Battery or Charger Problem?

GhostHunter94

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Mar 20, 2015
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Hi, i have been working on an HP EliteBook 8440p for 9 months now, and was wondering if anyone knew anything about a New problem i've been having...

I can't tell if it is related to the Computer's Battery, it's Charger or what.. but only for about the last day or 2, i've been having some weird charging problems..


For Example; Yesterday, i attempted to Charge after the Battery level was supposedly 10-15%...for some reason, it refused to charge... and it kept this up till it was nearly dead (IE: At least 1%), but then it randomly starts charging... but in Weird, Blinking Increments.....not only this, but it wasnt long after that i also took a weird quiet whinny noise of some odd sort into account between these weird "Blinks"/Pauses between Charges..

I don't quite know what to think about this, and i know it wasnt having this problem last week or at any other point in the time i've had this Computer.

I am not sure if it is the Charger, because i know it should work just fine. (IE: Almost no bending or Movement have occurred to cause such potential Failures)

So i was wondering: Could it be the Battery? The Charger? Could i have some kind of Virus/Malware that affects the Battery/Charger, or could there be something more?
 
Solution
Have you ever droped it? If not, this is highly unlikely. Id try to just a shiney ne chrager first, considering the niose you hear, I think this is your problem.

Ne0Wolf7

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Jun 23, 2016
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To determine if it's a battery or charger problem, remove the laptops battery and use it with the charger plugged in. If it works as normal (except you cant move around) something is wrong with your battery or the battery port. If it still fails to work, the problem lies in your charger.
 

GhostHunter94

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Mar 20, 2015
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4,560
Well, i inspected the Battery and the Port, neither seem to be showing any External Issues, and it seems to connect fine when i put it back in.. And the Charger also seems to be fine(ish), but of course, afterwards, it is still giving me the same issue.. even when the Computer was turned off.

But here's the part that is a bit of a Mixed message for me: it is when it is Charging (IE: When the battery is between 1-99%) that is shows the greatest issue.. in other words, this was when it does the weird "Blinking"/Pauses-between-charges and makes that weird but quiet whinny noise that builds up slightly before each blink/pause..

Also, when i have it on, The Severity of this "Issue" also seems to be a little worse when i have certain Applications (An example being: Firefox or Chrome) running.

BUT, on the other hand: it is as it DOES reach 100% and stops charging seemingly normally.. that i cant/dont hear the Weird noise, of course i dont see the odd blinking issue because the indicator is off by then, plus, after it finishes, depending on the conditions: it does hold the charge for at least an hour or more.

So, im still not quite sure what to think here.. it is hard for me to determine if it is the Cord or Battery/Port.
 

Ne0Wolf7

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Jun 23, 2016
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Do you have a spare bettery or charger, or maybe a universal charger lying around? That would pin-point it for sure, but this HowToGeek artical sounds like your problem (they say it's the charger).
http://www.howtogeek.com/200466/why-do-some-ac-adapters-and-power-supplies-make-a-whining-noise/
"In conclusion, a whining noise is not necessarily a sign of trouble in cheaper wall chargers when they are unloaded. However, a computer PSU or laptop charger that generates coil noise, especially when under a load, may be defective and you may want to consider replacing it."
To make a long read short, what they explain is that in order to convert AC to DC, theres a coil in there, and it creates an electomagnetic field that can create a whiny noise. Under load, this should be at a feqency to high for a human to hear, which probably means your charger is on its way out.
 

GhostHunter94

Estimable
Mar 20, 2015
14
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4,560
I do not have a Spare battery at the moment, no, but something tells me i will probably have to get one..

As for the Charger, i suppose i shall get a new one as well..

but i do have fears as to what happens if i replace both and NEITHER still work.. because if neither work, then i dread that it could be an issue with the Charger-board on the Motherboard that i've heard about.
 

Ne0Wolf7

Commendable
Jun 23, 2016
53
0
1,610
Have you ever droped it? If not, this is highly unlikely. Id try to just a shiney ne chrager first, considering the niose you hear, I think this is your problem.
 
Solution

GhostHunter94

Estimable
Mar 20, 2015
14
0
4,560
Not to my memory, no...

But i am still hearing that odd whining, so i am hoping it is exactly as you and that article say. (A Charger Problem)..

Just to confirm though, the plug is plugged in on the left hand side of the Laptop, where the battery is located, should i be hearing the noise coming from the RIGHT hand side? Because that is what im getting.

If it is indeed the Charger, it could be because of the Number of Times it had Been Plugged/Unplugged (Wall or otherwise).. plus movement (including Possible Bending) and possible power surges or something else CPU related..

Oh well, either way, we will have to wait and see if this works or not. (I hope it does, but it could be a while)