Power problem (running on battery even power cord is plugged)

[jurism123]

Hi!

I have new (only few month old) HP ProBook 6550b. Recently I noticed strange problem.
I do not understand if it is hardware or software related problem.

The problem: sometimes when laptop starts I see that it is running on battery even power cord is plugged.
Solution: I need to unplug and plug again (sometimes several times) to see the icon 'plugged in, charging' again.

I do not know if it is related, but... Mainly I start my computer on battery and in middle of Windows starting process plug it in.

HP came with Windows 7 Professional x64 preinstalled.
Has anyone similar problem or someone knows what is causing this issue?

[jurism123]

I still have this issue! Anyone any advice?

[phttech]

have you tried updating bios and drivers

Download drivers and software

[jurism123]

I tried to reinstall BIOS and Chipset drivers. There were problems with BIOS update - after installing newest version, I run setup again to check the version and it still said that I have the same version as previous.

But after all these updates the situation became a little bit better. Now the problem appears seldom and every time with first unplug/plug operation power cord cames on as it should be.

This week after some windows updates the problem was not seen. But I doubt it is gone, as it is undetermined. I will report after few weeks again.

[jurism123]

I still have this problem. Sometimes it gets worse, sometimes better - but it is unpredictable when power cord will be seen by notebook and when not. Any other suggestions or should I send it to repair? It is very disappointing that brand new laptop has such a problem. I have also Sony and Acer with Win7 64-bit and none of them has any problems!

P.S. I still have no clue why I was unable to update BIOS...

[phttech · Accepted solution]

if you lightly press the AC adapter were it connects to the notebook does it the detect AC power?

try saving the Bios to your desktop right click and run as administrator

[jurism123]

I tried your suggested solution (lightly pressed the AC adapter were it connects to the notebook for few seconds, e.g., 2-3 seconds). And, YES, it does detect AC power. I haven't posted back a while, because I wanted to be sure if this action always helps. And again, YES, every time the laptop was unable to detect power cord, pressing AC adapter was a solution.

Thank you for your help!

In this case - what should I do? Is the adapter faulty or laptop connector? Is this problem known by HP?

P.S. I still was unable to update BIOS (even with Run as Administrator). But I do not care about this as I have found the problem.

[AaronM0110]

It sounds like it is either the a/c adapter or the port connector on the laptop. One way to test it: Most major electronics stores sell our a/c adapters, I would recommend taking the laptop in and having the port tested with a new adapter.

Hope this helps!

[phttech]

and if it is only a few months old and it is the pin itself you might be able to get it repaired under warranty also if under a year they may replace your ac adapter

[jurism123]

I have accepted this as a solution because my goal was to find out where the problem is. I haven't sent my laptop to warranty repair because this would take several days and in this case I need to prepare replacement. Instead I have bought new AC adapter and now all works fine.

Anyway I am a little bit disappointed that brand new professional laptop has such a problem.