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Why Does My Laptop Lock When the Battery is Low?

Dave Miller with Online Cloud Security

Dave Miller – Tech Enthusiast & Security Expert – February 1st, 2023

why does my laptop lock when the battery is low

The most essential user-experience factor is a laptop battery, which has the power to make or break your experience, but users have claimed that they have encountered problems when they are perplexed and wondering why does my laptop lock when the battery is low. 

Thousands of customers have asked questions online about why their laptops or notebooks stopped up after they received a low battery alert. To be honest, there aren’t many answers to these questions, but you must figure out why it happened.

However, a laptop’s battery can damage your computer’s components, so be careful if you have one. In addition to needing periodic maintenance, lithium-ion rechargeable batteries must be used and handled carefully. I’ll go into depth on how to get the most use possible out of your laptop battery while maintaining it at the manufacturer’s recommended life span. Additionally, you will have the solution to your problem at the article’s conclusion.

Continue reading to learn why locking your laptop is not always terrible and why it most likely happens because it may make you appear worthless. But it will make sense to you afterward by the end of this article:

Why Does My Laptop Lock When the Battery is Low: Summary

Lithium Batteries – What You Need to Know

The world is constantly seeking ways to obtain the greatest portable energy sources; the only alternative is a battery. Our energy-storage tactics get now influenced by lithium-ion batteries, a technology connected to batteries. And among all the gadgets we use today, lithium batteries are rechargeable, more cost-effective in the long run, and contribute to gadget waste reduction.

Different types of lithium-ion batteries have different chemistry, performance, cost, and safety features. Still, they are the future and are constantly becoming better. And Li-ion batteries provide various benefits over other high-quality rechargeable battery technologies, which is why all modern laptops come with them. Finding the correct laptop battery requires a significant decision when considering the battery’s manufacturing process. Lithium-ion laptop batteries outperform traditional ones because they exhibit a high energy density. And with that, a minimal self-discharge, high capacity, and almost no memory effect.

Even though a lithium battery is a superb option, batteries eventually expire. When that happens, you may wonder why does my laptop lock when the battery is low. A lithium-ion battery typically has a charge or use a cycle of 8 hours of usage, 1 hour of charging, and then another 8 hours of use. You will receive a message that the laptop charger must get plugged in as soon as the software OS detects your battery is low to prevent any loss since the laptop may soon shut down.

Windows OS - Why Does my Laptop Lock When the Battery is Low

As a result, as soon as you receive the indication that your laptop’s battery is running low, you discover a locked Windows operating system. The low battery notification shut them out of the Windows OS while they were working on something crucial, according to many customers who posted complaints in an online Microsoft forum.

Although it may seem like a circumstance, you don’t need to worry about it. Losing anything vital if you are playing a game or working on software and suddenly lockout as you are going to put in your battery—the reason why my laptop locks when the battery is low gets questioned here. So let me assure you that being locked out due to the low battery is in no way an issue. Instead, Windows 10 locks, go to sleep or even goes into hibernation when the battery is low to save you from losing your work. It occurs when the battery is entirely dead. As a last-ditch effort to save your windows state, your work is stored in a hibernated state when the battery is dead.

All this gets done to spare you the enormous frustration of losing your data. The good news is that you only need to adjust a small portion of the settings to control how the OS behaves when the battery is in its final condition. By experimenting with the battery option in the Control Panel’s Power Options section, you may choose what occurs when the battery reaches a given level.

Change Setting To Avoid Laptop Lock When the Battery is Low

You must follow the instructions below if you want Windows to stop locking up. You may complete the process from a variety of locations, and it is relatively straightforward to accomplish.

Method#1: From Settings

Step#1: The first step is to access the Windows OS Settings menu. The same applies to Windows 8, 10, and 11. It would help if you located the power and sleep choices here.

Step#2: You will navigate to the extra power settings tab after opening the power and sleep options to modify advanced power settings.

Step#3: Next, check the battery section for choices to modify the OS’s low battery behavior.

Step#4: The issue of why my laptop locks when the battery is low can get resolved by switching critical and low battery action to do nothing on both on battery and plugged in.

Note: If you go to Advanced Power Options and set the Sleep Time to 0, Windows won’t automatically go into hibernation. And will shut off when the battery gets completely depleted, but all saved data will be in danger.

Method#2: Analyze the Battery Report

You should grab the battery report and publish it someplace on the official Windows forum if the preceding procedure does not work so that professionals may assist you. Similar actions for the next steps.

Step#1: Select Accessories from Start > All Programs. Click Command Prompt to launch the command prompt, but don’t forget to right-click it towards the top of the menu to launch it as an administrator.

Step#2: Once opened,  Enter ‘powercfg /batteryreport’ at the command prompt and then return to the desktop—open file explorer.

Step#3: You will now look in the c:windows:system32 sub-folder for “battery-report.html.” Double-click it once you’ve located it to launch the browser.

Step#4: You may upload it to Microsoft Community and receive replies that have been tailored just for you.

Tips for Taking Care of Laptop Batteries

Conditions

All batteries eventually deteriorate, although this is unavoidable; the rate of deterioration varies. Therefore, you must first confirm that you are utilizing the batteries in the proper atmospheric conditions. Similar to how the ideal situation would be to avoid using or charging your gadget in hot environments. If you do this, lithium-ion batteries may degrade more quickly, permanently reducing their capacity due to the extremely high temperatures.

Since it is generally not a good idea to use a laptop on your lap for heating concerns. You should also avoid doing so here to prevent overheating your battery. It is essential not just when your laptop is in use but also when it comes to protecting it.

Charged Percentage

There are several statistics distributed online to charge your laptop at various percentages. Not all of them, however, are untrue. Microsoft explicitly advises against storing batteries that get more than halfway charged since they may lose their capacity more quickly. Half a cycle would discharge from 100% to 50% and back again. Therefore, before storing your smartphone, it is essential to ensure the battery level is below 50% but not fully depleted. Lithium-ion batteries shouldn’t get discharged often. The only time a battery has to get fully discharged is when a new battery gets installed in a computer device.

Always Charge Your Laptop

If you always have your laptop plugged in, the battery won’t overcharge. All modern computers utilize lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries, which do not overcharge. With computers, though, this isn’t always the case. Some older laptop models may have battery overflow issues if you always leave them on. Therefore, unplugging when you have the required percentages is much preferable.

You don’t need to take any additional measures to use the advice mentioned above; it is pretty straightforward.

Why Does My Laptop Lock When the Battery is Low? - Bottom Line

Windows OS is created e for every situation it may encounter, and having a battery about to die is one such situation. Although the lithium battery in your laptop is an excellent piece of technology, it has a limited lifespan and may eventually run out of power.

Windows OS steps in to rescue the day by locking you out to safeguard the crucial data you have been working on. However, since not many people enjoy it, you may not always want to have this function available. Therefore, I have provided you options to change it to your desire, and you will be OK. However, if you are not attentive while the battery is low, an abrupt shutdown at the battery end might result in data loss.

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Dave Miller with Online Cloud Security

Dave Miller

IT Consultant at Online Cloud Security

Dave Miller is an IT Consultant for Online Cloud Security and has over 7 years of experience in the Information Technology space. He also specializes in repairing laptops & computers. In his spare time, he loves to talk about new technologies and hosts monthly IT and Cyber Security meetings in the Houston area.

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About Online Cloud Security:

Online Cloud Security is here to recommend you the most secure devices, from laptops to smartphones, we only want to provide you with products that we have tested and used ourselves for online security. Every product that we recommend is heavily inspected and tested for security against hackers, viruses, malware, and any other intruders that may want to steal your information. 

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There are several statistics distributed online to charge your laptop at various percentages. Not all of them, however, are untrue. Microsoft explicitly advises against storing batteries that get more than halfway charged since they may lose their capacity more quickly. Half a cycle would discharge from 100% to 50% and back again. Therefore, before storing your smartphone, it is essential to ensure the battery level is below 50% but not fully depleted. Lithium-ion batteries shouldn’t get discharged often. The only time a battery has to get fully discharged is when a new battery gets installed in a computer device.

If you always have your laptop plugged in, the battery won’t overcharge. All modern computers utilize lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries, which do not overcharge. With computers, though, this isn’t always the case. Some older laptop models may have battery overflow issues if you always leave them on. Therefore, unplugging when you have the required percentages is much preferable.

You don’t need to take any additional measures to use the advice mentioned above; it is pretty straightforward.

Online Cloud Security Logo (500x500px)

About Online Cloud Security

Online Cloud Security is here to recommend you the most secure devices, from laptops to smartphones, we only want to provide you with products that we have tested and used ourselves for online security. Every product that we recommend is heavily inspected and tested for security against hackers, viruses, malware, and any other intruders that may want to steal your information. 

Recent Posts: