Laptop dies when AC outlet is turned off.

[TenOC]

My laptop is plugged into a GE surge protected electrical outlet strip. The laptop battery is charged. The laptop will run more than 1/2 hour on the battery. If I unplug the AC power cord direct at the laptop the laptop continue to run on the battery. . . . 🙂

However, it I flip the switch on the GE outlet strip the laptop dies for lack of power. . . :h . . . Does not make any sense to me. ????

[garry1p]

I'll go out on a limb here.

1. You unplug when on the PC switches to battery.
2. You turn on the computer when not plugged in and it works on battery.
3. The power strip is turned off and PC shuts down instantly.

Makes no sense but it could be the PC mother board that's where the logic is to determine the power source.

Switching to another strip and ac outlet to test will tell you a lot. The strip or outlet could be putting out low voltage say 95V and that may be fooling the pc to shut off when is turned off.

[valhalla360]

TenOC wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Battery on it's last legs

I do not think the battery is bad. It is less than 9 months old and I almost never use it.

Is it instant or does it go thru the shutdown process?

Goes off instantly.

If it's only giving you 1/2 hr on battery, the battery is not good. Doesn't matter if it's new.

Instant off, could be a low voltage safety thing in the computer. Depending on how the voltage fluctuates depending on which end is unplugged it may or may not shut down immediately.

Not sure of the specifics of how your computer checks the voltage and reacts but disconnecting the cord from the side of the computer, it cuts shore power instantly. Turning off the power strip cuts power to the transformer (the brick in the cord) but the power may wind down over a few seconds. So the computer sees difference voltage impacts depending on which end you disconnect.

[wa8yxm]

Just so you know it couild be worse. I got my last laptop battery oh. Well At Radio shack as I recall. so you know it's been a while. 2014..

Today the laptop says "no battery detected"

[rltorpey]

Move the computer to a different power strip plugged into a different outlet, preferably an outlet that's on a different circuit. That will tell you whether the problem is with the laptop or with the voltage supply to the laptop.

[magicbus]

TenOC wrote:
The laptop will run more than 1/2 hour on the battery...

If I unplug the AC power cord direct at the laptop the laptop continue to run on the battery...

However, it I flip the switch on the GE outlet strip the laptop dies for lack of power.

How is this a bad battery? Any battery that can run a laptop for an hour (as the OP stated later on)is not a bad battery in my book.

My theory (WAG) is that the GE strip has a surge protector on it that provides just enough juice that the laptop "thinks" it is still plugged in, but it turns off because there isn't enough juice to power it.

Dave

[Campfire_Time]

TenOC wrote:

I do not think the battery is bad. It is less than 9 months old and I almost never use it.

Older laptop, 9 month old battery. I'm thinking you bought a 3rd party battery and not the OEM HP battery if you are only getting an hour out of it. In 3 months you'll only be getting 20 minutes out of it. Just so you know...

[delwhjr]

TenOC wrote:
My laptop is plugged into a GE surge protected electrical outlet strip. The laptop battery is charged. The laptop will run more than 1/2 hour on the battery. If I unplug the AC power cord direct at the laptop the laptop continue to run on the battery. . . . 🙂

However, it I flip the switch on the GE outlet strip the laptop dies for lack of power. . . :h . . . Does not make any sense to me. ????

Not knowing the model, it is just a guess.
Your external power jack may not have the ability to pass power when the plug is in. The jack disconnects the battery source while connected. The charge back to the battery for recharging is through an auxiliary circuit.
This is not a normal configuration but I have seen some that do this.

The other possibility is the jack is defective or has come un-soldered from the board on one of its contacts.

[T18skyguy]

If you go on Ifixit and Youtube, search your make and model and it's likely they have a video of how to replace the battery yourself if your into it.

[drsteve]

Sounds like you need a new battery.

[TenOC]

valhalla360 wrote:
Battery on it's last legs

I do not think the battery is bad. It is less than 9 months old and I almost never use it.

Is it instant or does it go thru the shutdown process?

Goes off instantly.

[valhalla360]

Battery on it's last legs and probably get odd voltage variations depending on how you disconnect...if it passes a threshold for low voltage, the computer probably assumes no power and shuts down to protect itself.

Is it instant or does it go thru the shutdown process?

[TenOC]

Yes it is an older laptop. I always use the shut down option, but this time I accidentally flipped the switch and was surprised that the laptop died.

[MDKMDK]

TenOC wrote:

scbwr wrote:
If you are flipping the switch on the strip, but leaving the computer plugged in, it sounds as though the computer still registers that it is plugged in and doesn't flip to battery power. If you unplug the computer, it goes to battery power...yes?

This is what I am doing.

scbwr wrote:
And, if you only get 1/2 hour of power on the battery, I think you probably need a new battery.

I can get over an hour from the battery. I stated the 1/2 hour so the reader would know the battery was not dead.

Is it an older HP laptop by chance? We have one that's about 8 years old and does the same thing. We use the "shutdown" option instead of powering off at the power bar.

[TenOC]

scbwr wrote:
If you are flipping the switch on the strip, but leaving the computer plugged in, it sounds as though the computer still registers that it is plugged in and doesn't flip to battery power. If you unplug the computer, it goes to battery power...yes?

This is what I am doing.

scbwr wrote:
And, if you only get 1/2 hour of power on the battery, I think you probably need a new battery.

I can get over an hour from the battery. I stated the 1/2 hour so the reader would know the battery was not dead.