G73JH-A1 charging disaster

Hey guys,

I'm having a long history with my G73JH-A1 charging problems.

I own a G73 for less than a year and already replaced 4 power adapters!
First I worked with the original adapter, then it stopped working, and I sent it to the lab since it had warranty. X3
I ordered another adapter from Amazon [not an Asus one], and used it till some hours ago, when it suddenly stopped charging the notebook and now the battery is empty and the battery led is blinking orange. The adapter's led itself is green, which means it's working.

Does anyone have any idea? This notebook is awesome but I can't take these charging problems anymore!!

Update: I noticed the following behavior:
The laptop won't charge when it's on, and the battery led will blink.
When the laptop is off, the battery led blinks and after a while it'll stop blinking and display a regular orange charging led.

 

Are you sure it's making contact and reporting you on AC power?

 

The adapter's led is reporting on AC power [when I d/c it from AC it goes off, and when I connect it goes back on green color], and so is the laptop's battery led [when the cable is connected it's blinking and when it's d/c it's off].

I wondered if it's possible to work with the laptop without the battery connected, I mean with the AC power alone? when I tried that it didn't work for me.

Also, after taking a nth look at the adapter, it's possibly blinking very-very fast green instead of a constant green led, but maybe it's just my imagination.

 

Long story short: The positive lead going from the brick to the end of the cable is crimped on and it breaks at the crimp fairly easily. That's probably what's broken inside the end of your cord. The green light on the brick will still be lit but there's no circuit between the metal connector that you insert into the laptop and the brick.

Longer story:

I cut open the strain relief jacket on the end of my cord a few weeks ago when it did this. The connector that goes into the laptop has a pretty poor design. The wire is crimped onto the inner lug of the connection. The crimped area is a weak point that bends easily. If you use the laptop on your lap occasionally like I do, you will sometimes put a little strain on that portion. The end of the plug is long and rigid so you have a lot of leverage to accidentally tweak it. Mine broke right at the crimp. I soldered it back together, wrapped the strain relief back around the soldered connection, and finished it off with some electrical tape to make it as neat as I could. It works again but it would probably be pretty easy to snap that solder joint right in two again.

If you have a DC volt meter, there should be slightly more than 19 volts measured between the internal "hole" of the power supply connection and the outer metal portion. If you don't have 19vDC, then you need to repair the end of your brick's cord or replace it. I'm talking about the round end that goes in the laptop not the end that goes in the wall.

 

FWIW, I've never seen the charging indicator LED on the JH blink...maybe that's a diagnostic that indicates the real problem?

Yes it's possible to run on AC without the battery...if that doesn't work that's another sign of internal problem...

 

Update: now it just keeps blinking. Not anymore blinking->constant.

 

If that connector is broken like mine was then it will blink on and off charge because the to broken parts are very close together and encapsulated in rubber so they are touching or arcing together and then losing the connection repeatedly.

I guess the other possibility is that the power circuit in the laptop has failed.

 

One more question - regarding to the fact it won't charge when it's on, does it seem to you a problem of the laptop's power circuit?

 

Had pretty much the same thing happen two weeks ago.

Just stopped charging one day, been using it alot for for the last 6 month.

LED on Power supply is still on.... no power getting to laptop.

Took it in for warranty repair... said it was the motherboard.

Now still waiting for the new board to arrive so it can be replaced.

Hope it helps...

Good luck.