Options
Laptop Not Showing as charging.
Gary_LandyFan
Posts: 3,824 Forum Member
✭✭✭
My laptop has recently stopped recognising it is charging, even though it is.
Being a HP it has a Indicator light next to the charger port which should light up but it isn't, and windows does not recognise it as charging, although the Indicator light on the front of it still working correctly and the laptop does charge.
Changing the Battery for another one doesn't affect it, it does the same with another battery.
Will this cause any further damage if I continue to use it?
Also, what do you think it could be? Faulty Charger? Knackered PSU?
(HP G61, running Windows 8.1)
Being a HP it has a Indicator light next to the charger port which should light up but it isn't, and windows does not recognise it as charging, although the Indicator light on the front of it still working correctly and the laptop does charge.
Changing the Battery for another one doesn't affect it, it does the same with another battery.
Will this cause any further damage if I continue to use it?
Also, what do you think it could be? Faulty Charger? Knackered PSU?
(HP G61, running Windows 8.1)
0
Comments
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. You are unlikely to 'cause' more damage, but obviously some components have failed. You could check that none of the top panel is getting excessively hot with your fingers perhaps. Should just get warm.
Impossible to say when further natural failures will occur.
http://download.cnet.com/BatteryBar/3000-2094_4-10866804.html
Then there's the Battery Light and its indicators are: On = Battery Charging, Blinking = a Battery that is the only power source has reached a low power level, Off = if the laptop is running on mains power, the light is turned off if the battery is fully charged, and if running on battery power the light stays off until the battery has reached the low power level.
Then there's the Drive Light and its indicator: Blinking = the hard drive or optical drive is being accessed.
Now you don't say in the OP whether you are running the laptop through the mains or on the battery and also the manual doesn't agree with you as to what the lights are for.
So in your OP when you say the indicator light is on, I guess you mean the middle battery indicator light is on, which indicates the battery is charging, so where is this charger light that you say is next to the battery light? I searched Google for pics of the G61 to see if different models had more than 3 front panel lights, but none of them do.
Hi Chris, I didn't think of looking at the side, (my laptop doesn't have side lights) but OK the manual shows a right side AC adapter light which is next to the AC power connector. When the light is on, it's connected and when it's off it isn't. So the OP is saying the laptop is connected to the mains but the light isn't coming on.
Also the battery charging light is lit on the front panel. So does it always stays lit even when the battery is fully charged, or does the battery never reach full charge?
The OP says that Windows doesn't recognise the battery is charging. Well the battery icon in the notification area on my W7 laptop doesn't visibly look any different when it's charging apart from the level, and if I hover the mouse over the icon it tells me the % of charge, and, if the battery isn't fully charged, that it is plugged in and charging.
So what % level is the icon showing on hover, and does this level change?
It's just that I'm wondering whether the only fault is that the side power light has failed.
Also if the G61 is anything like mine it uses a 3 pin plug for the AC adapter. Looks like a conventional cylindrical DC jack but has a thin central pin in the plug as a third contact. As I understand it this is used for some sort of signalling between laptop and charger. Not sure what would happen if this pin get broken.
If the laptop works on the adapter with the battery removed then the adapter is supplying DC to the laptop. If the OP has a multi meter and is careful with the probes it should be possible to measure this DC voltage on the adapter plug. There should be a label on the adapter showing what this should be.
Though not a definitive test, if the voltage matches the label then it's possible the adapter is OK. But it is possible that the DC voltage is OK off load but drops considerably when put on load. Though measuring the voltage when the adapter is plugged into the laptop may not be that easy.
If the G61 is anything like my G6 then the power LED on the front panel (side panel in the case of the G6) should be independent of power source. So the Power LED should come on whenever the laptop is turned on whether it is on battery or mains.
It's the LED next to the DC in jack that shows when it's on mains power.
What I mean about the Power Icon is that when you have it plugged in it should show a socket symbol as well, but it doesn't. Even though the laptop is charging.
I think I have just found what the problem was, I just plugged the charger in to the socket and turned the plug on, the converter box popped and smells a bit of burning.
Thankfully I didn't have it plugged in to the computer at that point.
Looks like it was the charger that had failed and was causing this. Thanks for the help guys.
The three front indicator lights are exactly how you say.
as for the mains charger thats a switch mode power supply. either it works properly or not at all ........