HP laptop charge problems

Question

Symptoms:

• Battery won't charge.
• Laptop won't power up without battery, with the power chord plugged in.
• Laptop does power up with the battery.
• When the battery is in the laptop, the top of the power plug is lit (see the picture below), normally it is unlit.
• The laptop plug is totally lit when the power chord is plugged in.
• The power led in front of the laptop is always unlit, with or without power/battery.
• I tried with two different power supplies, both failed.
• It's an HP Pavillion dv6000.

Solution

Have you looked at the help on the HP website? I answered a question very similar to this and found the answer on HP's website. If you have the specific model number of the laptop I would be willing to take a look for you.

Also, is there anything notable that happened when this problem first occurred? i.e noises, sparks, any visable damage?

Did the laptop work with just the power cord and no battery before? It could be that the battery is dead and the laptop will not power up without a battery attached, even with power connected.

---

Ok, after looking on the HP site, I found a few things.

Firstly, it looks like they have issued a recall on the batteries for your notebook. It says that this problem should not effect the working of the notebook though, which is fair enough.

If my battery pack has been identified as eligible for replacement, and I have had no issues with it, could the battery pack have caused any damage to my notebook?

No. The issue identified is with the battery pack only and not with the notebook.

Follow the steps on this page (titled 'Getting Started') to find out if your specific battery is part of the recall. If you battery is part of the recall then you can get it replaced. While this may not be what is wrong with your laptop, it is worth doing to be sure (and hey, you get a new battery for free!).

Secondly, there is a long page helping you to troubleshoot problems with a non-booting PC. This link will take you halfway down the document to where it starts to troubleshoot problems with power. Follow the instructions from there and see if that helps you at all. Post back with any successes/failures.

Comments

[Christian Lundahl]

It did work without the battery before. My brother was using it when it stopped charging, so I don't know of any noise. And my google-fu was unsuccessful with the HP forums. What do you mean by specific model number? DV6636NR, s/n or p/n?

[Mason]

Yes I ment 'DV6636NR'. The DV6000 you mentioned in the question is just the series of laptops. To look up your laptop you need the model of the laptop from the series. Ill take a quick look now and see if anything pops up. (Ill post any findings in my first answer as its easier to format and add links etc)

[Christian Lundahl]

The laptop used to boot without the battery (while connected to the power supply), and now it doesn't, so I assume the problem isn't the battery. Also, it does boot perfectly off the battery alone. It seems to be a problem in the power port module, however the technician I sent the laptop to couldn't fix the problem, and he had never seen that little led in the upper part of the power plug lit before. Thanks for the help and effort.

[Mason]

Oh I didnt realise it worked with just the battery. How are you charging the battery if the power port doesnt work? I would still see if your battery is eligible for replacement as it could post a safety risk if your battery is effected. Also did you read the troubleshooting page? I didnt read it all but it may tell you what the upper part lighting up means. Its worth a read at the least.