Fix: Laptop Runs Slow When Plugged In

Laptops are designed to maximize performance on AC power and conserve power when running on battery. But if your laptop runs slow when plugged in, clearly something is wrong. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to troubleshoot and fix it.

Suggested: Fix: Huge FPS Drop when Laptop is Unplugged.

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Why does my laptop lag when on charge?

If your laptop lags or slows down when plugged in, most likely some settings are badly configured. Most commonly, the power plan settings in Windows 10 are misconfigured. Rarely, corrupted drivers or damaged battery can cause this problem as well.

How do I make my laptop run faster when plugged in?

You can make your notebook run fast again by reconfiguring settings in a few places. Here we have compiled a few potential fixes for the problem.

1. Check your Power plan settings

This is often the first thing to check when you have power-related issues. Go to Windows search, type “edit power plan”, and open it.

The following window will appear:

Click “Restore default settings for this plan”, hit yes in the confirmation window. The problem should be gone.

2. Remove the Battery

Sometimes a faulty battery can cause this problem. If your battery is removable, remove it and run the laptop on AC power. If the problem goes away, it’s a battery issue. Just buy a new one, or use the laptop without one.

3. Reinstall Battery drivers

While rare, a corrupted or buggy battery driver can also cause this problem. Remove the old battery drivers, so Windows can reinstall a fresh version.

  1. Go to Device Manager.
  2. Select Batteries.
  3. Right-click on the “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery”.
  4. Click Uninstall.
  5. At the prompt, put a check in the box to remove the current driver.
  6. Restart the laptop.
  7. Go to Device Manager, again.
  8. Right-click on the “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery”.
  9. Click “Search automatically for updated driver software”.

Do the same for “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Embedded Controller”, if you see it in the device list.

4. Reset UEFI / BIOS settings

UEFI or BIOS is a piece of software that performs hardware initializations. Frankly speaking, the software turns on your laptop and starts the OS when you push the power button.

Some laptops include power management features in the UEFI/BIOS. A badly configured BIOS can be a potential reason your laptop runs slow when plugged in. So it’s always a good idea to reset BIOS settings.

You can access BIOS settings when the laptop boots by pressing specific keys (commonly Esc, Del, F12, F2, etc). Just google how to reset BIOS for your laptop model, you’ll find tons of how-tos.

Update your BIOS

If resetting the BIOS didn’t work, try updating it. Even if no update is available, just reflash the current version. You can find the BIOS firmware and flash tools on the manufacturer’s website.

Don’t know how to flash BIOS? Here’s a tutorial from PCGamesN:

How to safely perform a BIOS update – ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte | Hardware

5. Reinstall Windows

If it doesn’t fix the issue, reinstall windows. This makes sure that any software issue isn’t causing the problem.

Seek expert help

If nothing worked, maybe your laptop has hardware problems. In that case, you should go find an expert.

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