Laptop switches between AC and battery power while gaming
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MellowPine47
I have an MSI GE60 that seems to have a power problem. Even when the battery is fully charged, Windows estimates only about 30–50 minutes of remaining battery life. When I play a demanding game, especially on a busy server, the screen sometimes flickers and the laptop eventually shuts down. During the flickering, the power indicator repeatedly changes between battery and plugged-in mode, even though the charger remains connected the entire time. I'm not sure whether the issue is the battery, the charger, or something else. Any troubleshooting advice would be appreciated.
Answers
Check the battery’s actual health rather than relying only on the percentage shown in Windows. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run `powercfg /batteryreport`. Windows will tell you where it saved the report. Compare the current full-charge capacity with the original design capacity; if it has fallen below roughly 60%, the battery is probably worn out and should be replaced. A failing battery can sometimes cause other power-related problems too.
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The charger may not be supplying enough power for the laptop under heavy load. When that happens, the system can briefly fall back to battery power, which would explain the flickering and repeated changes between charging states. Make sure the adapter has the correct voltage and wattage for the GE60, and ideally use the original high-wattage MSI charger. A damaged charger, loose connector, or incorrect replacement adapter could produce the same symptoms.
MellowPine47: I bought the laptop used, so I’m not sure whether the charger is original. I checked it and it appears to be slightly different, so I’ll compare its voltage and wattage with the laptop’s required specifications.
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MellowPine47: I tried running that command, but nothing seemed to happen. I’ll check whether I opened Command Prompt with administrator permissions and look for the saved report location.