Laptop help?

[thistlechaser]

Before I get to the main reason for this post, I was signing up for an account on a message board. I think it likes me!


Now, my laptop. A few months ago it had this same problem. I use it like a desktop machine, so I leave it plugged in 24/7. One day I noticed the battery icon wasn't full anymore, so I hovered over it. "Plugged in, not charging" was the worrying message.

I phoned Toshiba tech support, and the person was amazing. He knew just how to fix it, he was a pleasure to speak to (clear, calm, knew what he was doing). I can't recall what the fix was, but I think it was a change in the registry (or BIOS? Something I usually wouldn't touch on my own).

Months passed, then Saturday I noticed the same thing. Battery wasn't full and "plugged in, not charging". So I called tech support again.

Night and day difference. It was a stereotypical bad India support call. The person clearly had no idea what she was doing. She had an accent so heavy I could barely understand her. She gave me incorrect information just to get me off the phone. (A different phone number I was supposed to call for help... but the number didn't work.)

So I called back again. Different person, but same thing. I know there are good India support people, but this was not one of them. Once more she gave me incorrect information to get off the phone. (A website to order parts from... but the website didn't exist, just redirected to elsewhere on the Toshiba site.)

But in all my rebootings and fiddling with the cables, somehow it started charging again. Not wanting to deal with these people more (I spent TWO HOURS on the phone with them), I decided to hope for the best and hope it wasn't going to happen again.

Today it's happening again. "Plugged in, not charging." I've had this laptop a year or so now, it always stays at 100% and "plugged in, charging".

Does anyone have any idea how to fix it? The first India person suggested that I needed a new AC adapter, but that good support person from months back said the problem had nothing to do with that, and when I talked to a warranty parts person, he agreed.

This is my first laptop ever, so I don't know much about these things. :/

Edit: Windows 7, battery light is not on (the one on the edge of the laptop), AC adapter is hot (it's always hotter than I think it should be).

Comments

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

I went looking around and it seems like the issue is seems to happen to many people with Toshiba laptops running Windows 7 (are you running 7? I can't remember how old it was but the solution is the same with XP). It seems to have something to do with the drivers cutting off recharging for some reason. I see reports of it happening when a laptop gets very hot so it might be a safety protocol which doesn't disengage properly, or just bad drivers.

Anyways, solution is pretty easy follow the instructions here (http://www.troublefixers.com/windows-7-laptop-battery-charging-problem/) and everything should be fine. Steps are the same for XP (if you are running that), things might look a little different though.

Hope this works. I am not to blame if you break anything in the device manager by the way :P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You should work for Toshiba! That's the thing the guy had me do a few months back. I wonder if the default Windows one could have gotten reinstalled... I don't want to try it and reboot, because rebooting knocks a good chunk of the battery charge out. :/

Edit: Or, thinking about it, I think I found that on my own on the Toshiba forums and did it before contacting them...

Edit 2: Sorry for the comment email spam! I ended up trying it (another copy of the directions said it could be done without rebooting... WRONG! :P ) No difference, still not charging. :/

Thanks though! :)

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Generally Windows will install some basic drivers on any new hardware that gets connected (that it has drivers for readily available) automatically just so that it can get up and running. It's likely that whatever issue the drivers have just took a couple months to crop back up.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Any idea on what I can do about something like that? Googling "laptop battery driver" told me to do what I just did to install new drivers.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

If, in the device manager, you goto "action > scan for hardware changes" it should detect your missing battery device drivers and attempt to reinstall (assuming it didn't already do it). When it does that it should check the Microsoft servers to see if it has the newest recommended drivers. If you don't trust it (which you shouldn't) then you can right click on the battery thing you previously uninstalled and tell it to "Update Driver Software..."

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It says the driver is up to date. :/

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

It might have went out and checked to grab the right driver. Keep us updated if it happens again, the only other thing I could think to do would be flashing the BIOS with the latest version. I generally don't like messing with BIOS if I don't have to so lets play it by ear.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Still "plugged in, not charging", but maybe in the morning when it's cooler something will have changed.

If nothing else, I'm going to try calling Toshia support again tomorrow. I seem to remember something about calling tech support on weekends means you're more likely to get India, less likely on weekdays.

Computers are so great when they work, so much worry when they don't...

Thanks for your help! :)

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

You said you hadn't restarted it since it takes a big chunk of the battery charge when you do. If you still haven't tried yet please do. I know I read some stuff about the "fix" not working for some if they didn't restart right after uninstalling the device.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep I did reboot, and oddly it didn't take a chunk of the battery (the time before, it knocked it down by like 7%).

Strangely, the battery has been steady all day. It's been "98% (plugged in, not charging)" for almost 24 hours now. I've been actively using it all day (day off from work), running two WoW windows and various Firefox and other windows. It seems odd that the percent hasn't lowered at all?

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that you have broken several physical laws of the universe. Including, but not limited to, thermodynamics. This has allowed you to create a battery that never runs out.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* It's down to 97% this morning. I leave it on all night long...

[mel-redcap.livejournal.com]

I would suggest that once you get this fixed, you unplug the charger and use your laptop until the battery is down to a couple of percent, then shut it off and plug it in to recharge. A full recharge cycle every once in a while is good for your battery. :)

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

Yup, I've also read the same thing.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Will do!