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Original poster

Help! Why does my laptop not think it is plugged in?

19 replies

TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:26

It is.

I have unplugged and plugged back in at the ug, at the bit where it goes into my computer, and where the funny black box is on the wire.

Why is it not regitering as being plugged in?

Why?

OP posts:
UndertheBoredwalk · 14/08/2009 22:28

Might be something wrong with your wire, mine does this and I need to wiggle wire around a bit. I really need to buy a new one.

Niecie · 14/08/2009 22:29

You may have damaged the socket in the back which seems to be ridiculously easy - we have done it to 3 different laptops.

It might be a case of getting it repaired which is pricey unless under warranty. Is it very old?

Original poster
TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:29

Help!

There's nothing you can do, is there?

OP posts:
Original poster
TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:30

X-post there.

It's only started doing it tonihgt, and I've been on the cmoputer for longer than the battery lasts, so it's started doing it while I've been MNing this evening...

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Original poster
TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:31

It's over a year old, no chance of warranty.

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HolyGuacamole · 14/08/2009 22:36

My old laptop done this Trillian. It was the connection inside that somehow stopped registering that it was plugged in. I bought two different new chargers at the time and it still done it. My quote to have it repaired was £100 and it had to be sent away.

The more I wiggled the wire around, the more I broke it and it eventually stopped charging altogether.

I bought a new one instead of having the old one fixed as I didn't want to pay £100 as it was about 3 years old.

pickyvic · 14/08/2009 22:40

not a dell by any chance is it? never again! i wasted over £100 on a new charger and new battery to find it did exactly the same thing with the old battery and old charger as with the new one!
i spent 2 3/4 hours on the phone to india before i gave up and chucked the damn thing!

Original poster
TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:41

Dammit, it's only 1 1/2 years old, it shouldn't be doing this.

I'll get DP to look at it tomorrow. I doubt there's much he can do, but still.

I want it alive, it has stuff on it that I want.

I'm on DP's laptop now as he is out.

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ChasingSquirrels · 14/08/2009 22:44

my old dell does it too - but it is plugged in and running off the mains (as the battery is totally knackered and goes after 15 mins) so I just ignore it.

HolyGuacamole · 14/08/2009 22:45

If your DH is good with pcs, he might be able to fix it because the actual part is very cheap (check ebay, around £7). I think the high cost of repair is mainly labour because they have to solder a new one in.

pickyvic - my old one was a Dell - never again.

Original poster
TrillianAstra · 14/08/2009 22:56

Soldering doesn't sound good.

Buggery bugger bugger. I didn't do anything, it's not as if I dropped it. Well, not near the time it decided to stop working, anyway.

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supersalstrawberry · 14/08/2009 22:58

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supersalstrawberry · 14/08/2009 23:01

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supersalstrawberry · 14/08/2009 23:05

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Niecie · 14/08/2009 23:30

We have managed to get round it by fortunately having two laptops that are the same and swapping the batteries between the one that does charge and the one that doesn't iyswim.

It seems the sockets are very vulunerable on laptops. DSs have broken two of ours by putting the laptop down on the socket edge first and it can get easily knocked by moving it around anyway.

I was also quoted £100 for repair - we too have scrapped that one. The chap in the shop said we could do it ourselves, it wasn't difficult, just fiddly but we would have had to buy a soldering iron and no guarantees we could do it right.

Mine was still under warranty and got fixed and I am now very careful about how I put it down and where the cable is. It is a pain as my battery is crap and I always have mine plugged in.

MatNanPlus · 14/08/2009 23:33

Guessing it is turned on at the wall?

Look on eBay i picked up a charger of the same amos etc for £15 whereas a Toshiba was £40+

TheDailyMailHatesWomenAndLemon · 15/08/2009 00:43

Is it Vista? There's a known intermittent bug where that happens -- doesn't register that it's plugged in and won't charge the battery. I had it once and I think the fix was to shut down, unplug, start up again, then plug it in. Or something like that, anyway. It's not done it since.

Original poster
TrillianAstra · 15/08/2009 13:03

That sounds like a lovely solution Lemon, but it's completely out of battery so it won't turn on so I can't see if that is the problem.

I'll take it to the local (independent) computer-fixing shop and ask if they have any spare leads that I can try to see if that's the problem. Even if it's expensive they will at least not be as annoying and stupid as the people who work in PC World.

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Original poster
TrillianAstra · 15/08/2009 13:05

at MatNanPlus - yes, it was turned on at the wall.

Thanks for talking to me guys, even if the consensus is that it willl be expensive and annoying to sort out.

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