Laptop shut off without warning while charging and will not turn back on.

Today while using my laptop it turned off immediately without any warning while it was plugged in to charge. There wasn't any notice that the laptop was going to turn off or that I should plug in the laptop to avoid losing any unsaved data. It won't turn back on with or without the charger. When the charger is plugged into a socket the charger light comes on but it goes off when I plug the charger into the laptop and the laptop won't charge or turn on. I should also mention that the first time I tried to plug in the laptop with the battery still inside it sparked. I removed the battery, plugged in the charger to the laptop and it sounded like the plug/jack short circuited. I was not using a surge protector at the time. I have no idea why this happened or how to fix it. One recommendation was to replace the spark plug but I'm not convinced that is the problem. Unfortunately the laptop is no longer in warranty. I have already tried removing the battery and plugging the adapter into the laptop from a wall socket. The power adapter light turns on when it is plugged in but the power adapter light turns off when plugged into the laptop, with or without the battery, whether plugged in from the power strip or wall socket.

 

Get the power adaptor checked, do you have a voltage meter, though sometimes you get the right voltage say 19v which is common that drops to 0v when it is plugged in, Do you have a spare, can you borrow one, I have seen many power adaptors fail, Is the socket on you notebook loose?

John.

 

The 18x in my signature shuts off with no warning while it's charging because the battery has overheated. It must be some kind of fail-safe, because the battery is extremely hot to the touch. I remove the battery, let everything cool off, and things usually return to normal.

Have you tried using the wall adapter with the battery removed? Is your battery getting hot?

 

Are you gaming on battery, if you are it is a recepie for a dead battery in a very short order, plug in your notebook to the mains before you start gaming.

John.

 

Most laptops will have a thermal cut off for the battery it's true.

 

You dont want this to happen.

John.

 

What model laptop are we talking about, bud?

Question: If you plug in the AC adapter to the laptop does the light on the brick stay on or turn off? It's possible a part burned out on the motherboard.

Not sure what laptop he has. If he has a dual GPU laptop, which seems logical based on where the post is, gaming on battery is not an option. The GPUs will not run in 3D performance power states unless an AC adapter is connected. The battery cannot handle that much load and the game would look like a slide show.

 

A laptop will power from the charger or from battery. Both power sources are independent. If the charger is not working, laptop will automatically switch to battery (assuming battery is charged).

If laptop does not power on, then either both power systems failed (less likely) or something else has failed. Most failures are due to manufacturing defects. To say more requires more information (that you probably do not have knowledge or tools to provide).

This must we do know. Most failures are due to manufacturing defects where parts can fail even many years later. Unfortunately, most laptop repairs require a new everything on that one PC (mother) board.

 

If the battery fails and causes a short (or the brick) it can stop the machine from starting with both in.

 

If the battery failed and caused a short, the laptop exploded long ago. Shorted lithium batteries are that dangerous.

 

Depends where the short is in the circuit.

 

It's an Alienware M18x R2. Believe it or not, I don't have dual GPU. The light on the AC adapter turns on when it is plugged into a power strip or wall socket but turns off when plugged into the laptop. Wow, my bad. I thought I had included that.

 

Battery is dead because it could not be recharged. Therefore the laptop has no AC power source and no battery power source.

Your light implies a short circuit inside the laptop is shorting all power brick outputs (and not the battery). So the laptop cannot charge its battery. And its now discharged battery is the only power source.

Required is for any power supply to have all outputs shorted together - and that PSU is undamaged. That would be what is happening.

A laptop is one big motherboard. A short on that motherboard can be found and fixed. But your questions imply insufficient abilities. Let the shop install a new laptop motherboard. Or buy a new laptop.