Laptop Charging

[jitcrs]

Hey guys,
I have a laptop that I am working on. The A/C Adapter was bad and I ordered a new one. The battery is bad also but the customer didn't want to buy a new one. When the ac adpater is plugged in it does attempt to charge the battery but does not power the computer. The battery shows 2% charge and will stay on long enough to deplete the charge. I checked the a/c input jack and it appears to be working fine. I am not quite sure how to test the motherboard to see if that is where the problem is or if there is something I am missing. It is a Dell Inspiron E1705. I suspect the problem is in the mother board. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

David

 

[ATTech]

Hey guys,
I have a laptop that I am working on. The A/C Adapter was bad and I ordered a new one. The battery is bad also but the customer didn't want to buy a new one. When the ac adpater is plugged in it does attempt to charge the battery but does not power the computer. The battery shows 2% charge and will stay on long enough to deplete the charge. I checked the a/c input jack and it appears to be working fine. I am not quite sure how to test the motherboard to see if that is where the problem is or if there is something I am missing. It is a Dell Inspiron E1705. I suspect the problem is in the mother board. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

David

How do you know it has 2% charge if it doesn't power the computer? Will the computer run while it is plugged in w/o the battery? How do you know the battery is bad? You're post doesn't make a great deal of sense...

 

[jitcrs]

I guess it doesn't make sense. Sorry, I was in a rush when I posted yesterday. I will restate the problem. The client was getting a message stating that the laptop battery was defective and would not charge. When I got the laptop I checked the a/c adapter and found that it was only putting out .8 volts. I ordered a new adapter and found that the computer would start up, but I would get a message that the battery was defective and it would shut down. I put a spare battery in the computer and it would run until the battery ran down and then shut off. All of this while the a/c adapter was plugged in. I checked this adapter and was getting 19.5 volts. The adapter is good and it will charge that spare battery just fine but the adapter will not power the computer. The old battery is defective and needs to be replaced. What I don't understand is why the adpater will charge the battery but will not run the computer. I suspect there is a problem with the mother board circuit that distributes the power from the the adapter to the rest of the mother board. I hope this is clearer if not I will try to reword this.

Thanks
David

 

[ATTech]

I put a spare battery in the computer and it would run until the battery ran down and then shut off. All of this while the a/c adapter was plugged in.

The adapter is good and it will charge that spare battery just fine

These two statements contradict each other. When the battery is in the machine and the adapter is plugged in, does the battery charge or not? How does it charge the battery? What happens when you remove the battery and try and run it off the AC adapter, does it work?

 

[jitcrs]

If the battery is removed and the a/c adapter is plugged up computer will not turn on. If the A/C adapter is plugged up and computer is not running the battery charges. IF the battery has enough charge it will run the computer until it run out of charge and then the computer shuts down even with the adapter hooked up. Its the screwiest thing I have ever seen.

 

[ATTech]

Sounds like an issues with the circuitry that controls the power flow from the jack to the system and battery.

 

[i2omani]

Sounds like an issues with the circuitry that controls the power flow from the jack to the system and battery.

Not to be rude here... you drilled him and asked all this question just to tell him what he already knew!

 

[i2omani]

If the battery is removed and the a/c adapter is plugged up computer will not turn on. If the A/C adapter is plugged up and computer is not running the battery charges. IF the battery has enough charge it will run the computer until it run out of charge and then the computer shuts down even with the adapter hooked up. Its the screwiest thing I have ever seen.

I am not sure how good you are with multimeter reading?
take the BATT out and plug in the adaptor and try to read from the battery leads.

 

[ATTech]

Not to be rude here... you drilled him and asked all this question just to tell him what he already knew!

Feel free to elaborate a bit more on this, seeing as he posted:

I am not quite sure how to test the motherboard to see if that is where the problem is.

So yes, he knows it's a motherboard issue, hence why I directed him to..

the circuitry that controls the power flow from the jack to the system and battery.

I.E I directed to the specific system on the motherboard. I guess I could have elaborated by telling how to use a multimeter on digital circuitry, but if he doesn't already know how to do that, there's not much point in continuing. But thanks for resurrecting a 3 month old thread so that you can "not be rude" to me and try to solve it yourself. I'm sure he's still got this computer on his bench months later, and he's been sitting there, scratching his head the whole time.