Very strange laptop battery problem? (plugged in, not charging)

[AxshunJaxun]

Hey 3013, 

I'm sorry you're running into this issue with your battery not charging. 

Does your computer turn on with the power cord in? If so, and it just isn't charging, then follow the steps on this link.

Plugged In, Not Charging

If it won't turn on at all, see my above post and check the light next to where the power cord plugs into the computer. If that light does not come on, look closely at the power cord. Try different outlets, preferably one that has a working appliance currently plugged in. Try another power cord on the affected computer and try the affected power cord on a different computer. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂

[Hisword]

My hp mini laptop has a good battery, a good charger and i have done hard reset, gone through the BIOS settings, checked the motherboard (ok) but yet plugged in not charging. Pls somebody help me

[AxshunJaxun]

Hey Hisword, 

I'm sorry you're running into this charging issue. Did you already try looking at the link my previous post at the top of page 2?

[Hisword]

Yes , i have followed all the steps there but yet, its still not charging, am losing hope and my laptop is just 2yrs old. Pls help me

[AxshunJaxun]

How is the fit of the battery?

Does it seem loose at all?

Does the light next to the charger stay on at all times? That will indicate whether the charger is good or not. 

Have you tried different chargers, by chance? There's another thread on the forum where users mention that a new charger is ultimately what corrected a similar problem. 

You may also need a BIOS update. Press FN + ESC to find out what your current BIOS is and let me know what version and product number you have. 🙂

[Jluna871]

Hello I have a HP Pavillion g7 series.

Like the following people above the computer doesn't turn on.

I have tried disconnecting it from the cord and with out the battery and clicking the button for the power for over 20 seconds and trying to connect everything and it doesn't work. 

Now when I connect the battery and try to turn it on, the light ( #4) on the picture blinks 3 times. When I try to do it with just the charger connected and no battery it doesn't turn on at all. This happened about one week ago so I bought a battery. Everything started working correctly when I used the new battery but after using the computer for two days the same thing happened. 

I have 3 chargers that have the right voltage for the this laptop and tried them on different outlets already so that doesn't seem to be the problem. 

The second time when the computer turned off on me I was on my headphones and I was listening to some music when everything went black. I noticed that I was still listening to the music but wasn't able to do anything else since the screen went completely dark. 

I don't think its a computer screen problem. 

Thank you 🙂

[AxshunJaxun]

@Jluna871

No definitely not a screen problem. You've tried everything that it could possibly be hardware-wise, everything except replace the motherboard. The only other software issue it could be, would be BIOS related, either an outdated BIOS or a BIOS installation failure/corruption. 

Regarding BIOS, you could try these steps to rollback the BIOS version. Often, these steps take a couple of tries. After that, I would have to recommend a motherboard replacement, unfortunately. 

SIDE NOTE:  One other thing you may try is reseating the RAM. If you've got more than one stick, try each one in each slot individually. 

[MZWebb]

Hello axshun jaxson,

I'm having the same problem revivng my laptop from a sleep mode that everyone else is.  My husband is very computer savvy (admittedly, I am not) and even he's given up.  Even though I almost always leave it on AC power, at two years old, I'm suspecting that the battery is causing my problem.  Before I purchase a new one, I'd like to find out if it could be BIOS related.  Can you tell me if I have the correct version for my laptop?  I have resorted to never letting it go into sleep mode, turning it off when I go to bed and trying various battery/power cord/plug-in configurations every morning in order to bring it back to life.

Please help before I

1) cry

2) smash it with a sledgehammer

3) buy a new laptop (NOT an HP)

Product Name: HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC

Product Number: LQ537UA#ABA

BIOS Configuration:  F.49 - 12/25/12  (059A100000204610000020100)

Thanks,

frustrated

PS  Other suggestions I've heard include rolling back to a prior graphics driver, maybe the original one?  What do you think of that idea?  Once the the laptop is up and running, I have no complaints at all regarding graphics or anything else. For one person, opening up the back and blasting dust out of there did the trick....!

[AxshunJaxun]

Hey MZWebb, 

I'm so sorry you're running into this sleep issue! I hate that so many are running into these similar issues and I really want to try to get to the bottom of it for everyone. Thank you for your very detailed post though! Having all of that product information in the first post helps a lot!

Since there have been so many different new issues discussed since the start of the thread, let me get an inventory of all of the symptoms you're experiencing. Let me know which numbers, below, you're experiencing.

1. It won't come out of sleep mode     --   Have you tried waking from sleep in Safe Mode? 

2. AC adapter is plugged in, but battery is not charging   --   Have you tried the steps from this link

3. Computer won't power on without the battery plugged in    --    Do you see the Caps/Num Lock lights or the AC adapter light next to where the charger plugs in, blinking? If so, is there a blink pattern? (1blink and a pause, 2 blinks and pause, and so on...)

4. Sometimes won't power on at all for several attempts with both battery and ac adapter plugged in   --   Same as #3, any blink pattern with the Caps/Num Lock lights or AC Adapter light?

If you've got other symptoms than those listed above, please let me know about those and the steps you've tried in detail as well. 

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The first thing I checked is your BIOS version. It is up-to-date at version F.49. So I don't think it will be BIOS related.

You mentioned being concerned it may be a battery problem. One important, but little-known, maintenance task is calibrating the battery. The battery has what is called "Smart Battery" technology. This means the battery is programmed to know what its full capacity is. As the computer is used, especially if it is used mostly with the charger plugged in, the battery loses that knowledge of what its full capacity should be, so you have to calibrate the battery. Here are the steps for battery calibration.

I've seen situations before where the computer was not waking from sleep mode and it ended up being a service/process that was running in the background. Once that service was taken off of the Startup list (meaning it had been starting each time the computer started, but taking it off of the Startup list, it was only running when the user opened it intentionally), waking from sleep mode worked normally. The service in that case was GTalk, Google's chat program.

I've also seen antivirus programs prevent the computer from waking from sleep properly.  That's why I suggest trying to wake from Sleep while in Safe Mode. Nothing but the bare essentials run in Safe Mode, so if it were a service/process causing the issue, Safe Mode would let you know. 

Rolling back the graphics driver is a viable suggestion. I would suggest trying that after the above Safe Mode suggestion. Your earlier graphics driver version is

AMD HD Graphics Driver version 8.822.4.0000

Sorry! I know that's a lot of information, but I want to be thorough and I really do want to get to the bottom of this issue since it's happening to so many. Looking forward to your reply!

[MZWebb]

Thank you for your thorough reply.   You've offered some suggestions that I haven't heard before in all my research.   I'll certainly try them and report back to you.   I just think I'll wait till my husband gets back in town tomorrow so that I can eliminate all pilot error...

I will say that this morning is the first time I've experieced #3 while trying to get it out of sleep mode.  Usually, the battery has to be out for it to start.  Yes, as usual, I hear a soft clunk (the cd drive?) the WLAN light comes on and a few seconds later the caps lock light starts intermittently flashing but, still, today I could get nothing else to happen; battery in or out.  What worked this time was for me to reinsert the battery and leave it in this state for about an hour. Since it had been asleep all night,  I was hoping this this would give the battery some charge and hoping that would help get it going.  Sure enough, the next time I pushed the power button, it started right up!  Which makes me think more and more that it's battery related, since nothing else could have been improved by this wait period.  Interestingly enough it also seems to help if all periphery inputs are removed (a power drain...?)   I've had no reason to believe that the battery isn't charging (maybe that's what you want me to check in #2) s perhaps I jumped in the wrong thread in the first place, just that the computer does not seem happy with it...or SOMETHING.

For me, the light next to the AC adapter input is always a solid white, so I believe that eliminates the possibility that it's a bad adapter, is that correct?  I did not order a replacement one.

In the mean time, I've ordered a replacement battery, since that has solved the problem for some and a it's a relatively minor investment from third party vendors.  I found one with a one year warranty for about $40. Will report how that goes. 

Trust me, I would love for  you and I to be the ones who get to the bottom of this together!!!!!   I'm as frustrated as anyone out there but it never helps to just whine.  You've got to offer specific info and report exactly what works for any of us to get anywhere with this...!