Burnt plastic smell

Hello, during everyday usage of my Toshiba Satellite P100 laptop, there is faint smell of burnt plastic emanating from beneath the keyboard and the vent. It is worse for a few seconds after I first turn the computer on. I just got this laptop used recently and I don't know if the included battery works or if the power module is fried (because it won't receive a charge and never could, and the laptop couldn't start off the battery in the first place, also Windows does not know the battery is there). I've already purchased a 9-cell battery and now I found out it's probably the power module. The laptop still performs excellently off the AC adapter. I was just wondering if I could get a second opinion on whats causing the burning smell and the inability to charge the battery before I buy the new power module. Thanks.

 

How long have you had this notebook for?

it could be that the ac adapter is broken perhaps?

 

While I got it last Monday, the AC adapter it came with is a original Toshiba one, but the power cord it was included with was defective. (I know this because after a day of usage the AC adapter began to fail to charge the laptop, then upon replacing the power cord with one from another laptop's AC adapter it began to charge again and it worked however shortly thereafter the burnt plastic smell began.)

UPDATE: Just tried another AC adapter and it charges fine but still no battery detected and after an hour I can still smell the faint burnt plastic smell.

 

Take it apart and see if any internals are burnt at all.

A burning plastic smell doesn't sound like a good thing at any rate...

 

While thanks for the suggestion, looks like I will need to replace the thermal paste on the CPU cover but everything else looks fine. I've purchased a new power module for my computer since I seem to be experiencing all the symptoms of a broken one.