Unexplainable issue with my laptop

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FrozenPhoenix

New Member
Over the past month or so, my laptop (which runs Windows 7 Home Premium) has started to do some very odd things. It started when one night, I came home from a friends house and found my laptop off. When I tried to turn it back on, the battery symbol kept flashing, as if it was out of battery. I know for a fact it was plugged in the whole time so I thought that was weird. I ignored the issue. As the month passed on, this happened 2 more times. I still tried to ignore it since it wasn't causing any issues. Last week, I was using my laptop to search for something online and right in front of my eyes, it shut off. It shut off abruptly, almost as if someone took the power supply right out of the laptop. When I tried to turn it back on, something different happened. What happened was that the power symbol (A light) turned on, as if the laptop was turning on. The fan turned on like always, and then it shut off again. This happened about 3 times until it finally turned on. From that point on, it worked perfectly. The next 2 days this continued to happen at completely random times. I definitely think there is something wrong at this point and am continuously finding my laptop off, when I know that it was on last time I checked it. One other thing is that when I get the laptop on again, no error reporting thing comes up, as if I was shutting it off myself. Along with that, my laptop's fan tends to be noisier than ever before ever since this problem came along. Virus scans from Avast, AVG, and Malwarebytes found nothing suspicious. Could it be the power supply is starting to fail on my laptop or could it be something else? Any suggestions for fixing this would be GREATLY appreciated, as I do not want to spend money sending it somewhere to have it fixed unless it's necessary.
 
How old is the laptop? I have had similar problem with one of my previous laptop.... it could be 2 things the battery needs to be replaced or the input jack (the hole where you stick the charger in for your battery.) must have caved in... This will cause the battery not to charge properly. This will cause it to shut off randomly and your power symbol to go on and off (also your battery symbol of it not charging or charging...)
 
I believe my laptop is almost 1 year old. I use it daily for lengthy periods of time (usually 4+ hours a day)
One habit that I think may have contributed to this is the fact that I rarely shut it off. I usually just put it on sleep mode or I just leave it on overnight. I have recently started shutting down completely and it hasn't fixed anything.
Also, another issue I forgot to mention was that the battery symbol on the bottom right of the screen next to the system clock doesn't always show the charging symbol. What I mean is that sometimes when it is running on battery and then I put the plug in, instead of showing the "Plugged in; Charging" does not show up and although the laptop DOES charge, it doesn't show it on the symbol. (I hope that made sense)
 
You can find out if the jack caved in by setting your laptop on powersaver on battery power and on high performance while plugged in... Jiggle the end where you plug it in your laptop and see if switches between those two... if so it is caved in... You will need to get it replaced. How long can your computer run on battery power alone?
 
Ok I unplugged the power cord and set it to go onto power saver mode. I then plugged it back in and nothing changed, except the screen kind of twitched a bit (it got barely noticeably dimmer and then back to normal) and the light on the side of the laptop that shows a cord is plugged in went on. It seems that the laptop knows it's plugged in, but isn't responding the right way.
Also, I just found a question on yahooanswers of someone with basically the same problem. It turned out that for him it was a dead charger. I am thinking that might be the issue with my laptop as well. I forgot to mention that when I tried to turn on the laptop and it turned on and off, the battery symbol flashed 3 times before turning on. (Not sure if that was helpful) My laptop brand is Compaq Presario CQ-61 if that matters.
 
That's good, seems like it's not caved in... A dead charger I wouldn't know how to test that, beware that a new charger could cost between $100-$200
 
My mom just informed me that my Laptop's warranty is still in effect so I might just send it in to have it looked at to confirm if it is the charger or if it's the battery. Thanks for the assistance most people I asked about this issue replied just once or twice.
 
to check the charger, put a voltmeter down in to the pin hole and put the other probe on the outside metal to get a reading, check that its not sporadic and confirm the correct amount on the label of the charger, however it could be a dry joint connecting the power jack to the mainboard causing intermittent charge.
 
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