Pavillion G6 1130SA Blank screen on boot when battery inserted

Hi my Pavillion G6 boots to Windows fine on AC power only but when the battery is inserted the screen remains blank on power-on although the power light comes on and fans and drives spin up. I am using an unofficial AC adapter so could that be the cause? Is the laptop designed to do this if an unofficial AC adapter is used to protect the battery? Or could it be a bad battery? Thanks James.

 

Bad batteries can cause very strange behaviors, some seemingly unrelated to power. How old is the battery and how much life does it have remaining? ( hint: you can download something like HWMonitor and it will give you an indication of the battery condition…other freeware is also available). Typically, I’ve found that batteries over 4 years old and/or wear levels above 80% are usually suspect. Your aftermarket power brick could also be a problem, but likely not if you have been using it for a while without issue.

1. Check the battery condition. If you can not BOOT with the battery inserted, try BOOTing the unit with external power and then inserting the battery. If the unit crashes when you insert the battery the unit charging circuits are likely shutting the unit down to protect the unit and the battery is bad.

2. There really is no such thing as an unofficial AC adapter. As long as it meets the original specification you’re good to go.

Hope that helps, Best… Dave

 

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply. I thought some laptops had some communication exchange with the power brick to prevent unofficial adapters from being used and I wondered if this might be the issue.

 

I've worked on a bunch of HP's & Compaqs, and have never had an issue with my bench brick and adapters. This gives me at least one known before I start tinkering. Perhaps there are power brick/notebook combos that function as you mention...I've just not seen one. Apple perhaps?...(which I don't touch). Your G6....nope. If your notebook functions normally with your current brick with no battery installed, but either will not BOOT with the battery installed or crashes when you install the battery hot, then either your battery or your MB have an issue. My first choice is the battery.

Check/clean all the contact points on both components. Make sure everything is straight and the battery aligns correctly with the notebook. If that doesn't work... order an Anker battery through Amazon for your G6. Relatively speaking, Anker is not expensive, has a good product track record, and if the result is that the unit still doesn't function correctly.... you can always return the battery. Minimal investment of time and money.

All this of course is assuming that your aftermarket brick meets or exceeds the power spec. 90w usually if your unit has discrete graphics, 65w if not... but 90w is fine in either case while 65w is not.

Best, Dave