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I have a Dell Latitude E6400 and recently the charger blinks the green LED and wont charge the laptop. After a while however the laptop charges, and then this may occur again after a couple of hours, seemingly at random.
I tried to use the laptop without the battery and just the charger but it would not work. I also ensured that the charger was very firmly connected. I Googled this and apparently this could be a short circuit on the motherboard even though I have never opened up my laptop. What also seems strange is that sometimes it will charge and sometimes it won't. Will I have to replace the motherboard? Is there any quick fix or is it a deep rooted hardware problem?
NOTE: I'm not sure this is relevant but recently I have been noting that the CPU is being used much more than normal - about 80% when just booted up or loading a new chrome page. Also my laptop makes strange beeping noises randomly when I move my laptop whilst it is still on.
It is most likely to be a short circuit - does this mean the only fix is to open up my laptop (i have no hardware experience)? How would a short circuit occur if I haven't opened up my laptop?
My practical experience of this is not from computer technology, but from in-store advertising screens [my day-job], so ymmv, but a flashing PSU light is a sure sign in my field that the device [in your case your computer] itself is the source of the problem, not the PSU [I have a van full of spares so this is a really easy test for me]. I don't know the fix, because in those cases I just swap out for a new screen & send the bad one to the service dept for them to fix. Short-circuit would be a good guess, for starters. – Tetsujin – 2015-01-23T19:20:29.140
re: your edit - they put stuff really close together in a lappy. If it's not all perfectly aligned & fastened down tight, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that something is touching where it shouldn't occasionally. Some machines you can short out by leaning a bit hard on the trackpad. – Tetsujin – 2015-01-23T19:28:41.760
@Tetsujin is this bad for the machine if it occurs regularly? – joyalrj22 – 2015-01-23T19:31:33.020
It's not good - how well it survives is in the 'laptop of the $DEITY' ;-) but seriously, I'd get it looked at professionally, if you don't feel confident to take it apart yourself. – Tetsujin – 2015-01-23T19:33:46.587