Insufficient power from an adapter
2014-07
Garan
Would not having enough power (or voltage or amperage) from an adapter make a laptop no longer charge/boot up (if the battery is out of power)? What about causing shorts? And would using a different adapter (if the head fit the jack) be a solution to this problem?
More information (troubleshooting):
The laptop without the battery does not turn on. The laptop acts for a moment as if it would turn on (LEDs on the keyboard flashing) but then stops. With the battery in, the plugged in light is on, but the battery indicator and the power indicator (whether it was on or not) flash at the same time. I was for a small while able to run the computer (with the battery and the power cable in), but then the battery must have completely run out of power because it abruptly shut off. Sometimes the plugged in light falters (which makes me believe it was receiving dirty power or not enough), when it does this the other two lights do not flash. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L755.
Tweek
Would not having enough power (or voltage or amperage) from an adapter make a laptop no longer charge/boot up (if the battery is out of power)?
Yes, it could, but it is unlikely that the power adapter supplied with a laptop would start supplying too little current. In my experience, when a power adapter stops working, it fails completely. If the "plugged in" light on the laptop comes on when you plug it in, chances are the power adapter is fine.
However, I have encountered cases where, when the battery in a laptop fails, the laptop will not turn on, even if the AC adapter is connected. You might want to try removing the battery from the laptop and see if it turns on with just the AC adapter connected.
And would using a different adapter (if the head fit the jack) be a solution to this problem?
You need to be very careful about using a power adapter from a different device. You need to confirm that the voltage and polarity are the same, and that the current the adapter can supply is equal to or greater than the current the old one provided. If you use an incompatible adapter, you run the risk of permanent damage to the laptop.
Tom
Just finished upgrading the heatsink and fan in my wife's computer (dropped the temperature about 20 degrees on an AMD), and everything works great except one problem. The BIOS is reporting that it can't find the CPU fan, which it can't because the stock fan had a 4 pin connector and the new one only has a 3 pin. I'd like to find, if possible, some sort of adapter (note: not looking for an adapter to a 4 pin drive connector) that will let me plug the fan into the correct slot so the computer doesn't complain every boot. So far, I haven't been able tofind anything searching myself. Does anyone know where I can find such a beast? Thanks.
Beaner