dexergo1

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Jun 27, 2015
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Hi, I have an Acer Aspire 5 A515-51G-56K9, it's about 1 year old now.

The battery has already been once replaced because it had a 80% Wear Level according to HWinfo. The laptop came with a 65W charger, which heats up quite a lot, while charging especially charging while playing games.

Recently, whenever the laptop is running graphic heavy games, like Siege, Counter-Strike, CoD and I turn on the charger the game starts lagging heavily.

From 60-90 FPS on Battery Power to 5-15 FPS while Plugged In. The laptop also doesn't charge while this is happening, it just says "Plugged In Not Charging" and the charging light keeps blinking, if I play lighter games like Danganronpa etc. the laptop charges and discharges normally and there's no lag.

One interesting thing to note is that this only happens if I plug in the laptop below 50% power, if the power is above 50% the laptop doesn't charge, but the games also don't lag, below 50% the games run normally 60-90 FPS on battery power until the laptop shuts off due to critical battery but if I plug it in, it starts lagging heavily.

I have underclocked my CPU using ThrottleStop to help alleviate the overheating my laptop used to have, and I also use a cooling pad.

I'm also scared to run games while plugged in at 100% battery because of Table 3 listed in this article:-
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

My old battery got the way it was because it was almost always plugged in while playing games, causing it to have over 80% wear. My current battery is around 1.5 months old and has a 6% wear already, so I keep charging and discharging it while using my laptop instead of just leaving it plugged in.

As for the lagging issue, could it be because my charger is getting old and faulty after 1 year of use and heating? Also, is 65 W really enough when 60-100% of CPU and 100% of GPU (Nvidia MX 150) is being used?

Should I replace my charger? Or use a higher wattage one? Though I haven't found a higher wattage charger with yellow pin like the socket my laptop has?

Or should I just keep playing plugged in at 100% battery and let my battery die in a year because it loses it's efficiency due to being at high temperature and high charge at the same time?
Please help.
 
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Solution
Important Update:- My friend owns an Acer Predator Helios 300, it comes with a 135W charger. I used his charger to charge my laptop and it worked normally, but this Plugged In, Not Charging and lagging issue still exists while playing heavy games, ONLY IF THE BATTERY IS BELOW 20%.

If the battery is above 20% the 135W charger is able to charge my laptop as well as smoothly run the games as well. So should I buy a 135W Predator charger?

Edit:- I brought the 135 W charger. Works like a charm now, thanks to all who replied.

Lutfij

Titan
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The laptop comes with an MX150, I'd suggest that you tone down the details(in your games) to see if your power draw as well as your thermals are limited. Replacing the charger won't do much unless you're absolutely sure your OS isn't the issue.

Which version of Windows 10 are you on? Are you on the latest BIOS for your laptop? You can't source a higher wattage adapter for your laptop.
 

dexergo1

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Jun 27, 2015
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The laptop comes with an MX150, I'd suggest that you tone down the details(in your games) to see if your power draw as well as your thermals are limited. Replacing the charger won't do much unless you're absolutely sure your OS isn't the issue.

Which version of Windows 10 are you on? Are you on the latest BIOS for your laptop? You can't source a higher wattage adapter for your laptop.

I have latest Windows 10 1903, before this I was on Windows 10 1803 which had the same issue, I only updated my OS 2 weeks ago. I also updated my BIOS to the latest version on the same day, the previous BIOS also had the same issue.

I already run the games at bare minimum settings while still establishing enough visual fidelity so I can see stuff properly, the MX 150 isn't exactly a very powerful GPU.

Earlier my laptop used to have an overheating and thermal throttling issue because the stock thermal paste that Acer applies on all of it's laptops had dried up and was like chewing gum when I removed it. I replaced it with Arctic MX-4, and the temperatures have dropped significantly since then, and no thermal throttling.

Peak temperatures:

Before MX-4 :- 95-99°C + Thermal Throttling
After MX-4 :- 80-90°C + No thermal throttling
(data according to HWinfo64)

So I don't think BIOS and OS are really the issue here.
 

dexergo1

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Jun 27, 2015
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Also, why can't I source a higher wattage adapter? Do yellow pin adapters with 65+W don't exist?

(Sorry I don't really know the adapters and their color coding very well)

Edit: does colour really matter? My current charger pin is 5.5 mm x 1.7 mm (Yellow), 19V 3.42A 65W with Positive base polarity.

I saw some third party chargers on Amazon with same measurements, and 19V 7.11A 135 W, however their colour was different, some being blue, black or purple tipped. Will colour really matter if the pin size is the same?
 
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dexergo1

Reputable
Jun 27, 2015
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4,640
Important Update:- My friend owns an Acer Predator Helios 300, it comes with a 135W charger. I used his charger to charge my laptop and it worked normally, but this Plugged In, Not Charging and lagging issue still exists while playing heavy games, ONLY IF THE BATTERY IS BELOW 20%.

If the battery is above 20% the 135W charger is able to charge my laptop as well as smoothly run the games as well. So should I buy a 135W Predator charger?

Edit:- I brought the 135 W charger. Works like a charm now, thanks to all who replied.
 
Last edited:
Solution
Apr 27, 2019
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I had the ' plugged in not charging ' issue. It could possibly be the issue of the battery driver or the battery itself. You may want to reisntall the battery driver. I had the same problem, but I noticed that the laptop charges when it's turned off. It got fixed by reinstalling the battery driver and letting the laptop charge while being turned off. For the lag while being charged, go to control panel > system and security > power options and create a high-performance plan. ( I use the high performance plan when playing games. ) Once creating, go to ' change advanced power settings ' and find your graphics related setting. ( I have a setting which says maximize performance or battery life when charging and when not charging. )
 

dexergo1

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Jun 27, 2015
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4,640
I had the ' plugged in not charging ' issue. It could possibly be the issue of the battery driver or the battery itself. You may want to reisntall the battery driver. I had the same problem, but I noticed that the laptop charges when it's turned off. It got fixed by reinstalling the battery driver and letting the laptop charge while being turned off. For the lag while being charged, go to control panel > system and security > power options and create a high-performance plan. ( I use the high performance plan when playing games. ) Once creating, go to ' change advanced power settings ' and find your graphics related setting. ( I have a setting which says maximize performance or battery life when charging and when not charging. )

I already use the High Performance power plan, so that didn't help me.

I tried reinstalling the battery drivers from the Device Manager but the problem still exists.