I plugged my laptop into its charger and it started charging for about five minutes then the screen then went bright and it stopped. I held the charger in my hand and it was hot. I plugged it in again and nothing is happening. The laptop is less than a month old and I don’t use it every day. It’s is a Toshiba Satellite L300. Can you please tell me what the problem might be?
Check the Power and the Connections
This is going to sound silly, but you should first make sure that the wall outlet is working properly. Try the lamp test to make sure that power is flowing from the socket, or try the laptop in a different outlet. You should also check that the AC adaptor is properly connected to the laptop and the wall, that the laptop is recognizing the charger. There should be a battery icon on the taskbar when the charger is properly connected. You might have a bad charger, or a bad battery, but in either case it should be returnable since the unit is so new.
Power Surge?
Since your laptop screen went bright before the charger quit, it is possible that there was a power surge that fried either your charger, your laptop motherboard, or both. When you take the laptop in to the retailer they can check for signs of power damage.
Check the AC Adaptor
There might be a more significant problem with your laptop, such as a main board failure. In this case, you can troubleshoot the issue by removing your computer’s battery and plugging the laptop into a power source wall outlet using only the AC adapter. If the computer gets power, then the problem is likely in the main board. If not, then it might just be the charger.
Return to Retailer
Since your laptop is so new, you should definitely return the charger - or the whole laptop - to the retailer for replacement. I didn’t see any recalls for your specific model, but new batteries and chargers should work, and shouldn’t get too hot if they are used reasonably. The manufacturer might just decide to replace your battery or your charger, or even your whole computer. Since you should still be covered by the retail warranty you should take your unit in and make sure it’s dealt with while you can. You might need to replace the component, which the retailer or the manufacturer should be willing to do, as long as it hasn’t been damaged by use.
Kate Dubensky | June 30th, 2009
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