My daughters laptop has stopped charging the battery. The battery is
fine in another identical laptop so I dont believe it is a battery
problem. The battery from the 'other' laptop will not charge in the
problem one.

I believe the easy solution is a new motherboard. The original
supplier no longer has any spares available.

The laptop was sold in the UK by Novatech but I think it is 'generic'
It has a model number L51II0 on the label on the base. It also has
'Made in China' 63GL51013-10 CM-2.

The motherboard was made by Uniwill. The only codes I am aware of are
ML 94V-0 E251244 and a date (?) code 0704- 171. This is about right
for when it was bought.

I have tried Googling but the best I have come up with are some
"ex-equipment" sold for spares.

I have had problems in the past with the power connector on the board
but I believe these have been resolved (mostly by a U-shaped wire from
the back of the pin to the board to allow a little flexing). It worked
fine for some months before the charging problem appeared.

It is running Vista and the icon in the system tray initially shows
charging when the cord is plugged in but after about 4-5 cycles it
stops moving. The info bubble continues to show 'plugged in: charging'
but no power goes into the battery (% shown remains constant).

I would appreciate any suggestions for a source or any ideas for what
might be wrong.

On 13/04/2012 19:18, David wrote:
My daughters laptop has stopped charging the battery. The battery is
fine in another identical laptop so I dont believe it is a battery
problem. The battery from the 'other' laptop will not charge in the
problem one.

I believe the easy solution is a new motherboard. The original
supplier no longer has any spares available.

The laptop was sold in the UK by Novatech but I think it is 'generic'
It has a model number L51II0 on the label on the base. It also has
'Made in China' 63GL51013-10 CM-2.

The motherboard was made by Uniwill. The only codes I am aware of are
ML 94V-0 E251244

Unfortunatly those two are codes which IIRC indicate the material of the
PCB, and the place which made it! Google either and count how many
products share the same, and how many folks are going nowhere with their
"can't find a driver" queries...

and a date (?) code 0704- 171. This is about right
for when it was bought.

OK, Uniwill L51II0 gets some hits.

http://www.uniwill.com/products/valu...i.php?HL=5&V=2

Probably not much help but this apparently was sold as an Advent 5303
Laptop.

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/laptop/5303.htm
http://adventspares.co.uk/index.php?...dex&cPath=2_19

Advent 5303 Mainboard Motherboard 92GL55060-C1 WORKING
http://search.ebay.co.uk/280833139921 - £79

For that price, I'd rather visit BigPockets?

--
Adrian C

On 4/13/2012 11:18 AM, David wrote:
My daughters laptop has stopped charging the battery. The battery is
fine in another identical laptop so I dont believe it is a battery
problem. The battery from the 'other' laptop will not charge in the
problem one.
You don't say...can we assume you've tried swapping the power supplies?
How many contacts on the power plug? One of the causes of not charging can
be that the computer cannot verify the CORRECT power supply. If the
communication line to the PS is faulty, that can happen. Your socket
is already damaged, maybe the comm pin came loose? Or shorted to the
power and blew up the sensor?
Same thing happens at the battery. IF one of the several contacts
is faulty, you get weird symptoms. Shine 'em all up and compare the
signals to the good laptop. I've seen bent or broken pins and
solder joints around the pin can fracture and open up. Does not take much
resistance at these currents to confuse the charge controller.

There are some fets between the power and the battery. Compare to the
good one to see if something is open there.

I believe the easy solution is a new motherboard. The original
supplier no longer has any spares available.

The laptop was sold in the UK by Novatech but I think it is 'generic'
It has a model number L51II0 on the label on the base. It also has
'Made in China' 63GL51013-10 CM-2.

The motherboard was made by Uniwill. The only codes I am aware of are
ML 94V-0 E251244 and a date (?) code 0704- 171. This is about right
for when it was bought.

I have tried Googling but the best I have come up with are some
"ex-equipment" sold for spares.

I have had problems in the past with the power connector on the board
but I believe these have been resolved (mostly by a U-shaped wire from
the back of the pin to the board to allow a little flexing). It worked
fine for some months before the charging problem appeared.

It is running Vista and the icon in the system tray initially shows
charging when the cord is plugged in but after about 4-5 cycles it
stops moving.
I don't know if there's any real sensing in this circuit.
May be that the computer turns on the icon when it sends the control
voltage to turn on the charger, but doesn't verify that it happened.
The info bubble may be open-loop indication of the control signal logic.
Later it senses a problem and turns off the icon?????

There's a program called PCWizard. It can talk to the battery on many
laptops and tell you what it thinks the battery status/condition is.
Compare the two laptops. There may be some useful conclusions.

The info bubble continues to show 'plugged in: charging'
but no power goes into the battery (% shown remains constant).

I would appreciate any suggestions for a source or any ideas for what
might be wrong.

On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:52:53 -0700, mike wrote:

On 4/13/2012 11:18 AM, David wrote:
My daughters laptop has stopped charging the battery. The battery is
fine in another identical laptop so I dont believe it is a battery
problem. The battery from the 'other' laptop will not charge in the
problem one.
You don't say...can we assume you've tried swapping the power supplies?
Yes, tried the obvious things. The power connector is 2 pin, or rather
the coaxial type power connector. New power supply does not help.
How many contacts on the power plug? One of the causes of not charging can
be that the computer cannot verify the CORRECT power supply. If the
communication line to the PS is faulty, that can happen. Your socket
is already damaged, maybe the comm pin came loose? Or shorted to the
power and blew up the sensor?
Same thing happens at the battery. IF one of the several contacts
is faulty, you get weird symptoms. Shine 'em all up and compare the
signals to the good laptop. I've seen bent or broken pins and
solder joints around the pin can fracture and open up. Does not take much
resistance at these currents to confuse the charge controller.
Good point. I haven't looked around the battery connector. OK, I
haven't tried all the obvious things! The way the battery physically
connects should give reasonable protection from movement. I will check
the soldering of the pins though.

There are some fets between the power and the battery. Compare to the
good one to see if something is open there.
The two connectors are about 4 inches apart so there is a lot going on
between them! I'll try following some tracks to see if I can find a
difference.

I believe the easy solution is a new motherboard. The original
supplier no longer has any spares available.

The laptop was sold in the UK by Novatech but I think it is 'generic'
It has a model number L51II0 on the label on the base. It also has
'Made in China' 63GL51013-10 CM-2.

The motherboard was made by Uniwill. The only codes I am aware of are
ML 94V-0 E251244 and a date (?) code 0704- 171. This is about right
for when it was bought.

I have tried Googling but the best I have come up with are some
"ex-equipment" sold for spares.

I have had problems in the past with the power connector on the board
but I believe these have been resolved (mostly by a U-shaped wire from
the back of the pin to the board to allow a little flexing). It worked
fine for some months before the charging problem appeared.

It is running Vista and the icon in the system tray initially shows
charging when the cord is plugged in but after about 4-5 cycles it
stops moving.
I don't know if there's any real sensing in this circuit.
May be that the computer turns on the icon when it sends the control
voltage to turn on the charger, but doesn't verify that it happened.
The info bubble may be open-loop indication of the control signal logic.
Later it senses a problem and turns off the icon?????
Agreed, you never know which moving indicators mean anything with
Microsoft!

There's a program called PCWizard. It can talk to the battery on many
laptops and tell you what it thinks the battery status/condition is.
Compare the two laptops. There may be some useful conclusions.
I'll try that.

The info bubble continues to show 'plugged in: charging'
but no power goes into the battery (% shown remains constant).

I would appreciate any suggestions for a source or any ideas for what
might be wrong.

On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:43:06 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

On 13/04/2012 19:18, David wrote:
My daughters laptop has stopped charging the battery. The battery is
fine in another identical laptop so I dont believe it is a battery
problem. The battery from the 'other' laptop will not charge in the
problem one.

I believe the easy solution is a new motherboard. The original
supplier no longer has any spares available.

The laptop was sold in the UK by Novatech but I think it is 'generic'
It has a model number L51II0 on the label on the base. It also has
'Made in China' 63GL51013-10 CM-2.

The motherboard was made by Uniwill. The only codes I am aware of are
ML 94V-0 E251244

Unfortunatly those two are codes which IIRC indicate the material of the
PCB, and the place which made it! Google either and count how many
products share the same, and how many folks are going nowhere with their
"can't find a driver" queries...
I did and there are a lot! I didn't have the manufacturer name when I
was searching before.

and a date (?) code 0704- 171. This is about right
for when it was bought.

OK, Uniwill L51II0 gets some hits.

http://www.uniwill.com/products/valu...i.php?HL=5&V=2
Close but this is the L55, however there is a page for the L51. Thanks
for the pointer.


Probably not much help but this apparently was sold as an Advent 5303
Laptop.

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/laptop/5303.htm
http://adventspares.co.uk/index.php?...dex&cPath=2_19

Advent 5303 Mainboard Motherboard 92GL55060-C1 WORKING
http://search.ebay.co.uk/280833139921 - £79
That is the L55 I think - mine is 63GL not 92GL.

For that price, I'd rather visit BigPockets?
Thanks for the hints which I will try to follow up.
David

I understand this, there are only two wires feeding the thing, dealing
with charging current while running is the job of the mobo. Aside from
bad connections most likely the mobo needs to be replaced unless you
know someone REALLY good.

But it's not an "easy" solution by any stretch of the imagination. If
I never work on a laptop again it will be too soon, unless the money
is very good. If the two laptops remain in the same household, it
would be easier to deal with charging batteries and swapping them off.
Everybody sleeps sometime.

I didn't do this completely, but I had it apart bigtime. This guy
makes it look easy, but let me tell you, you better have a steady
hand, know how the connectors work (I broke one), alot of patience and
really kickass eyesight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_RZtwDKgS4

Now, if this doesn't work, here's one of our ol' boys who figured aout
another way :

http://www.epicfail.com/2012/02/12/parenting-win-2/

Show that last one to your kids.

J

To update, I compared the laptops with PC Wizard (as suggested) but no
differences showed up. About the only other thing I can try is the
connections from the battery plug to the motherboard. Another
motherboard out session - I'm getting quite good at it!

The motherboard extraction is a fiddle but only takes about 5 minutes.

I dont fancy fault finding on it as I have no idea what most of the
components are supposed to do. Bring back discrete components and
circuit board tracks you can see without a magnifying glass, and the
suitcase to carry your lugable in!

Sourcing a replacement is an issue at the moment but I have an
un-tested one on order - long shot but I may be lucky.

Thanks again everyone for the suggesstions.

David

On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:40:00 -0700 (PDT), Jeff Urban
wrote:

I understand this, there are only two wires feeding the thing, dealing
with charging current while running is the job of the mobo. Aside from
bad connections most likely the mobo needs to be replaced unless you
know someone REALLY good.

But it's not an "easy" solution by any stretch of the imagination. If
I never work on a laptop again it will be too soon, unless the money
is very good. If the two laptops remain in the same household, it
would be easier to deal with charging batteries and swapping them off.
Everybody sleeps sometime.

I didn't do this completely, but I had it apart bigtime. This guy
makes it look easy, but let me tell you, you better have a steady
hand, know how the connectors work (I broke one), alot of patience and
really kickass eyesight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_RZtwDKgS4

Now, if this doesn't work, here's one of our ol' boys who figured aout
another way :

http://www.epicfail.com/2012/02/12/parenting-win-2/

Show that last one to your kids.

J