What Is Wrong With My Power/Battery/Charger?

I said "Power/Battery/Charger" because I am not sure exactly which one of those is messed up.

Heres the thing. A little before February 20th I began experiencing problems with my computer. I would have my computer plugged in to a socket at home, and the charger wasn't recognized. I also had an old battery (it gave me the, "consider replacing your battery" message). Eventually, it just stopped reading the charger entirely.

I got a new battery and a new charger and it worked perfectly for a few days. Now, I am starting to see the same problem, only to a lesser extent. My battery works perfectly, but my charger still requires moving or altering its position to get it to start charging my computer.

This is a brand new official charger, and it is very disheartening to see this happen. What do you think could be the problem? Bad luck and getting a faulty new charger? Is is my port?

The fact that you can start getting a charge with manoeuvering the cable around makes me think it's the port. Do you have a local PC shop around you? Shouldn't be that much to test and replace if it's faulty.

Have you tried plugging the charger into a different ac wall socket? Same problem?

marsmimar said:

Have you tried plugging the charger into a different ac wall socket? Same problem?

That's what I thought the problem was at first. I was proven wrong when it did it at many different ports though.

And about the computer shop, I think that I could try to find one that could fix it.

Do you know what the price range is though? I asked a friend and he said that replacing a port was so much money that it isn't even worth it and you should just buy a new computer (which I don't have the money to do right now)

Wiegraf said:

marsmimar said:

Have you tried plugging the charger into a different ac wall socket? Same problem?

That's what I thought the problem was at first. I was proven wrong when it did it at many different ports though.

And about the computer shop, I think that I could try to find one that could fix it.

Do you know what the price range is though? I asked a friend and he said that replacing a port was so much money that it isn't even worth it and you should just buy a new computer (which I don't have the money to do right now)

According to several repair websites (you can Google "repair computer DC power jack"), the average cost to replace a DC power jack on a laptop computer is about $100-$130. Cost is high because you usually have to pull out the guts (keyboard, fan, memory sticks, mobo, etc.) before you can get to the jack itself. Desktop should be about 1/2 the price - more room to work, easier access, etc.

Have you tried spreading the charger's plug prongs just a bit to get a tighter fit in the ac wall socket?