Laptop charger wont charge.

Hello all! My laptop charger has finally stopped working. Mine has a little blue light that comes on once it is plugged into the wall, but it no longer does nor charges. When it first started doing this, I would just unplug, plug, unplug, plug into the wall until the light came on and it worked fine. It got worse and worse until I would spend 5+ minutes unplugging it from the wall outlet until the light came on. Now it wont anymore.

I have read a few tutorials on the net that explain about that fat little cylinder near where you plug into the laptop, cutting, soldering, etc. But not sure if that is the actual problem for what mine is doing. I would normally just buy a new one, but for my comp (dell) it costs around 80 bucks, and my laptop costs 300. 1/3 of the price almost as the darn computer. Is there anything I can do to fix this thing? The fact that it worked when I screwed with it meant it died slow, and not abruptly. I know there are ebay charges for my comp for 15 bucks but reading the reviews, they got 1 star out of 5, meaning they ither didn't work or worked for a short period of time. Anyone know what I can do to this one to maybe give it some life again? Thanks!

ETA, the fatter 1 inch part that goes into the charger itself is a little wiggly and I see glue marks.


Gs

question: what do I do if my charger stops charging?

step 1 identify if it is the computer based receptor or the charger itself.
(tip! try someone elses charger)

step 2: take computer in to have recepticle replaced or buy new charger depending on the results from step 1.

with any other questions please refer to google.

have a nice day

you tried the fuse in the plug if they have them

It has been 2 weeks since I tried again, I wiggled the cord, and it came on! But I moved it and now it is off again. So I think it is not dead, just something loose.

GS

Originally posted by blu3nowh3r3
question: what do I do if my charger stops charging?

step 1 identify if it is the computer based receptor or the charger itself.
(tip! try someone elses charger)

step 2: take computer in to have recepticle replaced or buy new charger depending on the results from step 1.

with any other questions please refer to google.

have a nice day

When it works, the light on the charger comes on regardless if it is plugged into the computer or not.

Gs

this is common for dell and gateway laptops..more then likely you have a short(caused by a foreign substance) on one side of your diode..that will not let the battery charge.. and since your battery cant charge the computer will not turn on.. the video you mentioned is probably a bypass that lets your computer run off the wallplug rather then the battery.. and is probably the easiest way to go about fixing your laptop. but you wont be able to use ya computer anymore without plugging it in unless you address the real problem

Originally posted by PaperMetel
this is common for dell and gateway laptops..more then likely you have a short(caused by a foreign substance) on one side of your diode..that will not let the battery charge.. and since your battery cant charge the computer will not turn on.. the video you mentioned is probably a bypass that lets your computer run off the wallplug rather then the battery.. and is probably the easiest way to go about fixing your laptop. but you wont be able to use ya computer anymore without plugging it in unless you address the real problem

It is not the battery.. The charger by itself has a light that turns on even when it is not plugged into the computer.

Gs

reply to post by GermanShep

First, that cylinder thing near the plug that feeds the computer is a ferrite for suppressing radio emissions from the computer; it is a low frequency electrical insulator and does not effect charging in any way.

When you spoke of the blue light intermittently turning-on, was this the blue light on the charger or the laptop? If it was the light on the charger then it is definitely a short circuit in the low voltage cable between the charger and laptop.

I recently experienced the identical problem with a Toshiba laptop charger caused by various traumas inflicted upon this cable. To save money I scavenged the output cable from a IBM charger and replaced (a moderately difficult task even with my electronics lab) the defective Toshiba output cable. While mechanically compatible the IBM and Toshiba chargers have different output voltages and power ratings preventing a simple swap from working.

Unless you have a well equipped shop with soldering equipment and you know your way around switching power supplies I recommend that you just buy a new charger.

Best regards,
Z

i should also mention the more you wiggle the cord to try to get the light to turn on the more you loosen the solder on that diode..and if you loosen it to much the bypass wont will not help you.

I will just get a new one. Thanks for the help!

Gs

I will just get a new one. Thanks for the help!

Gs

I had the same problem before to but with an Asus charger. I opened the charger and seen the capacitor loose. I just resoldered the connections and it worked fine after that.