The battery in my laptop starts charging normally. Then after a few seconds the LED turns off and the battery stops charging.
I have a problem with a Toshiba laptop model M55-S325. When I plug the power cord while the laptop is turned on it starts to charge and the AC power LED turns on as well as the charging LED. Then after a few seconds the charging LED turns off and the battery stops charging but the AC power LED stills on. If I unplug the power cord and plug it again it happens again.
I also noticed that this happens only while I’m in Windows. If I charge my laptop turned off it charges normal. Also during the boot and loading of Windows the charging is normal. I checked the power jack and I don’t thing the problem is there. I move the power cord while connected to check for failures in both the jack and the cable and in both cases the laptop turn off and on but nothing happened, everything is the same. What do you think the problem might be? Please help.
Can the laptop run just on the battery power, when the AC adapter is unplugged?
The problem with your laptops is very similar to a battery charging problem with some Toshiba Satellite A105 laptops. Almost the same symptoms. In case of Satellite A105 the problem could be resolved by upgrading the BIOS version. I think it might work for your laptop too. Go to Toshiba tech support website and download the latest BIOS for your model. It looks like at this moment the latest version is v2.10
You mentioned that the charging problem occurs only in Windows. I think it might be somehow related to Toshiba Power Saver software. Try to reinstall the power saver.
If upgrading the BIOS version and reinstalling the power saver software will not help, you might have a hardware problem. In Satellite M55 the battery connects directly to the system board. So, it might be either the battery failure or the system board failure. The best way to test it is finding a spare battery and test the laptop with the new battery installed.
February 1st, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I am working on a project and was wondering what a typical power draw looks like for a laptop under different loads. My laptop battery will charge just fine with a lower power input when it is turned off. When off, it tries to go into fast charge mode about every 5 seconds, realizes it can’t, and tries again 5 seconds later. Please tell me this is normal for most brands of laptop because it would help me out a lot.
February 1st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I had the same problem with my toshiba p-15 series laptop. After months of working the problem, I stumbled on the solution. It seems the a-c adaptors I was using, despite claims to the contrary, were not exactly the same as the original one supplied by Toshiba. The Barrel plug on the Toshiba’s ends in a black ring on the tip. The inside contact for the inner pin is in no way exposed to the exterior “front” of the plug. The Various aftermarket units I owned, all had the black ring, but the inner pin recepticle is tappered in the front. Aparantly if the cord is turned just right, it would cause a short, and the battery charging cirut protector would kick in, turning off the battery charging, until you reboot.
January 30th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop. The battery charges just fine and the computer runs just fine on battery. However, when plugged in to run off of line power, screen goes blank and it the computer is no longer operational. Any ideas? TIA.
Judy
January 27th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Jeff Wilkes,
Did you check if there is a newer version of BIOS available for you notebook? May be it has a fix for the battery charging problem.
January 27th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I have a Samsung NV5000. Recently, the battery would not charge to more than 24%. Now it wont charge at all. It runs perfectly fine on mains but as soon as it is disconnected it lasts about 3 or 4 minutes then it’s dead. I have bought a new battery for it as well and this does exactly the same. I have now tried another laptop of the same model with a known good battery but as soon as i swapped them over the good battery has now become u/s. I suspect there is something going on with the motherboard. Do i need a new laptop ???
January 21st, 2007 at 3:47 pm
The Atters,
Try this. Remove the battery, plug the adapter and start the laptop. The laptop still turns off after about 5 minutes or it runs fine without the battery installed? May be you have a problem with the power jack?
January 20th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I have found that removing the battery while on and reinserting will let it charge again. On the power saver I set shut-down at 7%. I think when it discharges to 4% or below it thinks something is wrong with the battery. Its been working for months but, if it goes to 4% it will not charge again.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Stephan Lambert,
I think those two behaviors are related.
Try this. Make sure the battery is not fully charged. Turn off the laptop and plug the AC adapter. The battery LED is still off? If yes, then it’s not software related problem. Probably something is wrong with the system board.
You can try upgrading/reflashing the BIOS.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Xavier,
I like that
It’s impossible to narrow down the problem until you test this laptop with a known good battery. It’s possible the battery is dead or the battery charging circuit on the system board is bad.
January 18th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I have a tiny laptop and I am trying to charge the battery, The battery will not charge when system is on or off.
(System off) It starts charging and then after 1-2 minutes the charge light blinks and then the charge light goes out.
(System on) It starts charging and then after about 5 minutes the charge light blinks and then the laptop turns off.
I have removed the battery and cleaned all connections but when I check the power options the battery is not charging.
Could this mean a faulty battery or could there be a fault with the laptop.
Thank you for your time and I hope to receive a reply shortly.
The Atters
January 17th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I have an ASUS M6Ne laptop running Windows XP SP2.
Recently two odd behaviors appeared simultaneously.
1. Normally, when the AC adapter is plugged-in to recharge the battery, the battery led (on the front panel of the laptop) goes on. But now, when the battery is charging, this led remains off (but the battery can be fully charged without problem).
2. Sometimes (not always) when the laptop is in use (with or without opened programs and with or without the AC adapter plugged-in) the power management icon in the system tray (indicating if the laptop is using the AC or DC power) starts to toggle automatically (by itself) between AC and DC power.
Maybe those two behaviors are related. But what could cause them? No software or hardware installation or uninstallation have taken place recently.
Thanks,
Stephan
January 17th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Hey,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A60 and have troubles with the battery. Some time ago I discharged the battery completely and the laptop fell out. When I plugged in the AC cord the charging led flashes amber one time and then does nothing anymore. The AC led is still on. When I unplug the powercord and then reconnect, it’s the same result. By accident, I discoverd when I cut off the 4th pin from the left (when you can read the text on the battery) it charges again. I first have to shut down or hibernate the laptop, then remove the battery, remover the ac power, cut off that pin, reinstall the battery and than instert the AC-power. However, with that method, the pc doesn’t know how much power is left in the battery. The charging last for houres and when the charging led goes out the battery isn’t fully charged. (the first times I did this it was completely charged but not anymore). When the charging led goes out I reconnect al the pins of the battery and I can see how much power I have left. Now it charges till 70 % but after a few minutes working on battery power its already 0%. After it went to 0 I can still work on the battery for about 20-30 minutes.
Is the battery broke or is there another problem?
Thx
January 7th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Re: Gateway Solo 9100 – CMOS Battery
I have found the 3rd battery on the underside of the mothrboard. It is a coin cell marked Panasonic ??AN UL 1220. It measures 2 volts. It is soldered to the motherboard via tabs which are spot welded to it.
I can’t find any references to a UL 1220 just a CR 1220.
I suppose the best method of replacement is to cut the tabs and solder the new battery to the cut off tabs ???
John
PS This required a complete disassembly – lotsa screws.
January 7th, 2007 at 9:39 am
tam,
Unfortunately there is no way to find out what is wrong until you test the laptop with a known good battery. It could be either a bad battery or you might have an issue with the motherboard.
Try reseating the battery if you haven’t done it yet, just remove it from the laptop and put it back. Make sure the contacts on the battery are clean. Try this. Remove the battery from the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and after that press and hold down the power button for about 30 seconds. Put the battery back into the laptop and test again. One more crazy idea. Remove the battery, start the laptop from the AC power and while the laptop is on, put the battery back into the laptop.
January 4th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Hi,
I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 laptop computer. I just recently changed my battery and have had no problems in the two weeks I’ve had it. I did all that was required to insure charging the battery properly and then all of a sudden when I ran it out the last time, put my computer on the ac adapter power cord to charge the battery, I noticed that the battery won’t charge. I can run the computer on the cord, but the battery is completely dead. I did a battery check and it all says that everything checks out in great condition only that it is discharged. I am not quite sure what to do and don’t know what the problem is. Have you heard of any problems like this or have any ideas what I could do to resolve this issue? Thanks for your time!
January 4th, 2007 at 6:53 am
I’m almost positive I need new battery, but thought I would ask before spending $100.I have a Toshiba A15-1292. When I unplug the power it will run off the battery, the battery icon says it is 100% charged and I have 2+ hrs remaining, but within a few minutes I get the “critical battery level” message and it will die. When I plug it back into AC power the battery charge light comes on (and will remain on for over a hour), but I will have the same problem with it dying as soon as it is unpluged. Do I need a new battery? Thanks, John
From the Laptop Freak: this is typical for a dying battery and I posted this question here.
January 1st, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Vinay,
It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on with your laptop, I think you might have multiple issues.
It sounds like there is a problem with the AC adapter or the motherboard. Find a multimeter and test the voltage coming from the AC adapter plug. Check if the voltage is the same as it labeled on the adapter. Make sure the power will not cut off when you move the adapter cord, it’s possible that you have a loose wire inside the adapter power cord. If the power cuts off, replace the adapter.
If I understand right, you have to wiggle the power plug on the back of the laptop in order to start the laptop, right? It sounds like you might have a bad power jack inside the laptop or bad adapter cord (loose wire as I mentioned before). Make sure to test the adapter and see if the power cuts off when you move the cord.
Start the laptop with an external monitor attaches and check the external video. Will it go white if you shake/move/hit the laptop? I know that on some Toshiba laptops the screen can go completely white when the connection between the video cable and the LCD screen is loose. This problem could be fixed by reseating the cable. Not sure about IBM laptops. Before you open the laptop, test the external video output.
December 30th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Hi thank you very much for your reply. actually speaking i never had any problem with my old battery. My laptop is quite old now (almost 3 years) so the battery was quite down. I was not able to run my laptop with out AC supply. So I felt it is important for me to buy a battery. Also, since couple of weeks I had serious problems in switching on my laptop. After the days work,I turn off my laptop. The next day when I want to switch it on, it doesnt switch on so easily. I keep pressing the power button but nothing happens even with the AC supply on. I dont not see the LEDs as well..Then I was simply simulating for the position at the connection point of the power to the laptop (AC adopter cord) and with another finger ont he power button and keep pressing it.. it takes atleast 10 minutes to switch on the computer.. I just could not figure out the problem. It is same everytime I turn off my PC so for the past few days i was not switching it off but only logging off!! So i felt it is because of the battery and i bought a new battery but again the same problem. ALso when there is some kind of force on the table where my laptop is placed, immediately some kind of strange screen appears (completely white screen) and it is difficult to switch off when that screen appears. Then I had to remove the power supply and play around for starting my PC as described above. I think this screen is because of the losse connections somewhere inside!
I apologize for the very lenghty description. but i wanted to put it in simple words and make it more comprehensive! please provide me a solution. what do you think is the problem? is it witht he AC adopter? do I need to check if the power is supplied to the batetry properly. I presume that the battery is not able to get the desired power to charge up! what do you think? Thanks in advance.. regards Vinay
December 29th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Vinay,
Did you have any problem with charging the old battery? Why did you replace it?
December 29th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Hi I have a IBM thinkpad T23. I bought a new battery for my laptop very recently. I am not able to charge it. The battery was initillay charged so I thought of discharging it completely before charging again. SO usedm ylaptop for 1.5 hrs or so with out external power and when it is completely discharged I connected my adapter into my laptop and to my surprise I see that the Laptop battery is still not charging. The power meter shos 0% battery. The LED blinks in orange. I was trying to charge for almost 3-4 hrs but no change. what can be the problem. Please respond!!
December 28th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
John Gallagher,
I linked you to the picture just as an example, so you know what kind of battery you are looking for. I think it would be necessary to remove the system board in order to access and replace the RTC battery. Not sure 100%. Never worked with Gateway laptops.
December 28th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for your quick response.
I have gone in under the keyboard and removed a couple of boards but as yet
can’t see a CMOS battery. The next step looks like a big one, a lot of
disassembly to do.
Unfortunately the Serial # on the laptop is unreadable thus I don’t seem to be
able to get anywhere with Gateway. I have spent a bit of time at the Gateway
site trying to lern something and have found their site can be very
misleading. The results of a search can lead to a page that may not be what
one expects and the pages have little or no identification on them so it is
difficult to tell what type of system they apply to.
Are you confident the link you found is for a Solo 9100 laptop?
December 28th, 2006 at 3:45 am
Hi, I use a Dell Latitude C800 @ work and was hoping you had an idea about the battery LED indicator. Everything seems to operate properly on AC or the battery. After powering up the battery led blinks a few times green with no pattern. Then after 10 seconds or so the led goes into a blinking pattern of 4 amber and 1 green flash at the end. Thanx for your time.
December 27th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
John Gallagher,
There is one more battery – RTC (real time clock) battery also known as CMOS battery. The clock provides a time-of-day clock and a multi-century calendar with alarm features. It’s located inside the laptop and connected directly to the motherboard. I think you have to replace the RTC battery. Here’s a picture I found on the Gateway website.
December 27th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Gateway Solo 9100. The internal clock looses time / days. The main 14.8 volt battery is not very good but I don’t use it so I am not anxious to replace it. There is also a 6.2 volt battery. I can monitor its’ voltage and it goes btween 8.5 & 7.7 volts (2 different digital meters) depending on charge. I have pulled both of these batteries one at a time and left for 12 hours and the clock did not lose time. Could there be a third battery? Does the clock run on eiter the 14.8 or the 6.2 and lose time when both are discharged ? It’s got me a little puzelled.
John
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:43 pm
In case it matters, I figured out the problem with mine; it’s a mainboard problem. May well be far more complicated than just a DC jack failure, but I’m not personally willing to dig deeper to find out. I might have a professional repair later on, and I’ll post the diagnosis for future reference.
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Dave,
It sound like your new battery is bad OR you have a problem with the motherboard. I think it’s just a bad battery.
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:04 pm
HI!
i just got a replacement for my dead HP ZX5000 battery. After i switched on my HP with the new battery, the power status of the battery was 87% (charging)! i removed the AC power and the computer switched off immediately. So I decided to leave the notebook charging for 12 hours. On checking the battery status, it still showed 87%….and still actually holds no charge!
any ideas what’s happening & how i can solve the problem?
thanks
DAve
December 19th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Ron,
May be the contacts got oxidized? Can you see the battery connector on the motherboard and may be clean the contacts? It’s just a guess.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:45 am
I have an IBM notebook that is having power problems. I had left it off for quite a while (1 month) and the battery was discharged so I tried to charge it and the charge light would not come on. Bought a new battery and put it in an charged it but after leaving the unit off for an hour or so it will not even charge unless I remove the battery for a few minutes and put it back in and it will start charging!!! It also sez 85% on the Batt meter!!!
Otherwise the notebook is fine.
What’s up?