This is odd...

[Arik5405]

I am working on someone's laptop that has been having some freezing and crashing issues. I have finally narrowed it down.

It only crashes when both the power adapter is plugged in and the battery is plugged in. If i have the adapter plugged in and the battery pulled it works fine. If I run it strictly off battery it runs fine.

Do you think this could be an issue with the motherboard, the adapter, the battery, or all 3?

 

[mrblotto]

Off the top of my head, I would look at the component(s) that both those pieces share. In this case my guess is the 'DC/DC card' (at least that's what well called it a few years ago), which may or may not be integrated onto the mobo.

Under warranty? If it is, that's great. If no, then not so much. A rep mobo can be quite costly, depending on where you get it and if it's recertified and stuff...

Good luck

 

[Arik5405]

The laptop is almost 3 years old and is not under warranty. A new motherboard was well over $200 and I advised him not to invest any more money into the laptop and just to put that money towards saving up for a new one. He agreed.