how to Troubleshooting a AC/DC Adapter problem and Laptop Power Connector

 Troubleshooting a AC/DC Adapter problem and Laptop Power Connector

Note that these steps correspond with decision points on the flowchart and are reached through the interactive diamond symbols. The text below cannot be read sequentially.

Is the laptop power LED lit? Laptops typically feature a row of LED's on the front which report the status of different laptop systems.There's an LED that should light when the AC adapter is plugged in, an LED that should show when the battery is accepting a charge, and an LED that lights when the power is on. Most laptops also include LEDs to show hard drive activity and when the wireless is powered on. Some brands put a light right in the power button to show the unit is powered up. At this step of the troubleshooting process, we're looking for the LED that confirms the battery is charging or that a good power supply is connected. When the laptop isn't turned on, these should be the only two LEDs lit.

Return to Diagnostic Chart

Does the LED wink if you wiggle the power cord? Once you've located the LED that monitors the status of the AC adapter or tells you whether or not the battery is getting charged, try wiggling the power cord. If the LED blinks on and off as you wiggle the cord, it means you have an intermittent short or open circuit, and the laptop isn't likely to get the power it need unless the cord is in just the right position and you don't breath on it. So the next step is to troubleshoot whether the problem is frayed conductors in the power cord, a broken solder joint or tab inside the laptop's power port. The common failure point for the cord is right where it enters the injection molded section that holds the metal connector tip. It's the injection molded part that you hold when pushing in or pulling out the connector. If moving the cord very slightly winks the LED, so slightly that there's little chance the movement is transmitted to the connector, then the problem is almost certainly a frayed wire right where it's molded into the connector.

Return to Diagnostic Chart


Does the laptop beep multiple times? Laptop computers start up with a Power On Self Test (POST) procedure, just like PCs. The test is carried out by the Basic I/O System (BIOS) which is in sole control of the laptop until the operating system takes over high level operations. If a failure is detected during the POST test, it will normally be reported by the BIOS as a beep code. Make a note of the series of beeps, which will depend on the BIOS and the laptop manufacturer, and then use your favorite Internet search engine to search for your specific laptop model with the key phrase "beep codes."
Read More...

Any Kind of  Lenovo Problems Call Us
+1-855-517-2433 (Toll Free)

how to Troubleshooting Laptop Hard Drive Failure

Troubleshooting Laptop Hard Drive Failure

Note that these steps correspond with decision points on the flowchart and are reached through the interactive diamond symbols. The text below cannot be read sequentially.

Is the LCD or monitor live? The first step in troubleshooting hard drive problems is determining whether or not you are dealing with a hard drive failure or something else entirely. Some non-technical people will refer to the any computer part that isn't a monitor as "the hard drive." If your LCD screen won't light up, the problem almost certainly isn't related to the hard drive.

Return to Diagnostic Chart

Does Windows or whatever operating system you are using boot? Does the laptop start up normally, get you all the way to the desktop? If the OS boots, unless you are dealing with a noise issue, the problem you're having is either software related or an accumulation of errors on the drive. If you're getting very flaky errors, having difficulty when connected to the Internet, are seeing large scale file corruption or data loss, the problem is more likely due to malware (bad software such as a computer virus, spyware, trojans) than electronic or mechanical failure. However, if the operating system disk maintenance software, such as ScanDisk, is reporting errors every time you run it, if you see text messages about "write failures" or if successive surface scans report a large number of errors, your hard drive is actually failing. If you believe the hard drive is failing, back-up all of the data that can be read and replace the drive.

Return to Diagnostic Chart

Will the laptop boot with AC power adapter attached? If the laptop boots up with the AC power adapter plugged in, the problem is with the battery, not the hard drive. Proceed to the battery troubleshooting flowchart. If you notice the hard drive performance seems to degrade badly when you are running on battery power, it means the power management is turning off the hard drive after too short of a delay on no activity, probably just a minute or two. You can change the power management setting to increase the shut-down delay for the hard drive or to ensure the hard drive remains spun up as long as the laptop is turned on.

Return to Diagnostic Chart


Does the laptop boot if you remove all external connections? If you have any external devices plugged into your notebook, printers, cameras, PC Cards (the replacement for PCMCIA cards), external keyboards or mice, network cables, monitors, unplug them all. If the laptop is sitting in a docking station, remove it. If the laptop boots when all of the external connections are removed, the problem isn't the hard drive, it's a faulty external device or signal. You can determine which device is preventing the OS from booting by process of elimination. The problem isn't necessarily an hardware failure, it could be the driver for that device is so unfriendly or corrupted that it's stalling the boot process when called to manage it's client
Read More...

Any Kind of  Lenovo Problems Call Us
+1-855-517-2433 (Toll Free)