What Is It?!

pikeh

Resident Freddy
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
5,032
Hello,

My laptop of 4 years has finally died, just at the time I need it again for laptop purposes.
No power seems to be getting to the computer what-so-ever, but I know there is power going to the supply because the green light on the cable interchangey bit running from the wall socket is on. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is the power cable running from the PC to the interchangey bit, but I dont know anyone who has a laptop old enough to borrow the supply from, and I dont want to have to fork out if Im not even sure thats the problem.

There is nothing happening when I press the power button at all, no light to say its plugged in, nothing happens when I remove the battery pack etc.

Can anyone confirm what it is? Or is it just deaded? It seemed fine one day and then the next it was borked :s

Thanks for your time!
 

Noc0de

Can't get enough of FH
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Messages
204
What make/model of laptop do you have?

Does the battery have any power charge indicator on it? With some you're able to press a button and see if there's any charge left - if there is, at least you'd be able to tell whether it's the cable/powerpack or something like the battery charger board internal to the laptop (ie/ if there's power in the battery it should in theory boot without the AC being connected).

Remove the battery and just try booting it on AC?

Any spare laptop batteries or AC cable parts lying around?

If not, probably the cheapest part to buy off ebay would be another AC powerpack and try that... If that doesn't work with the battery removed then it would have to be something internal to the laptop like the battery charger board or power connector etc. You can sometimes get instructions from your manufacturer and buy salvaged parts off ebay to replace these things...
 

soze

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Messages
12,508
As the power supply light is on if the trick with the battery does not work i would point at the power connection on the mother board tbh. In my experience the power supply normally totally dies not half way. But the battery trick does often work if the machine got stuck in Hibernation.
 

Kryten

Old Cow.
Moderator
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
3,351
Not a Fujitsu/Siemens perchance?

I agree with the above. How handy are you with a screwdriver and multimeter? :)
 

pikeh

Resident Freddy
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
5,032
'tis a Novatech Neptune Elite.

I have tried without the battery in at all and still nothing, thats why I thought it was the power cable :)

Not too good with the inner workings of a laptop tbh, thought there was a simple solution :(

Thanks for replies!
 

Zenith.UK

Part of the furniture
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
2,913
Before you go off and consign it to the scrapheap, try getting one of these first.
120W Multi-Voltage Universal Laptop Power Supply : Laptop Power Supplies : Maplin

That will determine if it's your PSU at fault.
I'll tell you though, from the symptoms you've described, I would expect it to be the laptop itself at fault.
HOWEVER... it might simply be a dry solder joint in the charger socket. I had a laptop that wouldn't charge. I took it apart (it was out of warranty) and noticed that one of the contacts for the power socket was loose. I took it to my local mobile phone repair place and they soldered it back down for £20. Hey presto... working again (after being rebuilt)! :)
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom