# Laptop Charger Problems, Charger or Battery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975 "2014-10-10T15:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/1 "2014-10-10T15:23:23Z")
Asus u45jc-a1 laptop. My laptop charger cable is in pretty bad shape. You see the wiring broken in the wires on the top part, thus you see the grey wiring inside. When i charge my laptop recently, the charger would go on and off. Such as charging then not charging. I then took a look and the green light on the laptop charger is green then dims then green again over and over again. So the only way i can fix this issue is unplug the other part of the 2 charger, theres 2 parts then put it back together over and over again then connect it to my laptop. Many times it has same issue. However, few times i would get it to work and thus it would be charging. However few times it would have same issue where problem arises again. But few times however if i make sure i dont move any part of the laptop charger cable… then it would always be charging which is good and thus working. So i figure it has to be my laptop charger as you see its broken the wiring part and its mainly at the top of the wiring near the place where you plug it into laptop. Well i then read online that it might be the battery. So I then took out the battery and just connected my charger to my laptop without the battery. Obviously it shows no battery detected… however, the laptop doesn’t have an issue with the power going out. Thus it shows green light all the time on the charger. Does this mean i have to get a new battery as oppose to a charger? First thought was charger is bad since the broken wiring in certain places and thus its in not so good condition but it has zero problems with power when battery is taken out and im plugged in. Im going to most likely get another charger as this one is pretty bad condition but curious if the battery might be the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Dodgecity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@Dodgecity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dodgecity)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/2 "2014-10-10T16:37:20Z")
Battery connection to computer may need to be cleaned . I have to remove and install my laptop battery sometimes to fix this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/3 "2014-10-10T17:03:12Z")
Can you explain what u mean by that? How do you clean the battery? You just use a towel/tissue? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/4 "2014-10-10T17:09:45Z")
How old is the battery? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/5 "2014-10-10T17:41:16Z")
The metal contacts between the battery and the computer can rust or be fouled with crud. Cleaning those contacts (I generally use a pencil eraser) can make things work better. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/6 "2014-10-10T18:00:53Z")
When I’ve had problem charging, it’s always been the wires of the charging cable, near where it plugs into the laptop having broken, and making intermittent contact. Since you can run without battery, you’ve pretty much ruled out the cable, but it’s possible you just had the cable in a lucky position where it was making good contact. I would try fiddling with the cable when you’re running without battery, just moving the cable around a bit or _gently_ tugging it. If it doesn’t die, your cable is OK. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/7 "2014-10-10T18:33:31Z")
Cheapest/Simplest solution will be buy an equivalent power supply on ebay or amazon. A little more complicated solution is to find a wire plug that fits into your laptop charger port from an old power supply - snip the cable. Take this cable - cut off the laptop charger cable near the supply and join the new cable and use good electrical tape. Or look on craigslist ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/8 "2014-10-10T18:35:07Z")
Remove the battery and connect the charger to the laptop. Turn on the laptop. If it works, that means the charger is (relatively) good and the battery is probably bad. It’s also possible that the charging circuit in the laptop is bad but that usually causes a bad battery pretty quick. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/9 "2014-10-10T18:44:14Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#): > > Remove the battery and connect the charger to the laptop. > Turn on the laptop. If it works, that means the charger is (relatively) good and the battery is probably bad. > It’s also possible that the charging circuit in the laptop is bad but that usually causes a bad battery pretty quick. Jeez, what a great idea. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/10 "2014-10-10T18:48:53Z")
We have 8 cats. I sometimes find a whole pile of Cardinal feathers. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/11 "2014-10-10T19:01:23Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > We have 8 cats. I sometimes find a whole pile of Cardinal feathers. I think that was probably intended for [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736967) thread. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/12 "2014-10-10T19:35:41Z")
some laptops may not work or may not work well with no battery when plugged into the charger. ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/13 "2014-10-10T19:54:24Z")
When i take out the battery and connect only charger to it, theres almost no problems and the laptop works fine. When i have both battery and laptop charging, many times it would show ac mode then have a red circle and diagonal over the charger logo and say battery mode. Thus if you see the battery icon on the bottom right, it would show charging, then no charging, on and off. Sometimes it would keep charging but for some reason it would then go off eventually. What is strange is when i click on power saving mode when this happens, the charging will work for a bit, then go back to the same problem… ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/14 "2014-10-10T20:22:56Z")
Are you sure it’s not just turning off the charger because the battery is fully charged? How long can you run your laptop without the charger plugged in? That would seem to be the most important number. ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/15 "2014-10-10T20:59:06Z")
My battery is never 100 percent charged fully anymore. When i charge my battery, there are times when it would charge to 100 percent but it doesn’t happen because it charges then uncharges then charges and uncharges etc. Other times mostly it would charge for a bit like then it can’t charge. I would have the message and you will see my laptop charger would show plugging, then unplugged, then charging etc does that make sense? I’m confused at your 2nd question. Because once my battery goes to a few percent… then it would turn off then. Then again… this is normal so i’m not sure why you asking me this? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/16 "2014-10-10T21:11:10Z")
It sounds like the battery. Again, how old is it? And as ZenBeam asked, how long will it run on battery power only? ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/17 "2014-10-10T22:07:32Z")
Well if the battery is fully charged, it will run for a bit more than 2 hours. But thing is majority of the time it wont get to more than say 50 percent so it would be 1 hour or less. Thing is sometimes it charges to 100 percent but majority of the time it doesn’t. I feel like a lot has to do with me plugging the power cord over and over again until i find the right spot if u know what i mean? Well not right spot but like if you move it, then its going to go charging then uncharging? ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-charger-problems-charger-or-battery/700975/18 "2014-10-10T22:08:33Z")
Had laptop since late 2010.