Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
If you ever press the power button on your laptop and it fails to power up, there’s a good chance that you won’t need to replace it or pay for an expensive repair.
A “dead” laptop can be caused by several different issues, but one of the most common causes is a simple transient power issue.
If you ever find yourself facing a laptop that won’t turn on when you press the power button, try this before trying anything else: [Read more…]
Question from Ann H.: Hi Rick. I have an 8 year old HP ENVY 14 laptop.
It worked fine until a few days ago when it stopped charging the battery. The computer works fine as long as it’s plugged in, but dies immediately if I unplug it.
How can I figure out if it’s the charger or the battery that needs to be replaced?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
If you or someone you know owns a Panasonic Toughbook CF-S 10 laptop, the company might have just recalled its battery pack.
Apparently the defective batteries were contaminated with flammable materials during the manufacturing process, resulting in a potential fire hazard. [Read more…]
Question from Keenan R.: My 3 year old ThinkPad X230 2320HQU laptop won’t charge the battery past 10% no matter how long I leave it plugged in.
If I try to use the laptop while it’s running from on battery, it shuts off after just a few seconds. It runs fine with the charger plugged in, the battery just refuses to charge up.
How can I tell whether the problem is caused by the battery or the charger? If possible, I need to get it fixed ASAP. Thanks.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Danielle H.: I have a 5 year old HP Envy 13 laptop that works fine when it’s plugged into the wall with the charger, but if I unplug the charger it shuts off almost immediately.
Do you think replacing the battery would fix the problem or do you think there’s something else wrong?
Rick’s answer: Yes Danielle, the problem is almost certainly a bad battery. If the charger was bad it wouldn’t run the laptop at all, and if the laptop itself was bad it wouldn’t run regardless of whether it was using battery power or AC power.
You have several options available to you for buying a replacement laptop battery for your HP Envy 13: [Read more…]