Charger Not charging the battery on my Laptop
Faulty Laptop Charger
There are a couple of ways to find out if your Laptop charger is faulty. Firstly, if you have a multi-meter available, test it by inserting the positive into the centre of the charger barrel and the negative to the outside. This will give you the voltage out (typically 19v but could also be 15v, 18v or 20v) - check it against what it should be on the bottom of the charger. Some Laptop chargers have a pin sticking out (mainly Hp, Compaq and Dell Laptop chargers). For these types, make sure you do not short the center pin with the inside of the barrel
The second way is much easier - but only if your charger will fit in a friends Laptop! Just plug it in and see if it charges the Laptop Battery.
The second way is much easier - but only if your charger will fit in a friends Laptop! Just plug it in and see if it charges the Laptop Battery.
Disconnect the mains plug and wait 30 seconds, get a pin / needle and look inside the barrel where you will see 2 pins against side of the barrel wall on opposite sides (where you can see the notches in the pic above), now push the pin to the outside of each pin inside the barrel and ease towards the centre of the barrel, allowing enough room for the centre pin inside the laptop socket to be inserted. Sometimes the pins inside the barrel get pushed to the outer walls over prolonged use and no longer makes sufficient contact with the centre pin in your laptops' socket. This also sometimes fixes the "plugged in but not charging" message.
Faulty Battery
Laptop batteries are basically...rechargeable batteries that will eventually lose their ability to charge. They can last from 6 months (ive head less but not seen it) to 8 years (I've had a few that have lasted that period of time). Why do Laptop batteries last varying amounts of time? Well it's MOSTLY down to the user. The worst thing one can do is to keep the charger plugged in and never use the battery...it will shorten the life of the battery considerably. The best way to prolong a batteries life is to unplug it from the mains every week and deplete the battery..then charge it back up (you can still use your Laptop of course). Your battery WILL last longer!
So to establish whether it is faulty is fairly easy - when you disconnect the Laptop charger the Laptop turns off. Also within windows 7 / 8, you may see a message in the bottom right corner which tells you the battery needs replacing.
>>>Try **Tip A above<<< The battery may seem faulty, but if the pins inside the barrel of the charger are not making a connection, then the battery may not charge. Secondly, try this:
**Tip B to extend your battery's life - try this. Fully charge the battery, unplug the Laptop charger, use the Laptop for as long as it runs the laptop until it turns off. Take the battery out, plug in the charger and then put the battery back into the Laptop and fully charge. Repeat these steps 3 or 4 times. This has saved many a battery for me, but it doesn't work all the time, but it's definitely worth a go.
If the tips above don't work and you still get message saying you need to replace your battery, or it will not turn on using the battery alone, then it's probably faulty and it could be time to replace it. But before you do - it still may be the DC socket on your Laptop.
So to establish whether it is faulty is fairly easy - when you disconnect the Laptop charger the Laptop turns off. Also within windows 7 / 8, you may see a message in the bottom right corner which tells you the battery needs replacing.
>>>Try **Tip A above<<< The battery may seem faulty, but if the pins inside the barrel of the charger are not making a connection, then the battery may not charge. Secondly, try this:
**Tip B to extend your battery's life - try this. Fully charge the battery, unplug the Laptop charger, use the Laptop for as long as it runs the laptop until it turns off. Take the battery out, plug in the charger and then put the battery back into the Laptop and fully charge. Repeat these steps 3 or 4 times. This has saved many a battery for me, but it doesn't work all the time, but it's definitely worth a go.
If the tips above don't work and you still get message saying you need to replace your battery, or it will not turn on using the battery alone, then it's probably faulty and it could be time to replace it. But before you do - it still may be the DC socket on your Laptop.
Faulty DC socket
One of the most common repairs we do is DC sockets on Laptops. The plug into the socket is a bad design and wasn't thought through very well. The lead gets pulled and knocked around and usually the socket on your motherboard inside the Laptop is soldered on by 5 points. It's very easy to knock this socket from its position and make it loose - breaking the solder connections. The way to see if it's loose is to unplug from the mains and take the battery out. Get a pen or something small of that size, insert gently into the socket and just wiggle it about to see if there is any movement from the socket. You may get a little (only a little though) movement from the center pin...but the rest should be solid. If there is excessive movement anywhere from the socket then it has been knocked off its solder points and will need re-soldering or replacing. Also if you know the charger to be fault-free then this may also indicate it's a socket problem. Another basic test is to have your battery in with the charger lead, GENTLY move the charger plug around to see if there is an intermittent connection by looking at the charging light on your Laptop at the same time. This would indicate either the charger or socket...so first try **Tip A to make sure the charger is connecting properly. If not and the light comes on with movement of the charger barrel, then if you know the Laptop charger to be ok, then it's the socket at fault and needs to be repaired.
Faulty motherboard
If you do the tests above and the Laptop charger is working ok on another Laptop or the voltage checks out on a multi-meter, and the socket seems to be ok...the chances are it's your battery and VERY occasionally your motherboard. Sometimes this can be tricky to diagnose. If you know for a fact the the Laptop charger is ok, the socket is ok and the battery is ok, then all that's left is the motherboard. You cannot really test it other than by stripping it down and knowing which chips to test on the board - so most of it is a process of elimination I'm afraid unless you want to take it to your local Laptop Engineer, which won't be cheap.
If your Laptop is not turning on at all...then the chances are the VGA chip has become hot and overheated the board to the point of lifting the VGA chip from the board. The fix for this not a guarantee and in my experience the repair doesn't usually last forever. Might be time for a replacement board.
If your Laptop is not turning on at all...then the chances are the VGA chip has become hot and overheated the board to the point of lifting the VGA chip from the board. The fix for this not a guarantee and in my experience the repair doesn't usually last forever. Might be time for a replacement board.