battery icon

[cool dude]

the battery icon in the system tray does not show up. i've tried going to control panel - power options - advanced tab - and checking the always show icon on the taskbar but it still doesn't show. any suggestions?

also i would like to add that at times my adaptor doesn't seem to work because i hook it up to the laptop and the status light doesn't go on that its hooked up and its still running off of batteries. so i took out the battery and tried to run it with just the adaptor and it wouldn't turn on. so then i thought its either the adaptor thats broken or the port that it hooks up to. so i was gonna get a new adaptor but then on the next day it works again (i guess it cooled off). however at times like this moment my adaptor is attached to my laptop and the status light is on and it shows that it working from the adaptor but my battery is not charging. its at the same percent not doing anything. so then the question is wat is faulty? my adaptor? my battery? or the port that the adaptor hooks up to? or something else?

[rdrake]

Well, you could tell it to display the battery icon always.

Right-click on the taskbar and go to Properties. Look near the bottom where it says "Hide inactive icons" and click on "Customize...". Look for the battery, and click on the "Behaviour" column beside it. Change it to "Always Show" and click OK twice.

[cool dude]

actually i tried that before and it still doesn't work. wat does work is if i put my adaptor inside my laptop then check the always show icon press apply then check the show always icon again and press apply. this will show the icon. however if the adaptor is not attached to my laptop and i do the same it doesn't do anything. also its annoying to keep checking on and off. why can't i make it permananetly in the system tray like my other icons?

[r.3volved]

What kind of laptop??
Often times the power supply will die out in 2-3 years, which could be the problem....

I've also had trouble with HP laptops having the adaptor plug come loose from the motherboard due to the area it plugged into and the size of the adaptor pin. That could also be the problem...

Try your powersupply on another laptop and see if it works, or try another powersupply (same inputs and outputs obviously) and make sure it's not a loose connection on the board.

I fixed my HP by unsoldering the connection, cleaning it all off and then just resoldering it back on to the mobo. (don't try this unless you're experienced with circuit board soldering and willing to dismantle your lappy)

[md]

r.3volved wrote:

What kind of laptop??
Often times the power supply will die out in 2-3 years, which could be the problem....

This is definitely a software issue, not hardware. I'm thinking re-installing the power-management drivers and see if that changes anything. By re-install I mean copy the original files off the windows CD and remove any saved settings from teh registry, you'll probably have to boot into safe mode to do it.

[cool dude]

Cornflake wrote:

r.3volved wrote:

What kind of laptop??
Often times the power supply will die out in 2-3 years, which could be the problem....

This is definitely a software issue, not hardware. I'm thinking re-installing the power-management drivers and see if that changes anything. By re-install I mean copy the original files off the windows CD and remove any saved settings from teh registry, you'll probably have to boot into safe mode to do it.

not too experienced so i rather not do that. my power supply is only 1 year old and so is my laptop. i can't really try this adaptor on another laptop because it doesn't fit into the other laptops. also i can't try another adaptor because i don't have one that fits my laptop. btw its emachines and although i hear they're crappy i got a really good deal and its actaully really good for the money. also cornflake u might be right about the issue with the software but i'm pretty sure there is also a hardware issue because i also stated that at times i hook up my adaptor and it is not working. i'm assuming its either the adaptor or the port it hooks up to. any way of testing?

[Andy]

makesure on powersettings you have it set to a laptop, otherwise it wont know the difference

[cool dude]

Andy wrote:

makesure on powersettings you have it set to a laptop, otherwise it wont know the difference

really? i have it on emachines power management. those were the default settings. there are many choices so i don't really know which one does what. if i change it to portable laptop would that prevent me from charging up my laptop with an adaptor or slow down my laptop because it wants to save battery power since it knows its on portable laptop.

[r.3volved]

If you plug your laptop into your power supply and then plug your power supply into the wall, your laptop should charge just fine.
If it does not, it is 100% a hardware failure somewhere. There is no reason why, and absolutely no reason to think that software can disallow a charge.

It's either your power supply, or it's your connection to the motherboard.

Have you googled around your model number to see if anyone else has had similar problems?
Where is the power adaptor plug on the back of your lappy?
By chance on the back in one of the corners? (this spot can cause stress on the solder points if your knees are resting against plug)
Does the light on your power supply change at all being plugged in or not?

Again...it's either the p/s or the connection to the motherboard
(unless of course your power is off to that outlet)

[md]

cool dude wrote:

Andy wrote:

makesure on powersettings you have it set to a laptop, otherwise it wont know the difference

really? i have it on emachines power management. those were the default settings. there are many choices so i don't really know which one does what. if i change it to portable laptop would that prevent me from charging up my laptop with an adaptor or slow down my laptop because it wants to save battery power since it knows its on portable laptop.

No, changing the setting will not prevent you from charging your battery. It may enable CPU cycle scaling if your laptop supports it; but that doesn't make a huge difference in performance usually.