Why is this happening?
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (48404)
Staten Island, New York
April 29, 2025 2:21pm CST
I have a Lenovo Yoga laptop. For a while now I’ve been getting a message on my laptop that my battery is weak and needs to be replaced. When I use my laptop sometimes it becomes slightly hot. And sometimes when it’s plugged in the adapter gets slightly hot as well. The adapter is fairly new. Is all this happening because of the battery? I don’t want to buy a new battery because I’ve had this laptop for a while and perhaps it’s time for a new one.
There are other issues as well. Sometimes the screen can start flickering for no reason and the only way it stops is if I plug the laptop into the outlet. Sometimes my screen autorotates by itself and won’t stop, even though I have the rotate thing locked. Thankfully, haven’t experienced that in a while. And if I switch it to tablet mode it gets slow and doesn’t work well. I’ve stopped trying to use it as a tablet.
10 people like this
10 responses
@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
29 Apr
I don't know what to tell you. When I left Latvia I had bought a used Toshiba laptop and it worked just fine, Then my friend here zapped it up one time to make sure it keep going and now for 7 years it is up and working with no problems,
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
I’d be hesitant to buy a used laptop.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (126586)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 May
My Apple MacBook Pro laptop started doing similar things when it was about 12 years old. It was just old age, old batteries, old software. At some point, the hardware supporting the software can't keep up with the technology and power needs of the continuous upgrades. The old processors just aren't powerful enough to keep up with the latest software upgrades.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (126586)
• Gainesville, Florida
3 May
@lovebuglena The last three laptops I purchased were refurbished MacBooks that I bought directly from Apple. When they refurbish them, they sell them at half the price and with the full warranty. All three of the ones I bought lasted over 10 years each.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
3 May
@moffittjc I’m hesitant getting refurbished tech stuff.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
3 May
Time for a change. But don’t want anything very expensive and/or bulky. At the same time don’t want to compromise on quality.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (40543)
• Philippines
30 Apr
I recently purchased yoga, and so far, it is working well for me. Could you tell me the age of your unit? If that message appears, it might be a sign that the battery needs to be changed. It would be wise to have it examined by their service center because the battery issue could be the cause of all those other problems.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (40543)
• Philippines
30 Apr
@lovebuglena Since the laptop is from 2015, it's already quite old. Most laptops typically start having issues around the 3- to 5-year mark, especially with regular use. If it's already showing battery replacement messages and the screen is flickering, it's reasonable to expect some hardware deterioration. In this case, allowing a battery replacement seems necessary given its age and usage.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
I got probably 2015, if not earlier than that. I think the flickering and autorotate started when my laptop automatically updated from windows 7 to windows 10.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (52192)
•
30 Apr
@lovebuglena
Lena, if you got ten years out of a laptop that’s pretty good. Sometimes a battery change can help, or just plug it in and use it that way.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91051)
• Arvada, Colorado
30 Apr
I am so sorry you are having these issues Lena..as to why..I wouldn't have a clue except that most things are junk these days..including all my stuff too.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91051)
• Arvada, Colorado
30 Apr
@lovebuglena I know everything is so dang expensive..and how do you know that it will be okay til you buy it. Course always make it so you can return it I guess. Electronics are always hard to return..Walmart gives you two weeks to return laptops.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
I have a feeling I may need a new laptop. They are expensive though. 
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
@RebeccasFarm Mine still works though but the fact that it can get hot I do not like. And then sometimes it just stops working—a blue screen appears and the laptop restarts. Hate this too.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
Hope it stays that way. It never gets hot?
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
@JudyEv that’s not good but maybe that happens because not enough air circulation when it’s on your lap?
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (208182)
• United States
30 Apr
You might end up getting a new laptop if it's that old.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
Don’t know exactly when I got it but could be 2015 at least based on email I found from Best Buy.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (208182)
• United States
1 May
@lovebuglena You're due for a new one.
1 person likes this
@kareng (79879)
• United States
30 Apr
If your laptop is getting hot, perhaps you need a cooling pad under it. This does drain the battery and could be why your are getting low battery messages.
No clue on the flickering unless the power supply is about to go out. Good luck. I would back up the files and photos I wanted to keep now and not wait.
1 person likes this
@kareng (79879)
• United States
1 May
@lovebuglena Pretty sure it doubled the amount of space. And I don't think you would lose anything on your PC if you deleted from one drive. Maybe someone else can confirm that? I've been away from computer technology since I retired in 2017.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
When my windows updated it asked me if I wanted to back up files to OneDrive. I agreed. Files started backing up automatically, without me being asked which ones I want to back up. Shortly after I got a message that I ran out do space. They only give 5GB free. Gotta pay for more. Not everything backed up of course. But I don’t want to pay for storage. I already do that for my iPhone.
Because I agreed to back up stuff it automatically took all the files from This PC and moved it to OneDrive folders. I had to copy them all and put them back to This PC because I was worried I might lose them if I try to do stuff on OneDrive. I wonder if that doubled the amount of storage used on my PC.
I wonder if I can remove everything from OneDrive without losing it from my PC and then choose which files I want to have on OneDrive.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (81249)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
30 Apr
How much did you pay for the machine? Often times replacing the battery, costs more then it would be to replace the machine. Looks like you might have cable and or grafics issues, too. given the screen problems. Again, completely normal, for an aged machine, but not cost effective to fix.
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
30 Apr
Don’t remember how much I paid for it. But it definitely wasn’t cheap.
@Ineeddentures (13220)
•
29 Apr
Right Lena is it Windows 7 or Windows 10?
It sounds to me like a factory reset might be a good idea.
There are too many issues all at once so what I suggest is a factory reset and then check if all these issues are still happening.
When you charge the battery, does it reach 100%?
Is the adapter the correct one and is the cable working ok. It may not be.
But the flickering screen and the auto rotate thing suggest it might be on its way out.
Maybe is time for a new one
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
29 Apr
I have Windows 10. Battery charges all the way but when I use the laptop without plugging it in it depletes very quickly. The adapter is not the original one as the wire ripped in the one that came with the laptop. But it is still a Lenovo adapter that works with my laptop. It seems to work fine.
If I were to do a factory reset would I lose all the stuff saved on my laptop?
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (48404)
• Staten Island, New York
29 Apr
@Ineeddentures Yes, I had a message pop up on my laptop about that.
1 person likes this
@Ineeddentures (13220)
•
29 Apr
@lovebuglena
Not if you back it all up first.
But support ends for Windows 10 soon anyway.
Invest in Windows 11 Lena.
