IT Helpdesk

← Knowledge Base

Battery draining fast or not holding charge (health check, error 601 and fixes)

Hardware & Devices · 1 views · 🧭 Guided walkthrough

We'll try the quick fixes, then check the battery's real health. Tell me after each step whether it helped.

Prefer the full text? See all steps at once
Use this when the battery drains fast, drops in big jumps, shuts down at a random percentage, or the laptop only runs while plugged in. Some of this is settings; some is a worn battery β€” the health check tells you which.

1. Lower brightness and turn on Battery saver (Settings > System > Power & battery).
2. Close battery-draining apps (Power & battery > Battery usage).
3. Unplug external devices (USB drives, dongles, phone).
4. Update BIOS/firmware and drivers from the maker's support site.
5. Run a battery health check β€” Windows: powercfg /batteryreport ; Ubuntu: upower -i $(upower -e | grep BAT). Compare full-charge vs design capacity.
6. A 601 alert, low capacity, or 'only runs on charger' means the battery is worn and should be replaced.

Raise a ticket to request a battery replacement; attach the battery report if you have it.

batterychargedischarge601battery healthpowerdrain

Was this helpful?

Related articles