Perplexing power issue- for geniuses out there who r up for a challenge

huntfrank

Commendable
Jun 11, 2016
6
0
1,510
Want a challenge? My laptop has a really weird power issue.

Randomly this past wk, when i turned my toshiba satellite p745-s4217 (running Windows 10) on. Before windows ever loads, it died.

I tried again, and tried to see if i can get into bios. It died before getting to that the first time. Then worked the second time. Date/time and everything was fine in there. I was in BIOS for a good 2-3 minutes before it died again.

Then after looking online for suggestions, i did the following:
- unplug battery and ac; hold power for over 1 minute, replug and turn on... same
- plug battery, unplug ac; hold power for over 1 minute... same
- did step 1 again... same
- took RAM out of one slot... tried. Then swap the slots... tried. Then took out of one and swapped... all same results (same as in it dies. However, it stays on for varying lengths of time: from 8 seconds minimum to max of 2 minutes)

Then i saw a suggestion to clean the laptop's end of the ac connection and pull the little tabs inside out a little to increase contact. IT WORKED! And it stayed on for as long as i wanted. (the battery was out)

The next morning, I plugged the battery back in and unplugged the ac to move the laptop. Tried turning it on. Back to issue again. Tried a few more times, and tried power contact trick. Won't work. Groan!

Came back this evening, unplugged battery and ac, held power for over 1 minute and pulled down contact points, kept battery out, and it worked for hours!! (The heavens opened too... ok not quite.) I backed up a bunch of things. Turned it off and was careful to not unplug. Plugged in the battery. Now won't work. So tried simply unplugging battery to turn on, it won't work.

Strangely, i can now consistently replicate this:
1) plug battery in, try to turn on, it dies after a few second, or it may stay on for literally 5 minutes.
2) unplug battery, try to turn on, nothing.
3) keep battery unplugged, unplug ac, hold power for over 1 minute, plug ac back in - now stays on.
4) as soon as i power off, it'll have troubles again... even w/ battery still out. So must do step 3 to get it to stay on.

So two key questions:
1) Now why would it stay on now w/ the unplug + hold power trick, but not yesterday?
2) Given that it seems to work now that i unplug + hold power (w/ battery out), what does this mean I need to change / fix?

Hardware geniuses out there... any ideas for this quandary????? =(
 
Solution
I would say bad battery pack or bad motherboard(just because the motherboard has the power control circuits) I'm going to go with battery though as you can get it to turn on without it and stay on for a few hours. the battery could be tripping the power safety on the motherboard and why you have to unplug it completely to get it to power on..

maxwellmelon

Honorable
Oct 2, 2013
171
0
10,910
I would say bad battery pack or bad motherboard(just because the motherboard has the power control circuits) I'm going to go with battery though as you can get it to turn on without it and stay on for a few hours. the battery could be tripping the power safety on the motherboard and why you have to unplug it completely to get it to power on..
 
Solution

huntfrank

Commendable
Jun 11, 2016
6
0
1,510


Thx for your reply and ideas! It makes sense.

Also You saying this makes me remember what the original owner said ( bought this second hand ). She said her battery was dead ( although laptop's not that old ) and wouldn't charge. Thus when her power adaptor is shifted the wrong way the whole thing would turn off.

I bought her laptop about six months ago and bought a generic battery... Not trying to get hours of life outta it but just so it doesn't turn off as soon as the power adaptor is jolted. It's worked fine and I can get two hours out of it. Good 'nuff.

You're probably right it's the battery. However do you think the motherboard may have some issues given that batteries seem to wear out quickly on this machine?

Also do you have any idea why holding power w everything unplugged helps to reset it?