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My laptop charger's transformer has a green light on it that indicates that it's plugged in and working.

When I plug it into the wall, the light goes on as expected. As soon as I plug it into the laptop, the light immediately turns off and my laptop doesn't get any charge.

After that, the charger's light doesn't turn green again, even though it is still plugged into an outlet. I need to unplug it from the wall and wait a few minutes. It's strange - unplugging and immediately re-plugging it does not bring back the charge; I have to wait.

Is this a charger issue or a laptop issue?

Edit: Hooked the charger into a voltmeter and power went through fine. I guess this means that it's a short in my laptop itself.

What are my options now?

Corey
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4 Answers4

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This happens because of a short contact, which indeed is in either the power adapter or the laptop.

You'll first want to verify the charger, for which we will need a multimeter.

multimeter

On the bottom of your charger you will find output information which we will need to match.

charger

You need to put your multimeter on V- 20 and verify that it reaches the voltage, do the same with A- 10. In this case the results would be around 12 V and 1.0 A. If yours match these numbers, then the charger should be fine.

Try to use your laptop without the battery to see if it's the battery, otherwise the power circuit of the laptop is broken. From this point on, it's a matter of testing the connector and circuit to find the issue, or send it back in if it's still under guarantee, or you don't want to mess with it yourself. Good luck on finding a fix!

Chindraba
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Tamara Wijsman
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1

Try removing the battery. Plug in your charger to the socket and then the laptop, then slip the battery back in. It works for me.

Also, when the battery is full, plug in your charger while the laptop is off. This only works when your battery is at full power, so you should be switching off or hibernating your machine while plugged in and then disconnect the charger.

slhck
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Vic
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0

Use a meter to check for proper output from the adapter. More than likely, its a short on the laptop motherboard. I ran into this issue with an old Dell d620, exact same problem. There was a short in the actual plug that was on the motherboard. Usually you can replace that if you are handy with a soldering iron...

0

It sounds like your laptop isn't charging at all. I'm guessing the laptop has no power, and is shut down. If not now, it'll be off soon enough...

Pull the battery out of the laptop, to see if the laptop will work (e.g. boot up) without the battery. If so, suspect the battery or the laptop's internal charging system.

Do you have access to another, known-good charger?
- If you have a multimeter, try probing the end that connects to your laptop. It can be hard to know what to expect the multimeter to read, without a known good charger to compare it to. - If your laptop is a common brand, you may be able to find another one at your school, your place of business, or "Free Geek" or perhaps even craigslist. - I'm guessing you don't want to buy a new charger just to test - perhaps your local computer seller (e.g. BestBuy, FutureShop, etc.) might allow you to test their units - they frequently sell "universal" chargers, which may work.

Charles Lindsay
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