Laptop Question

[Feralpeg]

I have a Gateway laptop. Awhile back, the dog chewed the original cord. I bought one of those cords with the various connectors. At first, it worked great. Then, I started getting a message "plugged in, but not charging". No matter what I did, I would get this message.

I assumed that the battery was bad. I've had the laptop for several years. After the battery lost its charge, I've been able to use the laptop plugged in with no problem.

I finally got around to buying a new battery. I still get the same message. The battery is slowly losing its charge.

Anyone have a clue as to what is going on? I'm at a loss.

 

[NotUrsula]

Your new cord doesn't have a big enough brick on it, in terms of amperage.

DH and I have the same brand of laptop, and sometimes we get our cords confused. Mine is a work laptop that is not very graphics-intensive, but DH's laptop is his personal one, it has every graphics bell and whistle, and it is much more of a power hog than mine. The trick is that his cord will charge my machine, but mine won't charge his. It has to do with the power flow that it handles.

If you still have your original brick around somewhere, take a look at the amperage it shows on the label. (If you don't have it, the mfrs. website should be able to tell you if you plug in your laptop serial number.) If your new brick doesn't have as many amps as your original, then it probably will never be able to recharge the battery.

 

[Feralpeg]

Your new cord doesn't have a big enough brick on it, in terms of amperage.

DH and I have the same brand of laptop, and sometimes we get our cords confused. Mine is a work laptop that is not very graphics-intensive, but DH's laptop is his personal one, it has every graphics bell and whistle, and it is much more of a power hog than mine. The trick is that his cord will charge my machine, but mine won't charge his. It has to do with the power flow that it handles.

If you still have your original brick around somewhere, take a look at the amperage it shows on the label. (If you don't have it, the mfrs. website should be able to tell you if you plug in your laptop serial number.) If your new brick doesn't have as many amps as your original, then it probably will never be able to recharge the battery.

Actually, the voltage is higher on the new cord than on the old one. When I first got it, it charged just fine. Then, all of a sudden it stopped.

I did a google on "plugged in not charging" and came up with a bunch of people having the same problem. It sounds like a software issue. I probably picked up something that has caused the problem. I tried what several people posted that helped them. It didn't work for me. Many of the people are Windows7. I am Vista.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Is there a box looking thing on the cord? If so, does it get really hot? We had this problem with the kids laptops. The box thing on the cord would get hot if they used it for to long, and finally it stopped working all together and we had to have the chargers replaced.

 

[Geoff_M]

What NotUrsula said can still be correct. It's not clear if what you replaced was just a cord, or a cord along with a new AC/DC converter "brick". If there's a new "brick" in the equation you need to look at the rating on the converter. There are two sets of figures to look at (Input and Output) and two numbers for each set (Volts and Amps). You'll want to compare the output figures of the new and old "brick". If the output amperage rating of the new brick is lower than the old one, then it may not provide enough "kick" to be able to both keep your laptop running and provide enough extra juice to charge the battery.

 

[Feralpeg]

What NotUrsula said can still be correct. It's not clear if what you replaced was just a cord, or a cord along with a new AC/DC converter "brick". If there's a new "brick" in the equation you need to look at the rating on the converter. There are two sets of figures to look at (Input and Output) and two numbers for each set (Volts and Amps). You'll want to compare the output figures of the new and old "brick". If the output amperage rating of the new brick is lower than the old one, then it may not provide enough "kick" to be able to both keep your laptop running and provide enough extra juice to charge the battery.

I bought the new converter along with the cord. The input and output on the new converter are higher than on the original. It does not get hot when used.

At this point, I have come to the conclusion that I am experiencing the same problem that many people are experiencing. If you look at the forum for Windows and do a find on "plugged in not charging", you'll see that it is a widespread problem affecting many different brands of laptop. There doesn't seem to be a simple fix at this point. It appears to be a problem with Vista and Windows7 OS that occurs under just the right conditions. Thus, it will be hard to fix. Hopefully, since Microsoft is getting many reports of this problem, they are working on a fix.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.