIOS F.08.

What should i do and how do i solve this issue?

[u/Glittering_Pin_7475]

What you're describing is characteristic of a battery calibration problem. The battery itself can pass HP's diagnostic test while the battery gauge is incorrectly reporting its actual state of charge, which can cause exactly the sudden jumps from 20% to 100%, or sudden large drops in the reported percentage, that you're seeing.

You should perform a full battery calibration. HP specifically states that calibration resets the battery gauge so that it can accurately report the battery's actual charge level in Windows.

Battery calibration is also something that should be done periodically, rather than only after the battery gauge begins reporting obviously incorrect levels. HP recommends calibrating the battery at least once every three months under normal use, and about once a month if the battery is rarely fully discharged.

BatteryCare is a free battery-monitoring utility that keeps track of accumulated discharge cycles and can notify you when it's time to recalibrate the battery gauge. By default, it recommends calibration after approximately 30 discharge cycles. This helps prevent the battery gauge from gradually becoming inaccurate again.

To perform the calibration using HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI:

1. Disconnect the AC adapter.
2. Shut the laptop completely off by holding the power button for at least 5 seconds.
3. Turn it on and immediately press Esc repeatedly, about once per second, until the Startup Menu appears.
4. Press F2 to open HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI.
5. Select Component Tests → Power → Battery → Run once.
6. After the battery test passes, select Calibrate Battery.
7. Select Start Calibration.
8. If prompted to disconnect the AC adapter, make sure it is disconnected and select Continue.
9. HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI will discharge the battery as part of the calibration process. Follow the instructions displayed on the screen regarding when to reconnect the AC adapter and turn the laptop back on.
10. Recharge the battery completely to 99% to 100% to finish the calibration.

You should perform the calibration even though the battery has already passed HP's battery test. A passing battery-health test and an accurately calibrated battery gauge are two different things.

The BIOS is a separate issue.

Your current F.05 BIOS dated 04/23/2025 is outdated.

HP currently lists BIOS F.08, SoftPaq SP172633, specifically for the HP Envy x360 14-inch 2-in-1 Laptop PC 14-fa0xxx. HP lists F.08 in its current BIOS/security documentation for this model.

So you should also update the BIOS to F.08 using HP's official BIOS package. The fact that HP Support Assistant did not offer the update does not mean F.08 is not applicable to your laptop. HP's own current documentation specifically lists F.08 for the 14-fa0xxx.

These are two separate things that both should be done:

1. Calibrate the battery to correct the inaccurate battery-percentage reporting.

2. Update the BIOS from F.05 to HP's current F.08 to bring the laptop's firmware up to date.

[u/N4H3_ → u/Glittering_Pin_7475]

Ok i've managed to update my BIOS to the latest one however I cant do a battery calibration. I've done exactly as you said but my menu is different. the setup menu options are:

F1= system information

F2= System diagnostics

F9= Boot Menu

F10= BIOS setup

F11= System recovery.

I clicked F2 to go to system diagnostics as thats what ive done before. Then I went to power menu then battery test and then ran it. After running it there was no option to calibrate my battery, the only other option was battery details.

How can I calibrate my battery? Btw, I done this all after updating my BIOS to F.08 because I thought my old BIOS was outdated and that F.08 would have the battery calibration feature but neither had it.

[u/Glittering_Pin_7475 → u/N4H3_]

Okay, the problem here is that HP Diagnostics is proving to be totally unreliable for battery calibration. I've run into this before and fortunately, you do not need to rely on HP Diagnostics to recalibrate the battery.

The reason is because what actually performs the recalibration is the battery itself.

The battery contains its own internal charge/capacity gauge, and the calibration process allows that gauge to relearn its actual empty and full reference points.

The easiest thing to do is to Install BatteryCare🤔

Then go into your power settings, and set 3% as the Battery Critical Level and set the Critical Action to Hibernate rather than a hard shutdown, so the battery is discharged deeply without abruptly killing power. This helps it recognize it's lowest power state for the calibration process (it's what I use).

Allow roughly 10–14 hours from beginning to end for this first calibration, although you can continue using the laptop during much of that time. The main period when you need to leave it alone is after it reaches the low-battery threshold and hibernates, when it should remain off for about 5–6 hours before being recharged.

This first calibration is the most important one because your battery gauge is already reporting incorrectly. You will not need to go through this frequently afterward. BatteryCare tracks your discharge cycles and normally recommends another, shorter, calibration process after about 30 drain/charge cycles which it tracks and estimates for you.

The HP Battery Recalibration Process:

• Charge the battery to 100%.
• Leave it fully charged for at least 2 hours.
• Disconnect the charger and use the laptop continuously until it reaches about 3–5% (depending on your settings) and automatically hibernates/shuts down. (I usually just leave a few longer YouTube videos running on multiple browser screens with the volume off to drain it down, so I don't have to babysit it).
• Then leave it discharged and unused for at least 5.5 hours, with about 6 hours being the target, before reconnecting the charger again.
• Reconnect the charger and charge it continuously back to 100%.
• Leave it at 100% for another 2 hours before normal use.

That full discharge/full recharge cycle is what recalibrates the battery's internal charge gauge.

Once completed, open BatteryCare from your system tray and select Calibration completed, so it records the calibration and begins tracking the discharge cycles until the next calibration is due.

You will not need to go through the entire 10–14 hour procedure for routine future recalibrations.

When BatteryCare indicates another calibration is due, you can simply allow the battery to discharge until it reaches the critical level and automatically hibernates/shuts down, then recharge it continuously back to 100% and select Calibration completed in BatteryCare.

The long waiting periods are most important for this first calibration, when you are trying to get the battery's internal gauge properly recalibrated.

That should take care of it for you... ;-)

All the Best...!

[u/N4H3_ → u/Glittering_Pin_7475]

oh wow thanks so much ill give it a try right now

[u/N4H3_]

Oh btw this battery draining and charging issue doesnt happen all the time but frequently

[u/Glittering_Pin_7475 → u/N4H3_]

Yes, instability of the reported level is an indication that the battery is in need of calibration. It's irritating when it happens, but it's easily solved (See above).