Recently the power adapter has not been charging the battery when the computer is powered on
I have a Toshiba Satellite P35-6292. Recently the power adapter has not been charging the battery when the computer is powered on. It will charge it when it is off though. Strangely when I turn on the computer the battery light will go off (indicating in Toshibas that the system is running on battery power only) while the AC power light will remain on. After windows boots up completely the icon signifies it charging for a brief 5 seconds and then reverts back to battery power only. The computer will boot normally with just the battery in. However, when I try just AC adapter with no battery in, the laptop will boot up until the black screen right before the Windows logo normally shows up. Then it will shut off completely. Also note that with just the AC power in I can actually leave the computer on indefinitely with no battery only while I’m in the systems bios. As soon as I try to start windows it will shut off before the logo. I have also tried another Toshiba power adapter but not a different battery. It almost seems like windows is involved with the problem. Any ideas?
Will it make any difference if you boot the laptop into safe mode? May be Windows power management software is screwed up.
Here’s another test. You can boot the laptop from a live Linux CD. I usually use Knoppix CD. If you start the laptop from this CD, it will boot into a Windows-like environment. It loads Linux OS directly from the CD bypassing the hard drive. It’s a good test to find out if you have a software related problem. If the laptop still switches to the battery with the AC adapter plugged, then it’s not software related problem.
You can also reinstall the operating system form the recovery DVD, it will eliminate any software related issues too.
Make sure you the laptop has the latest version of BIOS. Upgrade the BIOS if needed.
The problem also could be related to the power jack. You’ll find more information about the power jack issues here.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I have a gateway mx6920 laptop with model: MA7. It will run off a charged battery but will not charge a battery or run off ac adapter. AC adapter is good at 19vdc. I thought it might be the 4407 mosfet near the plug. I have voltage up to there but have no gate signal. I do not know where the gate comes from. Can I jump out the mosfet here or is it regulating the incoming voltage? What do you suggest? Thanks
October 8th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Hey all…I have a Samsung q45..and it’s begun the dreaded plugged in not charging thing too.
I know the jack needs a wiggle, which could imply a bad connection to the motherboard, but still, she charges when off, and sometimes when on and sometimes when sleep. So it’s an error I can’t repreat under controlled situatons.
I think it’s may be something to do with the amperage of the supply – I agree it needs to be high to make sure enough energy gets to the battery, but i read Neil’s reply and am interested to see if the new powerjack fixed things…I’m not sure it will cuz this plugged in not charging problem seems to be very widespread.
To me it seems as if we’re using smart Li-ion batteries, perhaps they are not reporting their state correctly to the operating system…? I heard there was a global laptop battery problem recently to do with some issues in the East..?
September 19th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hi All !
I think my laptop(ThinkPad R50E) not supplying full voltage charge to battery in on/off condition .
I tested it on battery bay contacts ,and it’s only 9.0+,when itself battery is 16 volt one.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:06 am
i have lenovo 3000 N100 laptop type 0689 and model no. 85Q. my laptop was corrupted with spyware and i did formating. i didn’t have drivers cd so i downloaded my drivers from lenovo site. since then my comp is not working on its battery. it is just showing plug in but not charging. i don’t know whether my adaptor is bad or battery has gone or something else. if somebody knows what has happened plzzzz help me by mailing me at aditya_88rocks(at)yahoo.co.in
July 12th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Ok. Flashed the Bios. Had the power jack re-soldered. I also wiped the HD and did a fresh install. And guess what? It worked. For about a week…then it started again. A check of the power cable connection to the jack insert confirmed a jiggle had the power/charging lights blinking on and off. Charging and not charging like a mind of it’s own again. This time I’ll REPLACE the power jack and see what gives.
Thanks for the heads-up Freak on the bios flashing. Made sure it was a full battery. If this doesn’t work I’ll try a new power adapter.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Neil,
Be careful updating the BIOS while the laptop running on the battery power. If the laptop shuts down during the BIOS update, the BIOS can get corrupted and your laptop will never boot again.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I have a Toshiba A70 with same problem. The charger will only charge the battery when the laptop is off.
As soon as windows starts or I go into the setup menu at boot the charging light goes out. I have just had a mate re soldered the power jack to fix the bad connection but it has not fixed the charging problem. I am going to flash the bios and wipe the hard drive then start from scratch to see what happens. Personaly I think it’s the AC adapter.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I have the same problem with a Toshiba P35 laptop. It is not the power jack. Will charge when the computer is turned off. When windows will start, the battery led will go off and the laptop will run on the battery even the AC is plugged in. The 20v AC will really help? I just bought a new battery, and the same problem. It is not the battery and it is not the power jack. It is or windows or power supply needs more volts.
Who solved this problem? please help
May 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Jonathan,
It shouldn’t be a problem. It’s very important to have exactly the same voltage, but the amperage on the adapter should be the same or higher as in your case.
I cannot tell you what is wrong without testing the laptop with a known good battery. Could be bad battery (most likely) or could be something wrong with the battery charging circuit on the motherboard (less likely). I think you have a bad battery and it has to be replaced but it’s only a guess. I would go with the battery replacement first.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Hi, I have a Thinkpad 600E Laptop. I am running Windows XP SP2. About 2 years ago, I bought a new adapter for my laptop. It has the same voltage of 16V. But the amperage on the adapter says 4.5A while on the laptop the amperage is 2.6A. I do not believe that my issue has to do with the hardware.
When I plug in my power adapter, regardless of the fact that the laptop is on or not, the battery LED blinks orange. It keeps doing that, and it has been blinking orange for about the last 2 years. I have decided to ask you since I am annoyed with this problem.
I bought Battery Doubler and hoped that it would help me charge my battery. But still, my battery charge is 0% and I have to run the laptop with the power adapter. In Windows XP taskbar, when I roll over the Power icon, it says “On AC Power”. But the battery does not charge, and whenever I check the battery meter, it says “0%”
I tried recalibration. Under Power Options in XP, under the heading “Running on Batteries”, I selected NEVER for all boxes. Then, I plugged out the power adapter. The computer ran for 45 seconds, and then just shut down.
I really need help with this. I would appreciate it. Thanks.