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    My battery doesn't work anymore for some reason...help please

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by alvinthegreat, Oct 12, 2007.

  1. alvinthegreat

    alvinthegreat Notebook Enthusiast

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    I bought my laptop 4 years ago, in my sig(i know its really old); however, in recent days, my battery started to fail (6-cell). I have to plug in my power cord in a certain way in order for the battery to charge. The computer shows that i have my power cord plugged in; however, the battery is continously draining. I have to play around with the power cord for a couple of minutes before i can get it to charge, and if i even move it slightly, i have to re-adjust it. What's wrong?
     
  2. Eleison

    Eleison Thanatos Eleison

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    There's nothing wrong with your battery...your AC adapter has a short in it and will need to be replaced. I had the same thing happen to my Inspiron 5100 after about 3 years.
     
  3. Storm3016

    Storm3016 Notebook Evangelist

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    Sounds like you have a broken/damaged wire somewhere, or a loose/bad connection in the power plug inside your laptop. Is the wire connected to the plug you stick into your laptop really crooked? This is the most likely thing. If it is you can just cut off the old plug and the piece of wire that is damaged and attach a new one. You can buy one at a good electronics store, they probably can connect it for you if you don't know how to do it yourself too. It shouldn't cost you more then a few bucks.

    If the wire and/or plug still look ok it's probably in the power connector in the laptop, this can be replaced to but you'd have to open up your laptop to get to it. Maybe you just have to bend a connector inside back in shape or reconnected the wires to get it to work properly again, but thats a bit hard to tell from here.
     
  4. Eleison

    Eleison Thanatos Eleison

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    D'oh...completely forgot that it might be the laptop charging port, itself. Thanks for that, Storm3016
     
  5. alvinthegreat

    alvinthegreat Notebook Enthusiast

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    I couldn't find any broken/damaged wires after a close inspection; corrections, its not the actual "power plug", its the plug that actually plugs into the computer.
     
  6. RasBastard

    RasBastard Notebook Consultant

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    The charging port may be loose. I had it happen to an old cell phone charger of mine. The port itself had worked it way loose of its soldering on its PCB. I'll like to say that it is an easy fix but it may not be. Also given the age of your machine the battery may also be at the end of its useful life. On a full charge does it hold power or does it just drain quickly as you have stated?