Laptop Charging Problem

[chin85]

For a while my laptop would only charge when the charger was in a certain position. I tried it with another charger and it was the same. It won't charge at all now and the battery is dead. I've spoken to a repair guy and he says it's probably the motherboard and would need to be sent back to the manufacturer. Would replacing the motherboard mean I lose all of my files? Because I'd have to buy a fully charged battery for �50 before sending it away, so that I can get all of my coursework off it.

[Catso]

Depends what you mean by 'charger in a certain position'. I've had a variant of this on a laptop I've had. What happened was that due to repeatedly coiling up the cables around the charger, the output cable fractured, just where it came out of the charger. So I could only get a charge by wobbling the cable about, then trapping it in the magic position.

So, as a starter, see if you can borrow a charger of matching type from someone, and try that. If that works, you can get chargers cheap on ebay.

You could also try borrowing a charged battery, as a one-off, just to get your files off the machine.

If it's the computer, it is possible it's just the charger socket, and you MAY be able to get that fixed cheaply.

It's usually not really worth paying to replace the m/board - it's more cost effective to get a whole new machine.

No, your files are on the hard disk, not the motherboard. They will be retained. But if you do have repairs done, stipulate you wish the hard disk contents to be retained/returned.