Need Advice! AC Adapter Not Working On My Samsung X360 Notebook!

Hi!

For the past several weeks, when I've been recharging my Samsung X360 notebook, the ac adapter seemed to be not connecting at times to the notebook, therefore making it harder to have a fully recharged notebook.

Tonight, I noticed the ac adapter basically does not seem to be connecting to my notebook, making it almost impossible to recharge the notebook.

Does anyone have suggestions/recommendations as to what I can do to help resolve this situation? Thanks!

 

Your description is quite vague.

What are your symptoms? Is your battery charging?

How is it "not connecting"?

 

There are three possible causes to your problem: (i) A problem inside the charger; (ii) damage to either the charger's DC lead or the plug; or (iii) a problem with either the socket on the X360 or the internal charging circuitry.

If you are one of those people who carefully winds the DC cable around the PSU when packing it away then a possible cause is fatigue to the conductors at the point where the cable comes out of the charger and gets bent (if seen this happen to other people on several occasions - I just dump a bundle of wires into my bag).

The best way forward is to look on ebay for a replacement charger. It's your choice whether to look for a genuine Samsung or a "compatible" charger. If this doesn't work then the problem has to be (iii) in the list above, and will be more challenging to fix.

John

 

Hi

When the "cable" part of the ac adapter is plugged in to my notebook, the screen on the notebook usually 'lights" up and the battery icon (which shows how much power is left) located in the lower right corner disappears and that is how I know the ac adapter is connected to my notebook and that the notebook is charging.

Unfortunately, tonight when I connected the ac adapter to my notebook, the screen of my notebook did not light up and the battery icon located on the lower right corner was still there.

I just want to update my story: I had shut down my notebook earlier and noticed that of one of the four lights located at the lower left side at the bottom of the notebook, (which indicates if the ac adapter is connected to the notebook as well as if the notebook is fully charged) was lit up and about an hour later, I turned on my notebook and the ac adapter is definitely connected to my notebook and my notebook is fully charged.

I wish I could understand why the ac adapter (in the past few weeks) does not connect to my notebook (at times) and I am wondering what it could be and hope someone could chime and give me some feedback as to what it might be.

 

Cause (ii) in my previous post can result in an intermittent connection. If the conductors in the DC cable are broken then sometimes when you connect the PSU the wires are touching and sometimes they are not. It is sometime possible to diagnose this cause by fiddling the DC cable and see if the power goes on or off.

John

 

Hi John,

Thank you very much for your assistance in trying to resolve this problem with the ac adapter.

Could you please tell me what the difference is between a genuine Samsung ac adapter and a compatible ac adapter as the "genuine" Samsung ac adapter costs $59.99 on the Samsungparts.com website whereas a "compatible" Samsung ac adapter is listed on amazon for $28.88, for example?

This is link to the Amazon Samsung ac adapter supplier:
Amazon.com: Samsung Replacement 19V 3.16A 60W AC Adapter for Notebook Model: NP-P430, NP-P428, NP-X360, NP-X460, NP-R480-JAB1US, NP-R503, NP-R505, NP-R610, NP-R408L, NP-R410L, NP-P410L, NP-Q208, NP-P208, NP-Q308, NP-P510, 100% Compatible With P/N: 03

I just wanted to add that I bought from the Samsungparts.com store a power cord, as suggested by the Samsung technical support department as they are an authorized seller for Samsung parts. Unfortunately, this has not resolved the situation with the notebook, as it is still not recharging and the battery icon light located on the bottom left corner of the notebook is now flickering all the time.

So I would like to get an ac adapter for the notebook and see if this will correct the problem with the notebook not recharging.

Thanks again for your assistance!

 

"Genuine" - OEM, original branded, from manufacturer

"Compatible" - ac adapter that has correct output and connectivity.

 

And they may both come out of the same factory. Most of the PSUs are made by the million by a few manufacturers.

I would go for the "compatible", but first search ebay in case someone is offering a genuine Samsung PSU for close to the "compatible" price.

John

 

Hi!

I think I am going to buy from an ebay seller who has an ac adapter, which according to this seller, the adapter he is selling, is compatible with the Samsung part number (BA44-00243A) of my ac adapter.

I have spoken to many Samsung technicians about what is wrong with my notebook and there does not appear to be a consensus of opinion. One technical support specialist tells me it is the battery, another one says it is the ac adapter and another says it is the notebook itself.

A little over two weeks ago, the notebook would only recharge if the notebook was powered off and then a few days later, the notebook would not recharge, even with the notebook being powered off (the battery icon symbol was flickering on and off).

I contacted Samsung and was told to do a complete battery recalibration. After completing the recalibration, was told to recharge the notebook for five hours. At first the notebook would not power on and eventually it did power on and I was able to recharge the notebook.

The next day, the notebook would not recharge unless the notebook was powered off and I also noticed that when I placed the curser next to the battery icon symbol, it would indicate various times left (eg. 4hours 15 minutes, 5 hours 35 minutes,etc).

Yesterday, the notebook was able to recharge with the power on but I was getting various fluctuations from the battery icon, in how much time was remaining. I called Samsung and was told to drain the battery, while the notebook was powered on and then recharge it for five hours. After following the instructions I was given, I noticed the battery icon symbol on the notebook (the one that is located on the lower left side underneath the keyboard), was flickering on and off and not holding a charge.

Today, I contacted Samsung again, was told to try battery recalibration and could not power on the notebook. I was told to wait an hour or two and then try again. I tried later (as instructed) to power on the notebook, it work once and showed four minutes remaining on the battery and then I turned it off. When I tried to power it up again, the notebook would not turn on.

I was told by the technician that if the notebook can be powered up and hold some charge it is probably the ac adapter that needs to be replaced but if it can not be powered up, it has something to do with the battery connection inside the notebook and that would be very costly to repair (wonderful news!).

I am at a quandary as to what to do next and appreciate suggestions/advice you can offer. Thanks!

 

I would get the compatible AC adaptor. It's the cheapest link in the chain to eliminate or fix. If using another adaptor makes no difference then it is probably the battery or the charging circuit.

John

 

Hello John,

I just wanted to give an update on the problems that have occurred with my notebook:

I was given an additional 90 day warranty by Samsung customer service department and the notebook was sent on for repair to an authorized Samsung repair center. A week later, I was told by two Samsung technical support specialists that there was a major repair done which involved either the adapter port and/or battery port.

The next day, I contacted the Samsung authorized repair center to find out more information and was told that they had replaced a defective battery, which according to them is a "known" issue with this battery. I was also told that a thorough evaluation was done (using Samsung diagnostic tool software) and that all of the components of the notebook (i.e., motherboard, harddrive,etc) were working fine.

When I received back the notebook and tried to power it on (without the ac adapter being plugged into it) it would not go on. I then tried using the ac adapter plugged into the notebook and it still could not be powered on.

I would also like to mention that when the notebook was connected to the ac adapter, the battery icon symbol located in the lower left corner beneath the keyboard, went on steadily for about twenty minutes, then flickered on and off for another half hour or so and then it stopped blinking completely. I also had the same results occurring (as mentioned above) when I removed the battery, with the ac adapter plugged into the notebook.

I then contacted Samsung technical support department and the representative I spoke to recommended that at this point, the notebook should be exchanged for another one.

In your opinion, exchanging this notebook with another equivalent one (if the x360 notebook is not available), my best option at this point?

This experience with the issues I am having with my notebook as well as the shoddy repair that was done on it, has left me very frustrated and I appreciate any feedback/suggestions you can offer me!

 

Thanks for the update. It's slow progress but you've found someone in Samsung who wants a happy outcome to this problem.

I would opt for the replacement. The nearest current equivalent to the X360 (which was a premium 13" machine) is the 13" Series 9 which is very good except for two problems: Weak wifi and a weak power socket.

Ask Samsung what they would propose as a replacement.

John

 

Hi John,

I recently heard from the Samsung exchange department and they offered me the Samsung NP900X3A-B01US for $300.00. Tomorrow they will get back to me regarding an upgrade price for the Samsung NP900X3A-A05US model.

Both models are brand new and the NP900X3A-B01US model comes with a one year warranty and the NP900X3A-A05US model comes with a three year warranty. The former model comes with a 128 gb solid state drive plus 4 gb. of memory and the later model comes with a 256 gb solid state drive plus 6 gb. of memory.

In your opinion, would it be wiser to choose the 9 series model that comes with a three year warranty (depending on the additional upgrade cost) rather the 9 series model that comes with the one year warranty?

Also, you mentioned that the Samsung 9 series has a weak wifi and a weak power socket? By "weak power socket" are you referring to the socket on the notebook itself? Are both issues fairly prevalent in this model?

The reasons why I am asking these questions is that I would like a notebook that will will last at least three or four years and I hope that the Samsung 9 series models I mentioned above will fit the bill.

Thank you again for all your help!

 

You can read about the series 9 problems in this thread. Not everyone is affected by the WiFi problem (and one of the work-arounds is to install a small USB WiFi dongle). Samsung seems to be finally working on this problem. I would also hope that they have fixed the power socket problem.

Whether it is worthwhile going for the 3 year warranty depends on pricing. I would tend to do so for peace of mind although the higher hardware specification will also add to the cost (a 128GB SSD may be a constraint depending on what you have on your computer but 6GB RAM is overkill for most people). While we all hope to not need to invoke the warranty, it may have been a tedious process but you have got value for money from your current warranty. Another consideration is that smaller notebooks will tend to be more difficult to repair outside of a warranty. Perhaps another option is to negotiate the extra payment to upgrade -B01US to a 3 year warranty. Samsung used to sell warranty upgrades as an option.

John