Laptop battery problem...

[twobrewers]

I have an really cheap Acer Aspire 3680 that I purchased from Best Buy two years ago for $400 bucks or so.

The battery really started dying on me in the past few months. At first it would run for around 2 hours - then only an hour - then half an hour. In the past 2 months, it has become a desktop computer. It will literally last 5 minutes unplugged before it dies.

Well, until last night. It died. While plugged in.

The laptop has absolutely no power - even plugged in. I can't get a light to flick on, a fan to run or anything. It has no power! I'd happily go buy a battery if that is the problem. But if the battery was the problem...wouldn't it still run while plugged it?

(I really appreciate any help. I keep all of my financial information, taxes, MP3s and other files on that computer. Even if I can't get it powered up - I need to get those files off somehow.)

[JoeH33]

The exact same thing happened to my sister. She had a cruddy Compaq laptop which wouldn't even turn on most of the time even when plugged in. I think they said she had a problem with the socket for the power cord.

 

http://answers.yahoo.com/...qid=20080416110947AA9JYIZ

[temke]

i have a gateway that has a similar problem. it will last for about 1/2 hour on the battery. it is about 3 1/2 years old so it isnt totally unexpected. i am sure a new battery would solve the problem, but i have no need to use it without it being plugged in at the present moment.

 

i also had to buy a new power supply after about 1 1/2 years. it wouldnt charge the battery unless it was plugged in at a certain angle. cheap-o plug on ebay solved that problem.

 

or i could have bought the extended warranty from best buy that the sales guy offered. when i said no it was like he was personally offended. i know they make a mint off them, but most of the time they are not worth the investment.

[twobrewers]

I'm thinking it must be a bad power supply in my laptop.

 

I've replaced power supplies on desktops - anyone have any idea how hard of a fix this is on a laptop? And where would be a good cheap fast way to purchase the right power supply?

[bjkrautk]

I just bought a new laptop to replace my old one due to a power cord problem. The cord has to be held in place in order for the laptop's battery to charge. (My power profile on the old laptop set the screen to dim slightly when running off battery power....so it's really obvious when it isn't plugging in properly.)

 

I'd been looking to upgrade anyway (nearly 3 years old....and struggled running iTunes video content), so I didn't look into replacement costs. I'd recommend you bring the laptop in to Best Buy (or some similar tech support operation), and find out how much they charge for that kind of work. Depending on the price, and your situation, it might be worth it to put that money into a new laptop as well.

 

 

Sidenote: It's not much help to you now, but this is the perfect example of why you should try to backup your data. I bought an external hard drive a year ago, and plug it in every few months to keep documents, music, and photos safe.

[Diskono]

I'm thinking it must be a bad power supply in my laptop.

 

I've replaced power supplies on desktops - anyone have any idea how hard of a fix this is on a laptop? And where would be a good cheap fast way to purchase the right power supply?

 

The actual power supply for a laptop is part of the power cable. It sounds like your DC power jack may have just worn out - this seems to happen a lot on laptops now. If you're comfortable at all with soldering, they're not difficult to replace.

[cwolf2012]

You've likely got a busted power supply or a bad connection from the power supply to the computer. My guess is the former, though.

[twobrewers]

I've had all day to think about this....let me know if I am way off base...

 

My laptop was plugged in and connected to the battery at the time of the problem. The battery did suck - but it also held a charge for at least 5 minutes.

 

When the laptop went out - it went out just like someone turning off a TV. Completely off. No warning. Just zap - and gone.

 

If it was the battery that was shot - the power supply would have kept the laptop running.

 

If it was the power supply that was shot - the battery should/would have kicked and at least run the computer for 5 minutes. (And given a warning that it was about to shut down)

 

Considering the nature of the shut down. (A quick zap) I think the motherboad just completely died on me.

 

And I am obviously not buying a new motherboard for a $400 computer. Anyone have any other ideas that might help me to test my hypothesis?

[Godspeed]

I had this problem with a Gateway laptop about 18 months ago. It was the DC jack in my case. For the longest time, it was only charging the battery/powering the system if the prong was angled a particular way. Eventually, that entirely gave way and I was no longer able to turn on the computer because the battery was also toast. I had a coworker fix it (he was handy with comp. hardware/soldering) for around $100. I'd expect it to be more costly if done professionally.

 

Due to this breakdown, I ended up purchase a Dell laptop. The power supply on that one died about a month ago. It wasn't able to properly take power from the outlet, which was easy to figure out since the power supply has an LED indicator. Because it's a $70 replacement part, I cheaped out and ordered OEM equipment off eBay for $20. Here I am on the Dell, no worse for the wear, except for the fact that the system won't recognize the power supply's battery charging feature when running due to it's off-brand nature (however it does recognize it as a power supply so no functionality is lost). The solution in that case was to simply charge the computer while off.

 

Hats off to planned obsolescence!

[DSFastball55]

Laptops are notorious for this problem. You really have to be careful when plugging in/unplugging the ac adapter. I used to repair Gateway laptops and the models I worked on were especially bad. What happens is the solder joint breaks, and then the dc-in board, which is often built into the motherboard, has to be replaced unless you are really good with electronics soldering.

As for battery life, the best way to get maximum life out of your battery is to use it regularly. Charge it until it's full, and then unplug it until it's close to empty. Leaving it plugged in when it's full is actually bad for it. I always say it's like lifting weights - the more you lift, the stronger you get, and the more you use the battery, the stronger it is too.

[BoKnowsBall]

I had this problem with a Gateway laptop about 18 months ago. It was the DC jack in my case. For the longest time, it was only charging the battery/powering the system if the prong was angled a particular way. Eventually, that entirely gave way and I was no longer able to turn on the computer because the battery was also toast. I had a coworker fix it (he was handy with comp. hardware/soldering) for around $100. I'd expect it to be more costly if done professionally.

I had the same thing happen to my Gateway. I cannot remember exactly what they ended up charging me for a new DC jack and installation but I think that it was around $180. About 6 months later I had the same symptoms so I took it back in but this time it was the AC/DC converter which is the big box thing on the power cord.

[giffted1]

(I really appreciate any help. I keep all of my financial information, taxes, MP3s and other files on that computer. Even if I can't get it powered up - I need to get those files off somehow.)

Unless everything in your laptop is fried you can still get the stuff off of your hard drive using a external enclosure for the drive in your laptop.