Laptop switching to battery while connected to AC adapter
Laptop switching to battery power while turned on with AC adaptor
Model: Toshiba Satellite A70-TS100E
I was wondering if you could help me in identifying the cause of this problem.
While turned on, the laptop will switch to battery power even if connected with the AC adaptor (sometimes during boot-up, or after a while) until the battery drains out, he then goes to hibernation (the battery light is off). If no battery in the laptop, it will shut down, and the AC light will blink very fast. The battery (li-ion) will only charge up to 10%, where it then jumps right up to 100%, and will discharge from 100% to 90% then jump to 0%, go to hibernation, and fails to complete the process, shutting down. The adaptor makes a small “camera flash charging” sound, stabilizing at 19v. When charging, it repeatedly makes the “charging sound” Faulty AC adaptor? Or Faulty battery? Or Both?
I think you might have a few different problems at the same time.
First problem: the laptop switches to battery power even with connected AC adapter. Most likely you have a faulty power jack. It’s either broken or loose. It’s a known issue with Satellite A70/A75 laptops and you can fix it by replacing/resoldering the power jack or relocating it outside laptop case.
It also could be a problem with the power cord. Find a multimeter and check the AC adapter. See if the power cuts off when you jiggle the power cord. If it does, replace the adapter.
Second problem: the battery will discharge from 100% to 90% and then jump to 0%. It sounds like a bad battery.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Hi! Thanks for your reply – i`m glad that it`ll could be only minor problem with solder.
Well i think i`ll try to do it my self, since “pro” company wants a lot of money for it. But have another question
Should i totally unsolder socket from motherboard and solder it again or i`ll be good to only put new solder on existing one?
Thank again for your help! I appreciate that!
February 27th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Vir,
I think it still could be a power jack related problem, it’s very common for Satellite M30X and M35X notebooks. I’ve seen it hundreds times and sometimes the problem is intermittent and it’s very hard to reproduce the problem. Laptop might work for hours and then soddenly switches to the battery power without any reason. Unplugging and plugging back the power adapter “fixes” the laptop for a few more hours.
In some cases you cannot make it fail just by moving the cord or jiggling the power plug. Most likely the jack is still connected to the motherboard but the solder that keeps the jack in place has a micro-crack and the laptop looses power intermittently (when it warms up for example).
I would try to resolder the power jack first. If you are going to fix this laptop yourself this disassembly guide (www.irisvista.com) for Satellite M30X or M35X notebook might be useful for you.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:40 am
Hi there!
I have kind of that problem with mine Toshiba Satelite M30X. Well quite same, there are differences:
- computers is running very well when on table (or other stable surface) – nothing happens, everything is just fine
- when i hold it on knees it’s also working good, but sometimes battery LED is suddenly going off and system is switching to battery. When i unplug and insert again power cord – everything is back to normal. It’s not permament – i still can work hours holding it on knees and everything’s just fine and one moment – *blink* and it’s on battery.
- i`ve manipulated the jack around socket and didn’t noticed LED flickering or turning off. Shaked whole notebook and still nothing – like problem even doesn’t exist.
- tested AC – aprox. 19+ V
Well i think that if it`ll be motherboard/electronics issue, then there should be no matter if laptop is on table or knees – battery should acting weird both times.
Other hand – if it’ll be real power jack problem it should turn off battery when moving cord right?
So i don’t understand – could it be some minor problem with power socket? Somthing like not full crack, that maintances power supply for sec. but not such strong to unable normal functionality? How you think? Be glad for any comments on it!
February 17th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Dan,
I think it’s a problem with the power port on the motherboard. You got the laptop about half a year a go so it still should be covered under warranty.
You move your laptop with the power cord attached, correct? Yes, it could be a cause of the problem because if you accidentally pull the power cord while it’s still attached to the computer, you are stressing the power jack and overtime the jack might lose connection with the motherboard.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Hi
My laptop seems to have the same problem. mines is a HP dv5120us which i got about half a year ago. At first i thought it was a power cord problem and bought a new one but it didn’t work. I tested it with my cousins laptop which is the same model with my battery and powercord and stuff which worked perfectly fine on his computer.
Is it the port which my power cord goes into or other parts that connect with the battery?
i move my laptop around alot could that be a cause of my problem?
February 8th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Hi. I wrote in earlier about my ac jack. We have to plug it in and pull the cord toward us for it to charge. It plugs in on the side. I am hoping from what I have read we can just get a new jack soldered on. But now we are having a new issuse pop up. Every now and then upon restart the computer will beep 3 times. I looked this up and found out something about the first 64 of memory. I did the windows memory diagnostic, but it didn’t show anything wrong. It dosen’t do it all the time, so I wonder if that is why it’s not showing. Thanks, Kim
February 7th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Eric,
Good to hear that the adapter solved your problem. That’s interesting because I got a universal adapter and the output voltage is around 16.3V. That solved the problem for me as well. There may also be current differences.
By the way, it also turns out that I have a bad battery which discharges very quickly.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Ming
Thankz for the replay, guess your are right. retested the ac it show 15.43v, i got another av from deferent laptop it show 15.6v. when connect the 15.6v ac to the laptop every thing works fine, when connect 15.43v to laptop same thing happen again. 0.2v make that much deferent ??
February 6th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Eric,
See my post #18 and the response #20. I think our laptops have similar problems.
I have since disassembled my laptop to expose the power jack. I originally measured the output voltage of the adapter to be 15.6V. When I connect the adapter to the power jack, the output voltage from the power jack is around 15.4V, not much difference. Therefore, I think the problem is the adapter since the label says output voltage should be 16V. I’m not sure if my logic is valid but it would be interesting to know what the output voltage of your adapter is.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
hello!
i have a sony laptop here, it boot up goes to window with battery no problem. when using ac and battery to boot into windows , the power icon will switch between ac and battery in a very fast way. if just using the ac laptop only boot up for 2 to 3 second the shut off
is a vaio pcg-v505ex i alrealy check the ac and power jack it both works fine, tried with deferent mem same problem. any idea what is wrong with it?
thankz in advance.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Ming,
So the “AC plugged in” message appears only for a moment when you plug the power adapter, then it switches to “Running on batteries” and you cannot switch it back to AC if you wiggle the power plug or move the cord, right? Most likely there it’s just a power jack problem and you’ll have to resolder it. But there is a small possibility that something is wrong with the AC adapter.
I would take a look at the power jack before ordering a new AC adapter.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Hello! I have an hp dv4305. I am having a problem with my power jack. My husband was holding the laptop, and it slid off onto his legs and bumped the ac plug. Now it will only charge if we put pressure on it. I guess I really need to know how to check it. Thanks, Kim
January 28th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I have a Sony Vaio (model PCG-V505DX). The problem is that when I plug in the AC adapter, it powers the laptop intermittently. Windows shows messages that switch between “AC plugged in” and “Running on batteries”, and the messages alternate very fast. I tried adjusting the connector and the wires on the AC adapter but there was no improvement. I checked the output of the AC adapter which shows around 15.6V rather than the 16V indicated on the label. I assume that is probably OK. So does that leave the power jack as the potential problem? I appreciate any feedback on this issue. Thanks.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Jean,
steps:
You can replace the power jack in three “easy”
1. Find a new power jack. You can find it really cheap here, if you search by P25 power jack
2. Remove the motherboard from the laptop
3. Replace the jack
I hope it helps.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite P25-S5263 and I need to replace the power jack on it, is there some kind of easy tutorial which shows what to do ? And also what does it mean “to modify the power adapter to the 2.5mm center pin” Will I have to modify this 3.0mm DC power jack(which I’m going to purchase on ebay) for it to work with my laptop?
I’d really appreciate any help I can get, Thanks =)
January 9th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Freak: Thanks for the info, I decided not to purchase tools and attempt myself, I tore it down and took to my local TV/Appl. Repair Guru, He has made many laptop repairs and said only $15-$20 bucks, WHAT A DEAL! My hats off to you Elec. Repair Geeks and Thanks for the Web Site !!
January 8th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Josiah,
It’s hard to say without testing the laptop with a known good AC adapter. Yes, it could be just a bad AC adapter but it also could be a problem with the system board. I would probably replace the AC adapter first, they are not very expensive.
January 8th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Scott Fisher,
I use a Weller digital soldering station (50W unit, temp range 350 °F – 850 °F) and for soldering/resoldering laptop power jacks I set the temperature to 850F. Works perfectly fine for me. If the old power jack is not broken, you still can use it. Clean the power jack contacts and coat them with a new layer of solder before you put the jack back on the motherboard. Also clean and coat the contacts on the motherboard.
January 7th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Hi. I am having a similar battery problem with my Dell Inspiron 1150. Here’s a typical scenario…
1)AC adapter is plugged into laptop.
2)The laptop boots up fine and works normal.
3)Suddenly, the laptop switches from AC plug power to battery power.
4)The battery slowly drains and eventually dies 1-2 hours later (depending on charge).
When the laptop is working normally (working with the AC adapter), I’ve tried jiggling where the AC adapter plugs into the computer. It doesn’t seem to make the computer hop to battery power.
I can even unplug the AC adapter, allow the computer to switch to battery power, and plug it back in and watch it switch flawlessly back to AC power. But then, randomly, the laptop will switch to battery power and eventually shut down. The only workaround I’ve found is to shut down, unplug and replug the Ac adapter, wait, and restart. Then the laptop works fine for an undetermined amount of time.
Any ideas? I was thinking either the AC adapter is dying or something with the BIOS. THanks for your time.
January 5th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
power jack replacement on HP Pavillion zt1170
I have a new power jack in hand and ready to tear into my laptop, What soldering tools should I get? I see small 25watt pens & cordless cold soldering tools? what is too hot? and solder type is best?
I assume relocateing the jack outside is the BEST way to prevent this from happening again? could I use a small chunk of drop cord wire for this? what type of wire and gauge would be best? and are there detailed instruction for the zt1170 or use the HP Service media Library link
http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/SML/
Is it best to use the new jack or is it possible the old jack can just be re-soldered?
THANKS -Scott
my old soldering gun is one of those old Colt 45 looking beast which I’m guessing is WAY to hot for what I need, now what (haha)
January 3rd, 2007 at 12:05 am
Prashanth,
Compare to what, to an idle laptop?
I would say yes, when you are browsing the internet the battery drains faster. You are loading pages with graphics, so the video card and CPU work more intensively and the battery drains faster.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
While using the internet, does the battery drain faster than the normal usage?
January 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Lauren,
I guess you’ll have to resolder it again. There is another option. Some people who experience the same problem over and over again find that it’s better to relocate the power jack outside the laptop case.
December 30th, 2006 at 7:22 am
I am having the same problem with my Winbook C Series. I have already had the jack resoldered and it has happened now again (6 months later)! What are my options now? Is there any way of getting an extended life battery that you can just recharge whenever you’re not using it by plugging it in to some kind of a recharging source and bypass this whole power cord garbage? Oh – and I have definitely not been abusive either to my laptop…just always have to have the power cord plugged in…battery only gives me about 30 minutes when charged.
December 29th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Brandi,
That’s a gray area.
I don’t agree that’s the only way to get a problem with the AC jack. It also might happen if you carry your laptop a lot and have to plug/uplug the power cord very often, I wouldn’t consider that a physical abuse. Laptops have to be tolerant to that.
I’ve seen a lot of laptops with the power jack problem. Some of them were definitely abused, some of them were in perfect shape and the owners were very careful but still were not able to avoid the problem.
By the way, this morning one lady gave me a Toshiba Satellite A65 laptop with loose power jack and asked me to write an estimate for her credit card company, she wants to fix the laptop under the extended warranty. We’ll see if it goes through and the credit card company actually pays for the repair.
December 29th, 2006 at 10:19 am
I had an ac jack issue with my laptop and had a repair shop resoulder it instead of replace the motherboard. Of course, Visa Extended warranty is trying to not cover the expense by indicating that the only way an AC Jack can become loose is by “Yanking the cord or dropping it.”
From your experience, are there any other possibilities of how this could happen. I don’t feel as though I “physically abuse” my laptop and seems to be quite difficult to prove:)
Thanks so much for your help!!
December 27th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Kelsey,
I do not see how it might harm your laptop. When your laptop goes into standby mode, it turns off the hard drive disk, turns off the screen and the CPU goes into the lowest power state too. It’s not more harmful then turning it completely off.
One of my laptops works as a desktop replacement and very often it runs without restarting for days.
December 27th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Solve my the debate I am having with my parents:
Is it harmful to the laptop for me to simply close the screen if I am not going to be on it for a while. My laptop is sitting at a desk so it won’t be moved at all. It goes into standby after being left closed for a few minuets, that’s ok right? Is any damage being done to the hardware?
December 24th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Norman,
Toshiba Satellite A75 and M35X have different motherboards but they use the same power jack, so there shouldn’t be much difference in relocating the power jack for these units. You can find the power jack layout in the comment #94. BTW, you purchased this laptop in the USA, you might be eligible for a free repair. Toshiba extended warranty for some M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 laptops for 12 months. Call Toshiba customer service to find out if you are eligible for a free repair or just take the laptop to a local authorized service provider and talk to them.
December 21st, 2006 at 8:10 am
Thanks in advance for all the help, great wesite! I need to relocate the power jack on my Toshiba M35X. Once the jack is removed from motherboard and cleaned where do I solder the + and – wires to the motherboard. The pix for A75 puter shows a different layout than the M35X. Wanna Be right the first time, Thanks in advance