My x31 is nearly eight years old -- I can't believe how long this thing has lasted, with Win7 no less!

About six months ago, I started having trouble powering and charging the laptop, as if the DC power jack was bad. But I had the media slice and was able to power/charge it through that without any problems. Until yesterday. Now I'm having what I thought was the same problem with the DC jack on the slice. But upon closer inspection, I noticed something very strange -- it seems to power-up and charge just fine, but ONLY when it's in the post-BIOS/pre-Windows phase of startup. I hit the Access IBM button and paused the startup routine right at that spot (by hitting enter), and, surprisingly, it started charging the battery (following the familiar beeps of the p/s being plugged in). And when I plugged the power directly into the back of the laptop, that worked as well. So... it seems that it's NOT power-jack related! But what would cause it to not charge while in Windows, or even in the BIOS menu? Why did this happen with the built-in power jack at a different time than the slice's power jack? I should mention that I'm using a 3rd party battery, but it's in good condition, and I've tried multiple power bricks. Plus there's no unusual heat being generated anywhere as far as I can tell. CPU fan is spinning just fine.

If anyone has any answer or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Other than this issue (and a few cracks on the case), the laptop works fine.

Thanks!

Hello jdubin and welcome to the forums! Wish I could answer your question but it sounds very mysterious. Just curious, have you removed the battery and run strictly off the power adapter, moving the laptop, switching between the TP and dock?

If you have and all is well I'd think the power circuits are ok. And if all is ok there, then there'd likely be a battery issue or charging circuit issue.