Problem with my charger or computer?

sophie131

Hiya!
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 which is 18 months old.
Over the last week I have had issues with the computer registering that I have plugged the charger in, it will take a few attempts at putting it in and wiggling it for it to register, and if I move it will quite often then tell me it's not charging even when it's still plugged in. It seems to be that the charger needs to be in a certain position for the computer to realise it's plugged in.
Anyway, my question is, is there any way to tell if this is going to be a problem with the charger or the computer itself without taking it to a specialist?
Thanks

bookduck

the specialist will most likely plug a working charger into your computer and wiggle the connection. If it still plays up he will know it is the computer....OR

Take the faulty Charger and plug it into a working laptop and wiggle the cable. If there is no computer that uses that voltage, he will just measure the output of the charger with a multimeter while wiggling the cable.

You could buy a charger from ebay and take a gamble - you'll be 50% right.

456789

Do you know someone with the same or similar laptop? try plugging it into theirs and their charger into yours

Do you hibernate your laptop? I do and sometimes when I turn it back on it doesn't recognise the charger, usb ports etc. and I need to do a restart to get it working again

nomoneytoday

A multimeter to test it will be under a fiver, or can you borrow one from a friend or neighbour?

chunter

If the connector on the pc looks ok (and not loose) it's more likely to be the charger. If you fancy a punt you can pick up a replacement charger on Ebaigh for 20 quid.