A Laptop Battery That Has Swollen

Stop using it, and do not press on it. A trackpad that has risen, a case that rocks on a flat table, or a base panel with a new gap at the seam is pressure from inside — and on a laptop that is almost always the battery.

It is a damaged lithium cell. That calls for care rather than alarm: stop charging, stop using, do not puncture, do not bend, and do not leave it in a hot car. Then deal with it properly.

A note on this guide: this rests on how lithium pouch cells fail and on manufacturers' and recyclers' published handling guidance, not on cells tested here. If you are unsure at any point, a service centre is the right answer. See how we test.

The problem, as it appears

Rarely as a battery complaint. It arrives as mechanical symptoms:

• The trackpad has stopped clicking properly, or clicks unevenly, or sits proud.
• The laptop rocks on a table that is flat.
• The keyboard has a soft bulge under one area.
• The base panel has a gap along a seam that was not there before.
• On older machines, the lid no longer closes flush.

People take it to be a hinge, a dropped machine, or a trackpad failure. All of those are what the battery pushing outward looks like from the top.

Why the obvious response disappoints

The obvious response is to keep using it plugged in, on the reasoning that the battery is no longer needed.

It disappoints for two reasons. The battery is still in the circuit and still being charged and managed. And the pressure is still there, still rising, and still working against the trackpad, the keyboard and — on a thin machine — the screen. A cheap part becomes an expensive assembly.

The other tempting response is to relieve the pressure. Never puncture it. The swelling is gas produced by a chemical breakdown inside a sealed pouch; opening that pouch exposes the contents to air, which is the exact event that makes this dangerous rather than merely broken.

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What actually matters

1. Stopping, immediately

Shut it down, unplug it, and put it somewhere non-flammable and away from anything that matters — not on a sofa, not in a bag, not in a car.

If you need the data off it first, do that in one session on a hard surface with the vents clear, and then stop.

2. Whether the battery is screwed or glued

This decides whether it is a home job.

Screwed or clipped: realistic with the right driver and a careful hand. Disconnect the battery connector before anything else, and lift the cell by its frame rather than by the pouch.

Glued in: a service centre job. Removing an adhesive-mounted swollen cell means levering and heating exactly the thing you must not lever or heat, and that trade is not worth it.

3. Buying a replacement that is worth fitting

The failure mode of a cheap replacement is the failure mode you just had. Look for a stated capacity that matches the original, a correct part number for your exact model, and a seller who will take a return.

While the machine is open, the vents and fan will be full of dust — that is frequently part of why the cell cooked in the first place.

4. Disposing of it properly

A damaged lithium cell does not go in household waste and does not go in the supermarket bin meant for AA cells. Tape the terminals, keep it in something non-flammable, and take it to a recycling point that accepts damaged lithium batteries — promptly, rather than storing it in a cupboard for months.

The options, and who each suits

Replace it yourself if the battery is screwed or clipped in and you have the right driver. Common on business machines and older laptops.

Service centre if it is glued, if the machine is thin, or if you are not confident. This is not a retreat — it is the correct call for the adhesive case.

Retire the machine if it is old enough that a battery plus your time approaches its value. Worth being honest about, and when an upgrade is not worth it is the argument for deciding that on numbers.

Keep using it plugged in: no. Named here because it is what people do, and it is the one option that makes everything worse.

Stopping the next one

Three causes, all partly controllable: age, heat, and long periods at a high state of charge.

The standard recipe is a laptop that lives permanently plugged in at 100%, on a soft surface that blocks its intakes. Getting air under it and using a charge limit where the manufacturer offers one addresses two of the three.

The same battery-health argument, made properly for devices you keep for years, is in handheld battery health over years and charging a handheld properly — the chemistry does not care what shape the device is.

The mistake to avoid

Carrying on because it still works. It does still work, and the pressure is rising against parts that cost considerably more than the battery. On thin machines the screen is what fails next.

The second mistake is storing the removed cell "until the next tip run". A damaged lithium cell in a cupboard or a garage is the one thing on this page that has no upside — recycling points take them, and taking it there this week is the whole job.