laptop and tablet problems! pleasee help :c

ok, so my sister somehow broke both of her tablet and laptop at the same time.

The first problem with the tablet was that it was charging really slowly, and losing charge really fast. then the charging port broke so I opened it up today and replaced it with 2 wires (cuz I don’t have a female 2.5mm DC port). It seemed to be working, but now it charges super fast and loses power about 1% each 10 seconds or so. I’m guessing I need to replace the battery, but it could be something else.

Onto the laptop’s problem, I think that I should mention before that it’s an HP pavilion dv6 laptop, it’s been getting the 90B error about the fan recently. I looked up on how to fix it online and they said that I would need to update the BIOS to fix that. I updated it but nothing changed. Then I tried to reset it to factory settings. Things got weird. Now it says that the battery needs to be replaced. Before that, it didn’t do that, and it worked fine. I didn’t try to use it without the charger because, according to the error mentioned (90B) the fan isn’t working.

can anyone PLEASE tell me how to fix these issues!!! PLEASEEEE!!!I beg of you D:

For the tablet if it’s charging faster now that you’ve replaced the DC charging port I imagine the stock DC port you removed must’ve had a resistor or two somewhere, exactly what the ohms would be I couldn’t say obviously, or the two wires you replaced it with are not the correct gauge and therefore offer less resistance. This could be a problem, if it’s charging too fast you may run into overheating issues that could cause the battery to explode, I’m assuming you’re using Lithium Ion.

As for the tablet running out of juice so fast, probably looking at a battery issue. Battery capacity can degrade over time, one thing that can cause a battery to under perform is the manner in which it is plugged in. I’ve never used a tablet before, but with a laptop it’s best to plug the cord into the wall socket first and then into the laptop. If you’ve ever done it the other way around you may notice a spark when plugging into the wall socket sometimes, this spark sends some extra juice to the battery, doing this a number of times can degrade the battery’s lifespan. Since your battery is charging too fast as it is I’m thinking that thing’s on its last legs.

Sorry, can’t help ya with the HP except just a shot in the dark. I’m assuming the particular model you’re referring to has a bug under which the error you describe occurs, you followed the instructions you found on-line to remedy it and the error didn’t go away. Even though the model may have a bug that causes this 90B error indicating the fan isn’t working is it possible that, in your case, it’s not a bug and the fan really isn’t working? I don’t know which fan this refers to, if it’s just an intake or exhaust fan you could consider investing in a laptop cooling unit.

P.S. Again, if, with your setup, that tablet is charging faster than it otherwise would I highly recommend you stop charging it as personal injury could result.

now that you mention it, there was a resistor or a capacitor (couldn’t tell) that fell off when I was attempting to fix it. I kept it safe untill I get a better soldering iron (the one I have has a melted tip…) I don’t know if it works anymore or not.
could I replace the whole thing with a different charging circuit such as this?
also, here is a replacement battery I found for the tablet

You should be able to replace the whole charging circuit. The one you linked to is nice with automatic current regulation, except that it says that it’s a 2.1mm DC port and you said your charger is 2.5mm, plus the linked charging circuit says it’s for single cell litium ion batteries, but the battery you linked to appears to be multi-cell. I’m certainly no expert on batteries though, haven’t done any wiring for ten years at least.

the charging circuit of the tablet is built into the motherboard itself. What I meant was to not use that, and instead use a third party charging circuit. They also have this tutorial on how to charge multiple cells.

You should be able to swap out just the connector with a new one, but you’re going to want to make sure and replace that resistor or capacitor that fell out. I would make sure to do any testing in a safe place to avoid injury or fire in the event the battery overheats and explodes. Also make sure to test the finished setup thoroughly before putting that thing on someone’s lap.

P.S. I’m not familiar with the design of your tablet, but some charging units make use of capacitors that can hold a large charge for a good period of time, touching then could result in a fatal discharge.

If you are not familiar around electronics and soldering irons, SMD repairs are not a good place to start
If you are not familiar around low-level computing, bios problems are not a good place to start.

So I’ll offer the “sensible” advice first:

  • Send them to a tech shop where someone with experience can look at them.

Disclaimer:

  • I am a second year Engineering Student, this means things I do can be stupid or dangerous, they also could be helpful. You decide what course of action to take.
  1. The Tablet:
    Sounds like the battery is dying. Most batteries have a life of about 1.5-2 years constant use. Consider researching buying replacement batteries for said tablet model.
    Repairing connectors is an interesting one, the best you can hope for is to find someone else who’s done the same on the same tablet, either on their blog, or somewhere else. Another good place is to find the tablets service manual. These often contain useful information about part numbers, whether the resistor is important etc.

Another thing that could have happened is the battery has come decalibrated. This happened in one of my cellphones, which appeared to charge really quickly, and discharge even faster. If it is an android tablet, you may be able to fix it via:

  • Booting to the bootloader (hold home and volume down while turning it on is a common one. Google around for it)
  • Looking for an option like “Clear battery stats”
  • Charging the tablet fully (leave it plugged in past where it thinks it is full, maybe an extra hour or so)
  • Discharging the tablet fully

These days, things are becoming more intelligent. Some lipo batteries have little microchips in them that can report their status to the host.

The Laptop:
I’m running an HP Envy m6, and thankfully this problem doesn’t seem to affect my line of PC. That said:

  • Try re-flashing the bios, either old or new
  • Try booting a linux live-CD and seeing if it is Windows being silly. A system restore broke my default windows 8 install…

Grab the service manual for your laptop, open it carefully, and try physically inspecting the fan. Check it is plugged in. I was having wireless problems on my m6, and opening it, removing the wifi card, and reseating it fixed it. It is possible thatmost people have that error due to BIOS, but you have it due to hardware.

No idea how useful that was. Remember, these suggestions are done at your own risk.

+1
Portable linux is a great idea, I would start here http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

I fix NDS’s and PSP’s all the time. So I thought this wouldn’t be a problem XD

I’ve already found a replacement battery for the tablet. However, as I said earlier, I accidentally de-soldered an SMD component thanks to my crappy soldering iron. I still have the component but I don’t know what it is, or if it’s working or not after being exposed to a high temperature. I don’t know with what I should replace it, or how! it’s soo friggin tiny! it’s like a rectangular grain of sand.
That’s why I suggested to bypass the charging circuit all together, and instead use a third party one. Since you’re the most experienced, do you think this is a good idea?

the funny thing is I looked for all of the documents for the laptop beforehand, but all I could find related to that machine was the box it came in.
I have a zorin os disk laying around, so I’ll try that! :smiley:

Google the model number for the service manual. You can find the model number on the underside of the battery of most hp laptops.

I’d suggest figuring outwhat the component is first. Use a magnifying glass or a camera with macro focus, and see if you can find some writing on it. It may have burnt off though. If you are going to use an external charging circuit, disconnect the battery from the tablet first each time, so it doesn’t intefere with the existing charge circuit. Most DC jacks will have a third pin so you can have it disconnect as soon as the plug is plugged in.

awesome! so it IS possible to replace the circuit! I’ve never seen or heard of a 3 pole DC jack, but now I have. I’m gonna look it up, and try to figure out how to connect everything together :stuck_out_tongue:
btw, do you know where I can find a circuit that both charges and gives power to the tablet at the same time? as far as my knowledge goes, adafruit only has circuits that do one or the other.

As for the laptop, I tried the linux live CD thing, and it looks like it’s losing charge fast. It didn’t do that before I did the factory reset, which makes me think that windows ruined the battery somehow…
speaking of the laptop, say I would sell it, but I have a different OS on it (I wanna put linux on it) but the buyer wanted the original OS (which is Win7) could I do a factory reset after I have installed a completely different OS?

EDIT:
THIS is the official replacement battery for my tablet. However, I found another one that is more than %50 cheaper with more mAh. Could I get the cheaper one? or does it have to be the official one?
P.S. my tablet is 10.1" so the cheaper one should fit fine

over here this guy had the same exact problem I had. mikakimi said that the component isn’t important. He also mentioned that the LED didn’t turn on. Which also happened with me as well. Does this mean I don’t need to change the charging circuit? just the battery?

EDIT: forgot to add the link :stuck_out_tongue: