Ac Adapter Freezes Running System

**szabour** · May 28th, 2004, 10:11 AM

HI Guys!

I Have a Fujitsu Lifebook N3010 laptop :

http://www.fujitsu.ca/products/noteb...fications.html

The system running is running winxp pro sp1 .

P4 2.66GHZ, 512MB RAM, 64MB Radeon Mobilty 9000, 40 GB HDD...see above link for more info!

WHEN MY MY LAPTOP IS RUNNING ON BATTERIES WHILE I AM WORKING ON IT AND FOR ANY REASON I PLUG IN THE LAPTOP TO THE AC OUTLET THAN THE SYSTEM FREEZES AND I SEE THE HDD LED RUNNING AND IT NEVER STOPS.THE ONLY WAY TO RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM FOR MY IS TO RESTART THAN EVERYTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL.THE SAME THING HAPPENS EVEN IF I AM NOT RUNNING ANY OPERATING SYSTEM ...I AM JUST SITTING IN THE BIOS TO CHANGE SOME FEATURES.
THE BATTERY CHARGES JUST LIKE BEFORE!! ALL THE INDICATOR LEDS FOUND ON MY LAPTOP SHOW NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDENERY/TROUBLE.I HAVE NO PROBLEM CHARGING THE BATTERY .THE SYSTEM HAS NO TROUBLE WHEN THE AC ADAPTER CABLE IS PLUGGED IN WHILE THE IT IS TURNED OFF AND EVEN IF I START IT AFTER THAT WORKS JUST FINE.EVERYTHING ELSE WORKS GREAT ON THE LAPTOP EXCEPT FOR THIS.

ANY IDEA WHAT MIGHT BE THE PROBLEM ?

THNX

**GrandDad** · June 18th, 2004, 10:07 PM

bump

**Diver01** · June 18th, 2004, 10:12 PM

I had a similar problem with my laptop. It ended up being the Battery.

You either have a faulty battery or a power supply. From the information you have posted, I would guess its the Power Supply. I dont know of anyway to test it other than putting a multimeter on it to see if the amps and voltage are correct...

**NooNoo** · June 19th, 2004, 05:47 AM

Many laptops have a battery utility that coincidentally tests the powersupply as well. Have you tried running that?

**expat** · February 18th, 2007, 11:41 AM

Hi, I have the same problem. I was wondering if you ever found a solution? I did find 1 workaround, which is to put the machine into hibernation before plugging or unplugging the AC adapter. A bit inconvenient, but it does work. By the way, I don't think it's the ac adapter. Mine died, and I tried 2 new ones, including a Fujitsu factory replacement. Neither changed the problem of freezing up.

Also, have you ever tried to take your laptop apart? I've got all the visible screws on the back out, but something near the display hinges seems to be blocking me.

Thanks.

**3fingersalute** · February 22nd, 2007, 10:36 AM

I just had a semi similar issue with a new Dell laptop here. The mainboard was replaced (under warranty) and it cleared the issue up.

Also, for taking your laptop apart, have you checked for screws on the underside of the laptop? A lot of times there are screws under covers (battery cover, hd cover, etc.). Also, you may need to pull the keyboard depending on the model to get to more screws and there could also be a plastic bezel near the LCD hinges that needs taken off to get access to other screws.

Either way, be careful, if you're not trained to take the laptop apart, there is a good chance you'll end up forcing something that shouldn't be forced, resulting in something getting broke.

**expat** · February 22nd, 2007, 11:31 AM

Thanks. I did eventually get it apart - stripped a screwhead (despite using JIS drivers) and had to hack some metal, but no major damage done ("just" ESD protection :-)). No longer under warranty... but I don't suspect the mainboard, since this problem occurred after 2 years of normal operation. It coincidentally appeared after my AC power adapter died, which coincidentally made the unit unbootable - which I fixed with BartPE (another story). Since the restore was based on a disk built off a non-laptop unit, I suspected something down in the Windows code - and found some references to interrupt storm at MSoft, which is supposedly fixed in SP2 - but I'm running SP2 and still have the problem. Sorry for the runon sentence. So I'm still no better off. Glad to hear that Dell fixed your problem.

**3fingersalute** · February 22nd, 2007, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by expat

Thanks. I did eventually get it apart - stripped a screwhead (despite using JIS drivers) and had to hack some metal, but no major damage done ("just" ESD protection :-)). No longer under warranty... but I don't suspect the mainboard, since this problem occurred after 2 years of normal operation. It coincidentally appeared after my AC power adapter died, which coincidentally made the unit unbootable - which I fixed with BartPE (another story). Since the restore was based on a disk built off a non-laptop unit, I suspected something down in the Windows code - and found some references to interrupt storm at MSoft, which is supposedly fixed in SP2 - but I'm running SP2 and still have the problem. Sorry for the runon sentence. So I'm still no better off. Glad to hear that Dell fixed your problem.

Does this happen when booted to a cd, or sitting in the BIOS?

**expat** · February 22nd, 2007, 11:37 AM

Normal boot off of C drive. BUt, here's something interesting. In BIOS, the problem doesn't occur, i.e. I can plug and unplug and it keeps running. I tried Knoppix, and surprisingly, it also hung.

**3fingersalute** · February 22nd, 2007, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by expat

Normal boot off of C drive. BUt, here's something interesting. In BIOS, the problem doesn't occur, i.e. I can plug and unplug and it keeps running. I tried Knoppix, and surprisingly, it also hung.

So its hanging in another OS but not the BIOS? That still makes it hard to pinpoint whether its a software or hardware issue, but the fact that it hung in another OS at all would lead me to believe it to be a hardware problem.

Have you checked for any BIOS updates?

**expat** · February 22nd, 2007, 11:48 AM

Nope - I consider messing with the BIOS a last resort (ok, it frightens me), and I've noticed that others with similar problems have not fixed them with updated BIOS. And since "nothing changed" in my config, I'm not suspecting the BIOS. Of course, I realize that just because the BIOS may not be the problem, does not automatically mean that it can't be the solution. Still... I'm not going there yet. I can't yet get around the fact that going into hibernate (i.e. changing my OS state) before plugging/unplugging (i.e. changing my HW state) gets around the problem.

**3fingersalute** · February 22nd, 2007, 12:05 PM

I'm guessing it must be something hanging up when switching to or from a "powersave" mode when going to and from battery power. Is there anywhere on this laptop you can disable or change powersave options?

**expat** · February 23rd, 2007, 07:58 AM

Well, I had a doubt that what I said about BIOS was true. I went back and retested, and sure enough, I have the same problem in BIOS, so maybe it's HW after all. I checked control panels, there's nothing obvious to turn on or off there. Anybody know about battery functionality, besides the fact that it provides power :-).

**NooNoo** · February 23rd, 2007, 09:42 AM

Change the power brick... have had a slew of these this last few weeks, including my own laptop.... You'll find your battery will start lasting longer too.

**barrywohl** · March 21st, 2007, 07:38 AM

I've got the same or a similar problem on my new Lenovo laptop. So do two others over at www.thinkpads.com . So far, EasyServ has been unable to fix the computers, even with replacing planar boards. The three of us all have the same Z61 models.

Here's what I've found.
The freeze up happens on the FIRST plug in of a series, but not after. In other words, if I've been running on battery, and I get past the first, I can plug it in twenty more times without a freeze up.

The AC adapter does not have to be plugged into line current to cause the freeze up. It can be cold as can be, electrically speaking.

I can demonstrate the freeze up even with NO hard drive installed, just booting to BIOS setup utility.

I can demonstrate the freeze up with either of the two 1GB dimms on my system removed, so it can't be a bad dimm.

I've tried three different BIOS versions with no resolution.

I'd love to know if anyone has found a solution.