Toshiba U400 laptop

[WTP]

2 days ago, I bought the above laptop from Currys for £500. It workss beautifully on mains but after an overnight charge, the battery was dead as a doornail still. It made no attempt to charge. I returned it to the shop today and they tested it. The laptop was not charging the battery and so they replaced the whole thing with another boxed one. I'm sat here again with the replacement and the battery, after 7 hours is still flashing orange to indicate it is not charging. When the battery is charging the icon should be static orange and when fully charged, it should be blue/white. Flashing orangeand the battery is not receiving any charge. I've bought this laptop purely and simply to take to Florida, it being a 13" screen and less than 2 KGs in weight. If I can't take it with me when we fly out on Saturday 26th, then it has been a total waste of money. Has anyone else had this problem with a non-charging battery and do you think I can get it replaced again as this one is less than a day old.

[Sneezy]

Sounds like the shop has recived a duff batch :o:

They should replace it but i would ask for one from another shop:confused2

[Heather1957]

TBH this sounds like a design fault in this computer and I'd take this as a hint maybe it's not the one for you.

I'd want my money back and I'd totally rethink what computer to buy.

[jheaton]

Hi Carol

I bought an Advent laptop from dixons last week(again a 12" screen for travelling) and the battery would not charge.The charging icon came on for 3/4 mins then went off and it would only work connected to the mains.

I had bought it online so contacted their Techguys for advice -finally one man suggested taking battery off and holding down power switch for 20 secs.
i was a bit dubious but anyway it worked and as soon as i reconnected the power lead -the previously dead battery showed 60% charge-the icon stayed on and after a couple of hours was fully charged.Has been fine since.

so maybe worth a try-mine is Vista op sys

(the elecricity in Wigan musn't be to their liking!)

janet

PS never had this problem before-all our other lappies are Dell but they dont do dinky screens yet!

[WTP]

Thanks. That was what I was thinking - a duff batch. I just hope they will do that for me and arrange for me pick one up from another shop. Time is running out and I am in work until Weds and I am dropping the cases off on Friday so have not got a lot of time available to sort this out. Have to do it this weekend.

[WTP]

Hi Carol

I bought an Advent laptop from dixons last week(again a 12" screen for travelling) and the battery would not charge.The charging icon came on for 3/4 mins then went off and it would only work connected to the mains.

I had bought it online so contacted their Techguys for advice -finally one man suggested taking battery off and holding down power switch for 20 secs.
i was a bit dubious but anyway it worked and as soon as i reconnected the power lead -the previously dead battery showed 60% charge-the icon stayed on and after a couple of hours was fully charged.Has been fine since.

so maybe worth a try-mine is Vista op sys

(the elecricity in Wigan musn't be to their liking!)

janet

PS never had this problem before-all our other lappies are Dell but they dont do dinky screens yet!

Thanks Janet. I rang the techie guys too tonight and they told me to do exactly the same thing with the 20 sec switch hold thing. It has not sorted mine out though as it is still flashing. LOL about Wigan eleccy..TV in my bedroom has just blown a gasket :cry: tonight.
My new lappy is Vista too. It takes some getting used to :confused2. I nearly went for the Advent, but in the end, it was between an Acer, HP and the Toshiba. I wanted a firewire so that ruled the Acer out. Wishing now I'd gone for the slightly cheaper but slightly heavier HP. I'll have to see what Currys near Asda say tomorrow. More petrol:angry:

[Hal]

The Asus eee 901 gets great reviews for an ultra portable and is even cheaper.

[WTP]

The Asus eee 901 gets great reviews for an ultra portable and is even cheaper.

Where can you get this from. JUst checked PC world but they don't do it. Amazon have one through one of their sellers but I am reluctant to order cos of the time. I need one by Friday and to know that it is set up and running perfectly.

[craigm]

Try ebuyer they have laptops from £279 and also stock the Asus eee 901

www.ebuyer.co.uk

You can get next day delivery and you are well within your rights to take the laptop back to curry's for a full refund :thumbs-up


Pc World also stock the asus

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0817033027.121645486 3@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadeejdfdjjecflgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=ProductList&category_oid=-35074&show_all=true

[Sneezy]

I have used Ebuyer in the past and always been pleased with the service:thumbs-up

[Denny Crane]

There seems to be a problem with charging of laptops recently.
My Dell has just died from the same reason (can use on mains, but not cherging the battery)

I would take it back and get a refund, not fit for purpose.

Acer are good units, as well as the Dells. Plus Sony and HP. Advents are built to a price.

If you need large hard drive (iTunes, pictures etc) the Micro laptops such as the 901 are a little small on the hard drive size plus personally I am still not sure about flash drives going boobs up in use.

[WTP]

Cheers guys. My Toshiba was left charging all night and absolutely zilch charge in it. Just looked at the Asus spec and it is not enough for what I am looking for. I need a firewire and large hard drive as I will be uploading my camcorder tapes. My cam only has a firewire port so USB is no good. I am ready now to go back to Currys for a full refund and to buy the HP which doesn't look as nice but is the only one that has the spec I need. I'll let you all know how I get on.

[Denny Crane]

These have firewire
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1530?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1

and these
http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/asp/searchSite.asp?mode=2&keywords=firewire

[Heather1957]

There seems to be a problem with charging of laptops recently.
My Dell has just died from the same reason (can use on mains, but not cherging the battery)

I would take it back and get a refund, not fit for purpose.

Acer are good units, as well as the Dells. Plus Sony and HP. Advents are built to a price.

If you need large hard drive (iTunes, pictures etc) the Micro laptops such as the 901 are a little small on the hard drive size plus personally I am still not sure about flash drives going boobs up in use.

I can't agree re the Acer - I posted a few days ago about both my sisters and brothers laptops not beng able to charge and they are both Acers but different models. Apparently this is a common problem with Acers - there is a weakness with the internal charge unit.

I've just ordered a new Dell, not too worried about weight as I'll use mine in the house and use this smaller one for travel.

BTW what is firewire?

[Denny Crane]

I
've just ordered a new Dell, not too worried about weight as I'll use mine in the house and use this smaller one for travel.

BTW what is firewire?

EE1394 cable, for downloading video from your camcorder.