Lenovo support recently told me that losing 2% of battery charge every day when shutdown is normal.
My Lenovo IdeaPad does that.
Lithium batteries can physically degrade at 0% charge but not always. In your case, I would expect some degradation but there's no telling how much.
- I've recharged some fully-drained batteries that have been fine afterwards & have kept working for years.
- I've recharged some fully-drained batteries and they've only been able to keep the computer running for little more than the blink of an eye.
- I've attempted to recharge some fully-drained batteries but they have failed to recharge.
I suggest that you connect it to power and find out if it recharges properly while you are around to keep an eye on it.
And, after its fully charged again, find out the ratio of its current full charge to its design charge by running a PowerCfg battery report.
Code:
PowerCfg /batteryreport /output E:\PowerData\BatteryReport.html /Duration 1
using a real folder on your computer in place of my E:\PowerData path.
There is a lot of other data in a battery report but all you are interested in are its
Full charge capacity & its
Design capacity.
Attachment 402158
Then try using it for a while to see if it behaves itself. If it has recharged alright, if it has a decent ratio of
Full charge capacity to
Design capacity and if it powers the computer for a decent period then there is no reason to be worried about battery damage.
I've deliberately used
decent because there are no specific numbers that are right or wrong.
- If that ratio is below 50% then I make a note to start thinking about maybe buying a replacement someday.
- If it no longer powers my computer for as long as I regard as essential, but used to, then I buy a replacement.
Your Lenovo
Hardware Maintenance Manual should give you decent guidance when doing this job. I downloaded mine from the same Lenovo support section that I use for downloading drivers & a user manual.
I have never heard of a laptop that could not be used without its battery being fitted but I think you should ask Lenovo support or see if you can get an authoritative statement about it in the
Lenovo user forums.
On my own Lenovo IdeaPad, it's the F2 key. It is not Fn-F2 despite having a Fn key on my keyboard. It is just F2.
And I think all other Lenovo Ideapads use the same as the Bios key. See
Recommended way to enter BIOS - ideapad - Lenovo Support GB
My own Lenovo IdeaPad's Bios does have a disable battery setting in the Bios, Configuration section.
But it states quite clearly that this is merely a temporary disabling. So it is not suitable for what you have in mind.
Attachment 402160
Yes, the functions would be restored and would work again but you would have to set up some of its entries again.
So it is always worth recording Bios settings in case they get lost. I take photos of each Bios section when I get a new computer, when its Bios gets updated & when I change any settings.
I noticed some discussion of the separate subject of CMOS batteries earlier on in the thread.
My own Lenovo IdeaPad does not have one.
But some laptops do [my Dell Inspiron laptop does] so there's no telling whether yours does or not.
If your computer has a CMOS battery, your Lenovo
Hardware Maintenance Manual should refer to its replacement [possibly just calling it a "coin-cell" battery].
That UTube video one shows a CMOS battery on the left-hand side.
Attachment 402165
Similarly, your Lenovo
Hardware Maintenance Manual should resolve that matter.
You might, like many of us, have an M.2 card as your SSD. An M.2 card is very small, about 2cm [3/4inches] wide and a maximum of about 8cm [3inches] long. Here's mine. It's a replacement. The original Lenovo one was half the length [but, like all M.2 cards, the same width] and was completely hidden by its metal heat shield.
Attachment 402163
And here is the shorter M.2 card my Lenovo IdeaPad came with and its heat shield.
Attachment 402171
That UTube video might show your M.2 SSD in the middle of the picture but it is not clear enough for me to be sure. It is definitely an M.2 device of some kind and it's the same size as the M.2 SSD my Lenovo IdeaPad came with.
Attachment 402166
NVMe M.2 cards look about the same as SATA M.2 cards.
You have to look at their connections to see the difference - the layout of gaps between individual connection pins differs.
NVMe M.2 cards have really become the M.2 SSD standard these days. They are cheaper & faster and people bother making larger & larger ones whilst they've mostly stopped making SATA M.2 cards bigger than 1TB.
And NVMe M.2 cards have really become the standard for laptop 'disks'.
My 2026 Dell Inspiron has an M.2 SATA 'disk' and when that computer eventually dies I do not expect to see another one.
Incidentally, that UTube video also shows what seem to me to be an unused 2.5inch SSD frame. That holds out the possibility that it can fit both an M.2 SSD [as the main OS & applications drive] and a cheaper yet larger 2.5inch SSD [for, say, mp3 files & video files].
Attachment 402167
- My Dell Inspiron laptop also has that capability & I find it extremely useful.
- My own Lenovo IdeaPad does not.
Your original specs should tell you if your computer has that capability.
And your Lenovo
Hardware Maintenance Manual would also resolve that matter by including instructions for replacing both types of SSD.
Best of luck,
Denis
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