TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1373
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

I've been having some laptop issues for a while.

Two things. One - the adapter is really playing up. All the time, if you happen to bump it, the power light goes out, and your computer goes onto battery. I play around with wiggling various cables for ages, unplug, plug back in, until finally i hear a weird whistling noise, wiggle the cable one more time and the power is back on.

So, sounds like its just got a loose cable or something. But the second problem is, on rare occasions, when I lose power, my laptop goes to a black screen. Absolutely nothing I can do, no buttons I can press to turn it back 'on' (though it sounds like it's still on). (And its not a lighting problem; turning the laptop off and on fixes it instantly).

I've ordered a new adapter, but my question is.. could a faulty adapter do that to the computer? I noticed the problem with the black screen before the adapter got really bad, sometimes it would even happen as I turned off the power at the wall/unplugged from computer. I'm *hoping* that for some reason the adapter was surging or something.. rather than it being the laptop that needs fixing.

Could an adapter do that? Or do you think somethings wrong with the laptop (as well, the adapter definitely has a problem).

Dell Inspiron 9400, if that matters.

stigant
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1182
Registered: 08-19-2004
IP: Logged

I've seen some weird things with wires and devices. I'm sure this isn't what you're seeing, but my printer can't be plugged into my surge protector. It used to work fine, then one day it stopped working. We called HP, and they said to plug it straight into the wall instead. Works fine now.

Also, occasionally, my computer screen is black (I've never seen it go black, but I've come back from work to find it black like the screen saver is on or something), and nothing I do except rebooting can make it come back. I think it's something about the login screen - like the computer rebooted, and then it goes into screen saver mode from the login screen, but I'm not sure. It may or may not be the same thing that's happening to you. But I'm running Vista on a Dell desktop.

____________________________
Progress Quest Progress

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

TripleM wrote:
Could an adapter do that? Or do you think somethings wrong with the laptop (as well, the adapter definitely has a problem).

Well, if the power adapter (shouldn't that be "power supply"?) due to internal breakage sends a power spike to the notebook and it doesn't fry the mainboard outright it might turn off instead.

I'd get that power supply replaced ASAP, as you don't (can't) know what's broken - and if you're unlucky it might just die and take your notebook with it...

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1373
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Briareos wrote:
Well, if the power adapter (shouldn't that be "power supply"?)

Probably, I'm never quite sure what to call those things, power pack, power supply, power adapter.. I'll settle with that black power thingy. (at least one site agrees with me).

Well, at least I feel slightly more reassured now. My friend seemed to think the power-thingy would have protection built in to stop that, so I just hope the new power-thingy will fix all problems.

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1373
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

So, I got a new power adapter, and that solved the problem with the bumping-adapter-causes-loss-of-power. Definitely a loose cable.

However.. like I (sadly) suspected, I'm still on rare occasions having the screen go black when I unplug the power/turn off at the wall. (With no way of getting it back again).

Now that its not the adapter.. any ideas what else it could be? Something wrong with the battery? Some connection somewhere? Am I going to have to send my computer away for 2 weeks? I don't think I could really survive that with work and nonwork and everything.

[edit]I just realised that when I bought my laptop a couple of years ago, it came with a spare battery. So here's hoping that will help things..

---

[Last edited by TripleM at 02-20-2009 06:51 AM]

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

TripleM wrote:
[edit]I just realised that when I bought my laptop a couple of years ago,[...]

Yeah, well - laptop batteries (like all rechargeable batteries) tend to degrade over the years - or rather, they degrade with each load cycle...

So if you've got a unused spare do give it a try...

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

---

[Last edited by Briareos at 02-20-2009 08:39 AM]

Tuttle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1545
Registered: 02-22-2003
IP: Logged

Possibly a slight necro-bump, but look into the power saving stuff and video drivers wrt the black screen issue, particularly if that laptop was released before Vista was.

I have a Toshiba M200 that has black-screen issues when resuming from hibernate or suspend, and it's something to do with the screen brightness -- the low-tech fix is to disconnect and reconnect the AC adapter (or if you don't have it handy, power-cycle the thing), but it turns out that scheduling a startup job to lower and then raise the screen brightness does the trick as well.

So maybe try updating the video drivers, updating the laptop BIOS if one is available, and also possibly configuring Windows so the screen brightness is the same on mains and battery.