Plugged in battery not charging

[lonfu]

So, after reading a number of other blogs and forums, I decided to do some trouble shooting on my "plugged in battery not charging" before I spend to much.  My Spectre x360 13-4003DX is/ was a screaming fast little laptop that I use for everything.  First I got a 2nd charger from my other computer. No change. Then I bought 2 new batts and replaced the original. The new one showed 42% charge. When I plugged in the charger I got the good message "charging" for about 2 minutes. then the dredded one, again... "Plugged in not charging" Ok, so I ran the HP dianostics page and it said the new batt needed to be re-calibrated. Ok, that made sense. Re-calibration page promtply said it would take 4 + hours. I watched the bar graph as it discharged the battery....Then the computer went black and wouldn't restart, wouldn't even flicker a little bit...No charge light, no nothing, I checked the charger to make sure it was working again and it is perfect... So, how to get my data off Spectre and move it to my old ancient dependable garage computer.... The 2nd battery I bought...

   Yep, fired right up after I installed it and it had a 65% charge... Finally some good news... I was able to download all my data on to my sd backup drive. Bad news, as soon as I plugged in my charger it started discharging faster than when it was not charged in.... When I installed the 2nd battery I looked for the burned paper as suggested in the other blogs on this site..... Sure enough, the little capacitor looks burned, and there was a burned hole in the paper. The paper did worry me a bit, "replace with HP spare".... Exactly what does that mean??? The original one is not HP???  I got lucky, no huge fire, no burned lap, no fire department... yeah!!! but I still have a $1400. HP official paperweight????? what to do??

    I like the Spectre computer and the combination of processor, size and start up speed, but do not think that the dependability is worth the $$. Which is $350 for the motherboard or $600 at the repair shop....Unless... they are willing to make this one good even after I'm off the one year warranty.  After reading a number of other blogs, clearly this is manufacturerers defect and should have been recalled.  Since I kept mine plugged in most of the time that I've had it, seldomly did it have to recharge from a low battery, putting a full load on that capacitor, but now that I'm on the road for a month the problem has reared it's ugly head. So, don't let it discharge below 50% and you probably won't have an issue.

   I own and use 11 HP products, 8 of them are computers,  this is the first time I've had a problem with any of them. Now microsoft 10... I wish I could say the same... So, If you are thinking of buying one of these units, buy the 15 year  extended warranty. 

[Cheyenne4]

After reading your extensive experience, my reply may seem very simplistic.  But, hopefully you are aware of an official HP Customer Support response — linked below —  to the oft-repeated "battery not charging" issue.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02957869

[lonfu]

burned hole from overheating capacitor on the charger section of the motherboard.

yes,  I've already read this. my first battery dropped 7%, and wouldn't charge, so I figured that the battery needed to be replaced. 2nd battery was at 41% when I first started it up, then per the HP blogs, followe several recomended "fixes". Uninstalled, re-install's as was recomended by HP. Then as stated tried the HP battery test which stated that it needed to be re-calibrated. It drained the 2nd battery to 0% and the computer wouldn't restart.  Found a blog about the burned capacitor and looked, yep, here it is, a burned hole from an over heated capcitor. My house solar system uses capacitors instead of transformers in the inverter, basicly preforming the same job.  If they are of poor quality or to low of capacity they will over heat and do exactly what this one did. To me, clearly a manufacturer's design defect.... The label sure does make one wonder where the spare is???? I didn't see one on the board, under the label...... but that stuff is pretty tiny....

[CherylG]

@lonfu

I believe the label about Spare part refers to the motherboard in the event it has to be replaced. The Spectre 4xxx series has been prone to failure of that one capacitor. Only option is replacing the motherboard. Several years ago there was a bad batch of capacitors used by couple of the big manufacturers-Dell, Apple, HP,etc. At that time it was a desktop motherboard and involved several of the capacitors bulging. Those handy with soldering and self repairs tackled some of those boards. Not sure if that would be possible on the tiny parts of the Spectre.

I have asked for escalation and review of your post. Fingers crossed.

[lonfu]

Me too, because looks like a new board is actually closer to $450... ouch!!! and my old eyes can't unsolder that capacitor because I can't see it.... 

[Cheron-Z]

@lonfu

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.

[lonfu]

Ok, sounds great! I'll be waiting with my fingers crossed.....

Meanwhile here is the first IBM computer I worked on... It was a bit cumbersome when taking it home.....

[lonfu]

Company  case manager said...... So sad, Too bad, So sorry..... Because my laptop is out of warranty, HP is unwilling to stand behind an obvious manufacturer defect.... Clearly with the many many exact same failures they are still unwilling to repair the HP motherboard charging capcitor. Sadly HP has become "just another computer manufacturer", no better than the rest.  Buying their higher dollar units doesn't mean that you are getting the "HP quality of yesteryear" so it makes no sense to spend bigger $$$ on their nicer units. 29 months is not a long time for a $1400 dollar computer to last, I will not risk buying another one at more than twice the cost of their competitors same model.

I didn't mind paying the extra $$$ because I thought I was getting HP workmanship and the willingness to stand behind product.....

So, I  have purchased their cheapest plastic laptop and if it fails in 29 months, I will buy an Accer or Asus and have no feelings of treason what so ever towards HP....

Looks like Elvis has left the computer market....

[CherylG]

@lonfu

Another member recently reported excellent results with this repair service on their Spectre. Not same model as you have but body of message says if your model isn't listed they will create a new listing for it. I haven't browsed all of his listings so yours may have one already. You could contact the seller to inquire if you are interested. 

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/LAPTOP-REPAIR-HP-Spectre-X360-13-4103dx-13-4105dx-board-828825-601-861992-6...

Spectre is  too nice of a laptop to scrap due to failure of a tiny capacitor/resistor, imo.

[lonfu]

Sounds like a good idea..... perhaps..... Thing is I expected HP to step up to bat for the repair.... In other words do the work themselves...When I purchase a HP product I expect it to last in the first place or for them to repair it so it works as promised....I can't imagine paying $1400 for an item in my home and have it last only 29 months then fail.... Even my $15 Mr. Coffee's last longer than that!

Their refusal makes me suspicious that the design flaw is larger than just a failed capacitor and so it will fail again even after they repair it. IF I have an outside repairman work on it and it fails again, then it would be his fault and not HP's..... Why repair the capacitor when it is a motherboard design mistake....Good money after bad...

Hard to guess about this stuff.... And I'm not willing to invest any more money into my official HP paperweight....