Cyrix_2k
04-16-07, 03:29 PM
A bit over a month ago, I received a laptop with a bad power jack for repair. I successfully replaced the jack, but noted that the battery present in the laptop was not calibrated correctly and would probably need to be replaced as it was an old unit anyway. Fast forward a bit. The same laptop came back today with the customer complaining that the laptop no longer worked on AC power again. He noted that the last time he used it on AC, presumably after he had been using it on battery power (he called a few days ago and said that laptop would shut itself down when the charge dropped really low. It was just windows shutting down to prevent data loss. Due to the battery, it literally drops from 98% to 3% charge) that the power brick had gotten very hot. Well, I tested the power brick and it is stone dead. I then looked at the laptop and there is a little melted spot on the bottom of the case that was not there when I worked on it previously. The laptop will still turn on with the battery, but since the battery is dead at the moment, it fails to remain running. I checked the power jack and it appears to still be solid.
Do you think it's possible something in the charging circuit failed when it tried to charge that old battery? It's an old NiMH battery, so I don't believe the battery is monitored very closely. I did successfully charge the battery twice when I had it in for repair previously though.
Do you think it's possible something in the charging circuit failed when it tried to charge that old battery? It's an old NiMH battery, so I don't believe the battery is monitored very closely. I did successfully charge the battery twice when I had it in for repair previously though.