Flashing Charging Light on Toshiba Satellite C855D; Unreliable Power

[Hose270]

I have a Toshiba Satellite C855D, which takes 19 V and 3.42 A. The charging adapter I'm using is not an original; it is a ViewSonic adapter that outputs 19 V and 3.16 A. When I plug in the charging cord, the charging light flashes yellow-orange. However, it takes some twisting before the cord seemingly makes contact.

I've tried the solution that involves powering down, unplugging the cord, removing the battery, holding down the power button, and retrying. That's worked once or twice, but most of the time the screen and the power lights turn on while the computer seemingly doesn't boot up.

Is the adapter/cord the problem, or am I missing a step? I've removed all external devices/inputs and ensured that it is directly connected to the wall instead of an extension cord.

Thank you!

 

[w00sey]

Did it power up normally when you still had the original charger? Has it worked properly with the ViewSonic charger before and this is a new problem or has it never functioned correctly with the ViewSonic?

If you have never had it working properly with the ViewSonic charger I would expect that that is probably your problem seeing as it is a (slightly) under powered charger for you system that from the sound of things is not fitting the connector properly. I would not expect 5 watts to be the difference between being able to power on or not at all, but at that low a wattage it is possible, though I do think it not fitting properly is likely the cause.

Either way if it is at all possible to test it with a different charger (one with the correct output and connector), that would be the first step I would take. Sometimes places like batteries plus that sell universal chargers will let you test it in the store to see if it works before you take it home, but that may depend entirely on how nice the employee is feeling that day. If you don't end up that lucky, find a store that has a good return policy just in case.