Toshiba A/C adapter and battery not working

philly27

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Aug 1, 2012
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Hello all!

My laptop (Toshiba a215) has a weak battery so i decided to replace it. At the same time I wanted a space A/C adapter. Went on amazon and bought the two most highly rated/review. I plugged in the new battery and it says plugged in,charging but stays at 0%. unplugging the original a/c adapter kills the laptop. Upon plugging in the new a/c adapter I see that I get no power. I have tried shutting down and holding power for 30 seconds and going into device manager to uninstall ms battery management and then reinstalling...no help. I find it hard to believe that I would get 2 DOA items but I suppose its possible. Thanks for any ideas!
 
Solution
Well to be perfectly honest those reviews, while averaged, are ok, take a closer look: The battery has over 180 1-star reviews and 80 2-star reviews out of 1000. That's a 25% rate of customers that are not happy with the reliability or performance of that battery, or 1 in 4. That's pretty bad! It may be that more than on reseller is selling them too, and one in particular (the cheapest, usually) has subpar quality products that don't do their job well.

The same goes for the charger: 181 1 and 2 star reviews out of 785, or a 23% poor rating. Multiply your chances here, .25 X .23 = about a 5-6% chance you could get two defective units. More if there's a certain reseller or certain model of laptop that just doesn't work with this product...

volcanoscout

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Jan 5, 2014
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Can you post the specific brand and model of battery and adapter that you purchased? Also post your specific laptop model. It should be on a data sticker on the bottom of your case, and should read A215-XXXXX.
 

volcanoscout

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You got me - I've used a number of third party batteries and adapters, including for a Toshiba, and have never had any issues. The only brand that I know of that currently has that kind of proprietary issue is Apple.
 

volcanoscout

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I found this - this might be what you were referring to by "MS battery management", but if so, try the battery and/or adapter without reinstalling the ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery.

"Remove the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery

Remove the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery and allow Windows to scan your computer for hardware and reinstall the drivers needed to manage your battery's power. The notebook should then indicate that the battery is charging.

In Windows 8, hold the Windows key and press the 'x' key to open a menu in the lower-left, then select Device Manager. In Windows 7 or Windows Vista, click Start and type device in the search field, then select Device Manager.
Expand the Batteries category.
Under the Batteries category, right-click the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listing, and select Uninstall .
WARNING: Do not remove the Microsoft AC Adapter driver or any other ACPI compliant driver.
On the Device Manager taskbar, click Scan for hardware changes.
Alternately, select Action > Scan for hardware changes."
 

drapacioli

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Dec 6, 2010
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Well to be perfectly honest those reviews, while averaged, are ok, take a closer look: The battery has over 180 1-star reviews and 80 2-star reviews out of 1000. That's a 25% rate of customers that are not happy with the reliability or performance of that battery, or 1 in 4. That's pretty bad! It may be that more than on reseller is selling them too, and one in particular (the cheapest, usually) has subpar quality products that don't do their job well.

The same goes for the charger: 181 1 and 2 star reviews out of 785, or a 23% poor rating. Multiply your chances here, .25 X .23 = about a 5-6% chance you could get two defective units. More if there's a certain reseller or certain model of laptop that just doesn't work with this product. Additionally, I saw three reviews stating the charger was a fire hazard, which is NOT a typical bad review, it's much worse!

On that note, some laptops simply don't like cheap, non-OEM batteries and chargers. My best recommendation for you is to return both (amazon will usually do this no-hassle) and go for a little higher quality to see if that helps. For the battery, I have used Anker extended batteries for my smartphone for years, and I noticed they have a very high review rating for your laptop battery: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Toshiba-Satellite-PA3534U-1BRS-PA3534U-1BAS/dp/B0049MY6B4

Take a look at the review distribution on that reviews graph. See how there's no large jump at the 2 and 1 star reviews? That's usually a good sign, so hopefully that one will work. I know it's $35 instead of $12, but when it comes to batteries, cheaper is not the best option.

Now on to the charger, this one is a 90w adapter, but it will work with a lower-powered laptop. This charger has plenty of reviews and almost not 1 and 2 star reviews, but again it's a bit more expensive: http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Charger-Toshiba-Satellite-Notebook/dp/B003WW0ILO/

Remember you get what you pay for when it comes to batteries and chargers. Sometimes you have to spend a little more to get what works well.

EDIT: If the software fix above doesn't work, you'll probably need to get better replacements as I posted above. I'd highly recommend returning that AC adapter though, several people complaining of shorts and a fire hazard warning is NOT a good sign. Which would you rather have: a $7 charger or a house that isn't burned down and $20 extra spent?
 
Solution

philly27

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Aug 1, 2012
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Thanks for the advice. Toms didn't update me on the new posts so just seeing these. I will try not installing the drivers. Never really had to return anything to amazon, will they pay the shipping back?

on the reviews I guess I was wrong to think these were a decent buy. I always figure most reviews are generated by disatisfied/non-tech types leading to a bias.
 

drapacioli

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Dec 6, 2010
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From my experiences Amazon pretty much always provides a return shipping label. The only time this hasn't happened what when I purchased non-prime items from other sellers, in some cases you will have to contact them directly about the return. If you go to your orders page, there should be an option to return items, and you can just follow the prompts from there.