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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: Girl Guide on Tuesday 23 July 24 20:29 BST (UK)
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I have an HP Pavilion computer bought in 2015.
A light is blinking at the side of the computer where the mains lead is plugged in. The battery is fully charged and I have the computer switched on at the mains. I don't recall seeing this light blinking yesterday, it's usually a solid white light.
I'm struggling to find out why it is doing this. Can anyone help please? Any information in simple terms please as I am not technically minded where computers are concerned.
Thanks to anyone who can help. :D
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Check to see if all the fans are actually working.
Include those inside the case which may need taking off the left side panel when viewed from the front if there is not a perspex window in said side panel.
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Thank you Biggles, but for me that would be over my head. I don't really understand the inner workings of computers.
I have my computer on some Lego bricks to allow air flow underneath, so it, hopefully, doesn't get too warm.
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Is it a laptop or desktop computer? I'm thinking it's a laptop because you mentioned a battery.
I know other will probably disagree, but if it's a laptop you have its never a good idea to have it charging via the mains if the battery is already full. Doing that harms the battery long-term.
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Ok I'll turn it off at the mains then and see what happens. Yes, it is a laptop.
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I've turned it off at the mains and it is still flashing.
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Is it a fast blinking light or a slow one? Is it an orange or white light?
If you Google the HP Pavillion model number I'm sure you'll see all sorts of guidance on blinking lights and how proceed and/or troubleshoot accordingly.
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It's white and I would say it is blinking every second.
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You could power off the laptop, and see if the light stops blinking.
I'm afraid other troubleshooting is a bit more complex, so I won't mention them.
In future, though, I would advise not to have your laptop plugged in when the battery is already charged.
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Ok I'll see what happens when I power off.
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I powered off and the light at the side went solid but the power button blinked instead. This is with the computer on battery only.
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I powered off and the light at the side went solid but the power button blinked instead. This is with the computer on battery only.
A power button light that blinks usually means the laptop is in "sleep mode". Or it could mean a defective battery, etc After all, you've had the laptop for nearly 10 years.
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So putting a new battery in may solve the problem? I will have to open up the battery area to see which one I need.
I'll do that in the morning, bit late now.
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So putting a new battery in may solve the problem?
I'm afraid that's not something I can answer. Fortunately I've never had a laptop battery issue.
Hopefully the blinking power button isn't anything serious, and will resolve once you power off the laptop until tomorrow.
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Well I won't be powering off the laptop tonight, I shall be shutting it down. That is what I normally do every night.
I'll see what happens when I put it on again in the morning.
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One way of checking if it's the battery is to go to the right hand icon on the task bar and click on it. This should have an up arrow icon - clicking on it will show the charge level and other details
Just a thought.
Gadget
PS - in Win 10.
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I had a look Gadget and this is what it was showing this morning. No light flickering at the moment.
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Not sure what the problem was yesterday. No flickering light at the side today and currently running on battery until I need to charge it again.
I need to get used to running the computer on battery only until it needs charging.
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If it's any help, a laptop using battery only will shut down when reaches @25-30%.
Possible message shown on the screen when this level reached.
To obtain a replacement battery information needed prior to order.
Make/model of laptop
If it's has been mentioned your laptop is ancient,Windows 7/10 would need replacing.
Brian
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Thank you for your comments Brian. It seems to be behaving itself at the moment. I am now switching off at the mains once the battery is fully charged. It seems to last about nearly five hours before I need to charge it again.
I found the previous battery order which was in September 2020, so perhaps I should be considering replacing it. Not sure how long computer batteries are meant to last.
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The batteriess have a given cycle of charge/discharges, I don't charge till 100%, better to charge say 90/95% max.
Not forgetting to start charging @30% minimum.
Done pretty well your battery lasting so long, is it an original manufacturers supply?
Currently laptop batteries are available @£25/30 but made in China, but you take a chance.
Brian
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The current battery was bought in September 2020 so nearly four years old. I've made a note of the one that I bought so that I can buy the same one when necessary.
I'm assuming that how quickly the battery depletes depends on how much you are using the computer. It's now at 35% so would need to charge it again soon.