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A) AC adapter (Charger) is bad. Use a multimeter, and check it out.
[ DC Voltage. Test plug of cable that plugs into laptop. Positive (Red) probe lead of multimeter, to Center Hole of plug on AC adapter. Negative (Black) probe lead touches outside cylindrical metal shell. You should read close to 19.5 Volts (DC) ]
AC adapter checks out OK?
B) DC Power Jack is bad
[The DC Power Jack is the port on the laptop, that the AC adapter plugs into. On laptop may be marked DC_IN ]
Damage to DC Power Jack prevents laptop from charging, or running strictly off of the AC adapter.
Battery removed take a No.2 pencil's eraser, and see if you can gently move the Center Pin, of the DC Power Jack. ANY perceptible movement means replacement of the DC Power Jack.
The pin itself may not move, and the entire jack moves. The good news is the DC Power Jack is not soldered to the motherboard. It is soldered to a separate, therefore replaceable, small circuit board,
Click to enlarge. In the photo the DC Power Jack is at the back on the right. This is is what the DC Power Jack, looks like not installed on that small circuit board,
Looking at the view on the right, note the pins sticking out. You are looking at the back view, and the jack is laying on it's side. The pins go through the laptop's motherboard, and are soldered to the motherboard.
Where the pins are soldered to the motherboard is a solder connection. Commonly referred to as a Solder Joint.
Plugging in, and missing the hole of the jack, can cause the AC adapter plug to damage the DC Power Jack, by bumping into it.
Bumping into the plug of the AC adapter, while plugged into the DC Power jack, can cause damage to the jack.
Can cause cracking of the above mentioned solder joints. This leads to an intermittent contact, and eventually no contact, of the DC Power Jack TO the motherboard.
In this case the solder joints are just re-soldered.
Damage to the body of the jack itself means replacement of the DC Power Jack, or replacement of the USB/DC Power Jack circuit board, itself.
(Unless you, or an acquaintance can un-solder, and solder real well, the option may be to just replace the USB/DC Power Jack circuit board)
DC Power Jack proves to be OK?
Problem is one, or more Power MOSFETs on the motherboard. These determine if the Battery needs a trickle charge, or a full charge, or no charge at all. Also determines if the laptop is to just run off of the AC adapter, and not the Battery.
This example is for HP Pavilion dv6000 and Pavilion dv9000 series of Notebook PC's. You can use it for cross-reference information. (Location of the Power MOSFETs on your laptop's motherboard. General idea of what they look like ),
Look to see if the Power MOSFET/s are burned. Blackened, bubbled, or blistered.
There is one more small component, that if bad will produce the same results; Ceramic Capacitors.
Look back at the Mayohardware blog. Look at the second photo down with the AO4407 Power MOSFET circled in Yellow.
Note the small rectangular shape to the immediate right, that has the wide dark band on it. There is one above it, one above that, and one to the right of the top one.
See if any of these, (No matter what the size. Look at all of them), are burned. Blackened, bubbled, or blistered.
Plug the laptop into power for 24 hours. See if the Battery charges up.
Next test, or have tested, the AC adapter (Charger) See if it is putting out 19 Volts -> DC. Know someone with a multimeter? I can guide you in testing.
AC adapter is good? Things go downhill rapidly here. The next problem could be a DC Power Jack.
The DC Power jack is the jack on the laptop, that you plug the AC adapter into,
1) The DC Power jack may be broken 2) The solder joints holding it to the motherboard may be cracked. Poor connection to motherboard.
The DC Power jack can be replaced, or it's solder joints re-soldered.
DC Power jack proves to be okay?
Power MOSFET's have gone bad. The next link, is an article that deals with bad Power MOSFET's in an HP laptop. Used for an example,
I think your DC Power Jack is bad. The DC Power Jack is where the power cord plugs into the laptop. If it is bad, then a good power cord cannot charge the battery, nor can the laptop turn on once the battery is drained.
You say it smelled burnt, that might mean it took a power surge. I always tell people that before your plug the power cord into the electrical outlet on the wall to remove the other end of the cord from the laptop. That way if you get a power surge you will only damage the power cord and not the dc power jack or motherboard.
Anyway, take an ink pen and push it into the dc power jack and see if there is some movement. The little pin or the casing of the jack should not wiggle.
The DC Jack is soldered onto the motherboard. To replace it you will have to take the laptop apart, desolder the old dc jack and solder a new jack onto the board. Sometimes the DC Jack sits in a slot rather than being soldered. The palmrest and bottom case helps to keep it in place. This type of DC Jack usually has a cable harness that plugs into the motherboard.
Charger faulty or Motherboard problem. You can check the power supply of the charger by measuring the DC voltage at the DC jack with a multimeter set to DC volts (red probe on the inner of the jack, black probe on the outer of the jack, should measure 18-20 volts.
Also check the security of the jack in the DC port, make sure it is not loose
See if the Ac adaptor has a green led on it, flashing LED indicates power not being "used " by the laptop
Gut instinct with this being a compaq is that the fault lies in the motherboard
Motherboard or harddrive? I'm betting it's more towards the motherboard. The DC Power Jack to be more specific. This is the port where the AC adapter, (Charger), plug is plugged into.
The DC Power Jack is not much bigger, than the plug for the AC adapter that plugs into it. There are small pin leads that are on the bottom of this jack, and they go through the motherboard, and are soldered to the motherboard.
Accidental bumping of the AC adapter plug, while plugged into the DC Power Jack, can damage the jack. It can break the connections for the adapter plug, and/or can crack the solder joints for those small pin leads.
[Laptops use DC electricity. A flashlight battery, and a laptop battery, are examples of stored DC electricity. DC electricity has two poles. Positive and Negative. The DC Power Jack has two connections. Positive and Negative. {Even if the DC Power Jack has multiple holes in it]
There is also another known problem associated with DC Power Jacks. It may stem from a bad motherboard design.
More to the point, the area where the DC Power Jack mounts on the motherboard. In this design, the DC Power Jack motherboard area, is almost a separate part of the motherboard. It's shaped like a Peninsula. (Think of an island, with one side connected to the mainland)
This peninsula shape, has the tendency to crack away from the main body of the motherboard. Circuit traces are broken.
When the AC adapter plug is setting in a certain position, it presses the two broken halves of the circuit traces together, for a momentary contact. As the AC adapter plug is moved from this position, the circuit trace halves are moved apart, and there is no contact.
(No distribution of electricity from one circuit trace half, to the other circuit trace half. Think of a circuit trace as a very, thin, flat copper wire. When a circuit trace is broken, there is essentially a wire that is broken into two parts)
Solution? See if the DC Power Jack can be repaired, (Solder joint connections re-soldered), or replaced. If the DC Power Jack motherboard area is the aforementioned peninsula shape, it may require replacement of the motherboard.
There are very FEW, computer repair shops that have the technical expertise to replace a DC Power Jack. Easy fix is to simply replace the motherboard. (More $$$$$ too)
However, some laptops DO require replacement of the motherboard for this repair. Bad motherboard design, for the DC Power Jack area on the motherboard.
Re-solder DC Power Jack solder joints? (IF, this is the problem) Average is $50 to $75 (US) Replace DC Power Jack? Average is $125 to $150. (US) Replace motherboard? Depends on the Gateway model. Could be $225 to $400 (US)
[Yes, most of the time the cost warrants just replacing the laptop itself, as the cost of replacing, is close to the repair cost)
Just to SHOW you ab average DC Power Jack, and the repair involved of replacing. (Doesn't show you, that the entire laptop needs to be disassembled, down to the bare motherboard in hand)
This is NOT a recommendation to replace the DC Power Jack yourself! It is just for knowledge of what is partially involved. (You can accidentally burn the motherboard when desoldering, or soldering, rendering the motherboard useless)
Your DC Power Jack is bad, or the area of the motherboard where the DC power jack attaches to, is bad.
The DC Power Jack, is the small port where your AC adapter,(Charger), plugs into. This is an example of an average DC Power Jack, for an HP Pavilion laptop, not installed in a laptop yet, http://www.megaemarket.com/dc-power-jack-hp-pavilion-ze4200-zt117420011721182125.html If you click on the photo it will enlarge.
The DC Power Jack in the photo is upside down, in relation to how it sits on your laptop's motherboard. Those flat metal pins shown on top, go down through the motherboard, and are soldered on the other side.
1.Sometimes when the 'charger' plug is in the jack, and is bumped, it can crack the solder joints for the DC Power Jack's flat pins. This makes an intermittent contact. Eventually there is no contact at all.
2.Sometimes it's a bad design of the DC jack, and just from ordinary usage of the user plugging in the charger, and removing it, this can crack the solder joints.
3.Sometimes the small area of the motherboard where the DC power jack is mounted, can crack away from the main body of the motherboard. To explain: Crude example; Envision a laptop's motherboard as having a 1 foot square shape. (It isn't. It's irregular shaped) Now on one side attach a 2 inch square. This 2 inch square, represents the area that the DC power jack is attached to. A 'Peninsula', if you will. There are circuit traces that go along a motherboard. Think of them as Very, flat, thin, strips of copper wire. These 'wires' become stretched, and break as the 'peninsula' cracks away from the main body of the motherboard.
Solution? Have the DC Power Jack replaced, or the motherboard. DC Power Jack cost? About $6 to $8 dollars. Labor? $100 to $150. The tech has to completely disassemble the laptop, to just the bare motherboard in hand. Then unsolder the DC power jack, resolder a new one in, and reassemble the laptop. Motherboard cost? About $150 on up. Depends on where you obtain it. (Ebay?) Labor? $100 to $200.
It's a power issue. The battery is flat. (No charge present) The AC adapter (Charger) is plugged in. The DC Power Jack has an intermittent contact. (The DC Power Jack is where the AC adapter plugs in. The charger)
The DC Power Jack is broken itself, or where it's soldered onto the motherboard, the solder joint/s are broken. This gives an intermittent contact. To see if this is the issue, try holding the plug for the charger over to one side, when it's plugged into the laptop. You may have to move it side to side, or up an down, to see.
If this is the issue, the DC Power jack costs about $6 bucks. The cost to replace it is $120 to $150.
The tech has to completely disassemble the laptop, until just the motherboard is in hand. The old DC Power Jack is unsoldered, and a new one is soldered in. Then the laptop is reassembled.
IF, you can find a shop! Most of the time the entire motherboard is changed out. Now you're talking Ducketts! $$$$$$$
you will most likely need to replace the dc jack, which is the port where your charger plug plugs into...
To test if your dc jack is bad... Remove the Battery, Plug the Power cord into laptop then attempt to power on... If no lights turn on, no fan spins.. your DC jack is bad...
DC Jacks Cost $6 to $10 but you need to find someone experienced to replace it, or you might end up with a dead motherboard as well..
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