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

[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. :)