HP 510 laptop won't start

Our laptop was working fine but the battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than a few minutes. I finally broke down and bought a new battery. We had been using it with no battery, just the adapter. I installed the new battery, charged it (said 3 hours 100% charged). I noticed when it was charging that the adapter would have the charge signal go on and off. I had to place the adapter in a certain position to get the charge to stay on. So I figure I need a new adapter too (so I ordered one). When I went back to the laptop and tried to get it to start, it just shut down, no lights, black screen. I removed the battery, cords, pushed the on/off button for 30 sec. Still dead. Then I put just the battery back in, still dead. I hope I didn't totally kill it Any ideas, other than a new computer. And can I still get my data off the hard drive? Thanks so much. MajorGeeks is the greatest!

 

Hi Judy,

AC/DC adaptor is not a charger. It only supplies power to the comp and the charge circuits built into the battery. The blinking light on the adaptor only tells when the adaptor is getting power. If it's blinking there is a problem with the adaptor. I don't know what make and model the laptop is so this is just a stock answer.

Good Luck, Jim

 

Have you tried with just the charger in ?Couple of things-
1/ possibly the power connector needs resoldering, on the laptop (wiggling charger, to keep light on,and to to keep it charging is often a sign, but some later HP laptops do flash on and off, when fully charged.) -not a home job, unless you are good at soldering.
2/ The RTC battery has discharged- quite possible asyou have been using on charger alone for some time, and the Lion battery was flat, so it could have become discharged- sometimes, leaving charger connected for 12 hours, or, more, will re-charge it, but replacement part (coin shaped 3v battery in this) cost about £3, but it does not look like you can get to it, without dismantling.
A free manual showing how to, if you are able to try, These are free=I have just downloaded your one, myself, and looked it up to check on cmos (RTC) battery for you, and it looks very much like the power connecting point is soldered, but I could not tell from what I saw- you may be lucky and find its on a cord, and replaceable, but don't hold your breath on that.

http://www.retrevo.com/search/v2/jsp/mytrevo/myTrevo.jsp?page=man

download and save the pdf manual

 

Thank you for your answers. A miracle, I used a different power cord (borrowed from my son's computer) and it started! Backed up everything right away. As I was doing this, the "battery/charging" icon was on saying it was charging, but the % charged on the battery was falling?? This is the new battery. Although the replacement part is the same number as asked for, in the already downloaded, PDF manual, it is an 8-cell rather then a 4-cell. Would this make a difference? Any thoughts appreciated, but not quite as critical as last night. thanks all.

 

Hi again Judy,

Check the Voltage and Amperage ratings printed on the adaptors. Voltage must be the same. Amperage on the new adaptor must be equal to the old one or greater. Suspect that it will be double the old one. More capacity in the battery can be accomplished by the maker by useing more cells (batteries) and wireing in series parallel. You may just have the greater capacity battery.

More good luck, Jim

 

jlphlp has explained the difference- battery should give more time, and power when in use- On some later HP laptops, I have noticed that when fully charged, the battery light on the laptop wil flash on, and of, but the psu light should not flash on and off, so its possible the psu you bought is faulty- However, if the battery had fully charged, the laptop hould have fired up, without the psu connected.
I would get an old toothbrush, and clean the connection where the battery slots in, as you have been using without a battery for so long, it could have a tarnished connection, and not be making a good bridge between bttery, and laptop.

 

I am going to do as you say with the toothbrush, but wait for the new adapter cord to arrive before I try using it. I think the old one has a short in it. The one my son had fit, but perhaps wasn't really charging the battery, as the percent charged was decreasing. I so appreciate this forum. Unfortuantely I have had to use it many times, but it has always helped.

 

New batteries can sometimes need charging, and discharging in use, before giving their best -perhsps the first charge was not as fully charged as you thought - as I said,if it was charged it should start the laptop, unless the connection needs a clean up.
Try again, once the new adaptor is available. Alao,if charging o.k with the new replacement psu , while it is more, or, less charged, and the laptop is working, leave cables connected, but switch charger off, to see if it will run off the battery, before switching laptop off- obviously with no programs running at that time. This will tell you if thebattery circuit is working.
Let us know how you get on.

 

Hi Judy,

In addition to what Baklogic said: The charge lite on some laptops, Gateway for sure, goes out when the battery is fully charged and stays out until the battery again needs a charge.

More Luck, Jim

 

perhaps the last post on this topic (and for this computer) New adapter arrived, computer is totally dead, no power/lights any sign of life. Does anyone have any good suggestions or should we get another PC or a Mac? Thanks

 

This may sound like a silly question, but did you check the fuse in the new lead you got!? I have done this before, got a new lead for my laptop, it didnt work and I couldn't see why! Then I thought I would just try the fuse to be safe before I send it back to the shop, and hay what do you know, it worked

 

Thanks for the thought. The adapter has no fuse in it that I can see. Every so often I try to start it without luck, but... I bought a MacBook Pro used from a friend. A new learning curve, but it's very nice.