Why Does My HP laptop Turn Off When I Unplug It? Let’s Find Out!

ByGraeme Hardware

HP Laptop Switches Off when Unplugged? Read on for our top tips! Why Does My HP laptop Turn Off When I Unplug It? If you are experiencing problems with your laptop shutting down, here are some helpful tips on what to do.

It is unlikely that a faulty power supply could cause your notebook to turn off when unplugged. It may be caused by overheating or a faulty power cord that isn’t providing the correct voltage to your laptop’s battery and preventing it from charging.

It may also be necessary to update the BIOS or repair the cooling fan on your computer. How come my HP laptop turns off when I unplug it? Unplugging it turns it off.

You may have an issue with your power plug, power adapter, or battery if your laptop turns off when you unplug it. Directly plugging your laptop into an outlet is preferred over using an extension cord or surge protector. Read our laptop power issue article if you don’t have an HP.

Table of Contents

Why Does My HP laptop Turn Off When I Unplug It?
Why Does My HP laptop Turn Off When I Unplug It?

HP Laptop suddenly turns off not charging

You might have a few problems if your laptop suddenly stops charging and turning off. It could be that the charger port on your laptop is dirty, or that there is a bad contact on the power cord, or on the power plug itself.

If these are the issues, you will notice that your battery icon keeps switching between charging and disconnected. Therefore, the laptop’s battery is never fully charged while the charging feature is on. 

You may start seeing random power downs and switch offs if your battery is never fully charged.

In order to resolve this problem, you will need to check the charging capabilities of your laptop with different power adapters. It could be that this has only started happening recently and that your battery has not been damaged by incomplete charging cycles. 

If you’ve noticed this happening for some time, your battery may be damaged and needs to be replaced.

What if my HP laptop turns off when it is unplugged and I know that there is no problem with the power cord?

If this is the case then you probably have a faulty battery or charger/power adapter. If your laptop shuts down when unplugged then you could have an issue with your battery or your power management profile.

If you unplug your device and you notice that the battery suddenly drains, or when you unplug your charger cable the notebook asks you to power down the device before it switches off on its own.

HP Laptop Switches Off when Unplugged
HP Laptop Switches Off when Unplugged

Why does my HP laptop only work when the charger is plugged in?

This is normally due to a flat battery, which would also reveal itself as your laptop shuts off when unplugged. 

It is not normal for your laptop to power off when you unplug it, so if this is happening then you are looking at a serious issue. The reason your battery is not charging could be for one of the following reasons:

  • Faulty Battery
  • Faulty Laptop Charger
  • Faulty Power Cord
  • Bad Charging Circuitry on Your Laptop’s Motherboard.

Why does your HP laptop shut down unexpectedly?

Why is my HP laptop just shutting off?

Several possible problems could be causing your laptop to randomly shut down: Windows corruption, power supply problems, and hardware problems. 

Some laptops can shut down even when you don’t unplug them, which may indicate a problem with overheating (thermal shutdown or hardware component failure).

You may also experience random shutdowns and reboots if you have driver problems.

Your laptop will go into hibernate mode and wake up again if your power management settings are incorrect.

To get the best performance from your laptop, set up its advanced power settings properly

There may be moisture on your laptop’s components due to environmental humidity, liquid spills, or even insect infestation in extreme cases. This could cause your laptop to power off randomly.

Regardless of how good you are at using computers and laptops, a random problem can still catch you off guard. Checking the basics of a sudden laptop shutdown will help you fix it.

Most of the time, thermal overload is caused by the motherboard’s thermal overload controls. In other words, critical components on your laptop’s motherboard can usually detect excessive heat and either warn you with a beep or alarm, or shut down entirely in extreme cases.

The issue with cooling and notebooks is that there is an area within the device, which makes airflow a problem.

Most electronic components are very close to one another to save space, which is not always great for system thermals. Our top 5 tips should help you to narrow down the issue, and hopefully, fix it yourself.

IMPORTANT: CHECK YOUR SYSTEM’S WARRANTY AND CHECK IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A FREE REPLACEMENT OR REPAIR BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY REPAIRS

There is probably no worse feeling than when your notebook powers off unexpectedly. Sometimes this is just an inconvenience that happens rarely, or maybe even only once. Other times it can be catastrophic as you can lose the progress of the work that you were busy with.

If the issue starts becoming a regular occurrence then you need to start troubleshooting as soon as you can. We have put together a quick guide to help you figure out what is causing your sudden laptop shutdowns, and how you can try to repair it for yourself. Let’s get started!

HP Laptop Troubleshooting Starting Point

The first thing to do in the event of a sudden laptop shutdown is to check your cooling system. If your laptop was running for a prolonged amount of time, it is possible that you have issues with your cooling fans or ventilating unit.

Review the location of the fan and/or ventilating unit and look at it for dust build-up, sticker residue, water damage, or anything else obstructing its airflow.

Make sure that the blades are not broken, or bent. If a fan is weak, it will cause your laptop to overheat.

Check the back vents on your laptop for dust or obstructions. Sometimes a small speck of dust can have an adverse effect if your cooling system is not working properly. 

Remove any excess heat sinks, and check the thermal paste between each surface and its corresponding chip. If there is no thermal paste, then it’s time to add some in.

Windows Corruption

Windows corruption is not fun. It can be a real headache to remedy, and it can cause all sorts of problems for your computer. Windows corruption issues are usually caused by long periods of high CPU usage, or maybe your hard drive is starting to fail.

If you have a sudden shutdown issue while playing video games, then the beginning of the end of your gaming session is probably a good idea to shut down your device.

If you are getting random restarts while using programs or applications, then there might be some corruption in Windows that is causing the problem to occur. You can resolve Windows corruption by running a chkdsk scan on your hard drive. This is a quick and easy tech solution that can get you back into Windows without needing to call anyone out.

If you are having problems with the scanner tool, then you will need to check that the computer is being recognized by your Device Manager (Control PanelSystem & SecurityDevice Manager). If not, then you will need to update your network card and/or sort out any issues there.

Hardware Issues: HP Laptop Battery and Charge Problems

If you have a hardware issue, the shutdowns may be related to the graphics card. The power cord going into the device may also not fit snugly in the outlet or have loose pins inside of it.

If your notebook is shutting down randomly while plugged in then try checking with another power cord or by using a different one to plug into.

Other hardware issues such as motherboard or video card issues can be another cause for your laptop to randomly shut down. A video card issue might have an effect on the CPU, which could also contribute to a shutdown.

If your laptop is shutting down when you are playing games or performing other CPU-intensive tasks then you should try running a virus scan and defragmentation of your hard drive.

You should also check that you do not have any overheating issues with a laptop cooling pad or by adding more fans to your computer.

There are many reasons why laptops randomly shut down, but most of these issues are easy to fix. It does require some attention and persistence, but it is usually worth it in the long run!

Power Supply Problems

To check if your laptop is suffering from faulty power supply issues, you will need to plug the laptop into a different outlet. If it starts working again then that was the problem! It may be time for an upgrade as well.

You can also check that the power cord is securely plugged into the laptop and the electrical socket. If there is a loose connection anywhere, then you should be able to see it or feel it with your hands.

If your laptop still thinks that it is not getting any electricity, then you will need to look at replacing some of the internal parts.

If your laptop still thinks that it should be getting electricity even when you are sure that all parts are properly connected, then there might be a fault with the motherboard.

That is not to say that this will happen in every case. Some motherboards might have electromagnetic interference issues from something like a cordless phone or a wireless router.

It’s a good idea to try running your laptop on battery power and checking if it is still shutting down.

Software Driver Problems

Laptops are just computers at heart, so they can suffer from many of the same issues that desktop computers do. Drivers are one of those things that can cause huge problems for your laptop without you even being aware of it.

You will need to go and install new drivers. Sometimes they come preinstalled on the laptop but more often than not, you will need to go out and download them yourself.

It’s always a good idea to put your drivers in a separate folder on your computer in case you ever want to uninstall them again. It will make it much easier to find the right drivers and uninstall them if you ever have a problem with one of them.

If your drivers are outdated or corrupted then they may not be doing their job correctly. This could contribute to many different issues including random shutdowns.

Not many people know this, but your Microsoft Windows installation has a lot of power management settings that make your laptop more efficient when it is not plugged into a charger. If you need to run your device in an area where you need to unplug it, then checking out your power profile is a good idea.

Why Does My HP laptopTurn Off When I Unplug It?

If your laptop is powering off when you unplug it then it is unlikely to be a power management misconfiguration, but it is worthwhile finding out what your current power profile is.

To find out what your laptop is currently running, do the following. Click on Start, type in “Power” and select the Choose Power Plan option. Then once you have that window open, you can see what your current plan is.

Most people find that the “Balanced” profile is sufficient, so double check what you have selected and turn on the profile that suits your needs the best. 

From this area, you can edit your power profile and decide what your laptop shut screen action does. This can be set so that the device goes into hibernate, logs out, or even does nothing.

Wrapping Up: Why Does my HP laptop switch off after unplugging the charger?

Hopefully, these tips will help you narrow down why your HP laptop is shutting down or turning off, and that you have now resolved the problem where your HP laptop turns off when unplugged.

You can let us know if you have found a way to diagnose and resolve random shutdown issues without having to pay someone else to come and fix it for you if you have done so.

It is our hope that you have found out how to prevent issues and that your laptop no longer shuts down.

Graeme is a CompTIA and Microsoft Certified IT professional with an interest in computers, cybersecurity, internet technologies, WiFi routers, and Internet Service Providers. He is highly knowledgeable and has over 20 years of experience working in the industry and has written for places such as CBT Nuggets, InfoSec, and Engineering.com.