You plug in your dying laptop and wait.

It’s not charging.

Frantically, you begin to wonder why. If a Google search led you here in your darkest hour, welcome! If, however, you’re trying to troubleshoot your laptop on another device or you’re helping out a friend, well, you’re just as welcome.

When your laptop power cord stops working, there’s three possibilities.

Either the battery is dead and can’t take charges, the cord/power supply itself is damaged, or the port is broken.

Welcome to the world of hardware troubleshooting. I’ll be your guide.

I can’t help you if you do this.

If your laptop is on when you attempt to charge it, your battery isn’t the problem. That means either the cord or the port is. To test this, buy another charger or borrow a friend’s to see if it works. If it does not, your charging port is damaged and you need to contact your manufacturer or a computer shop for repairs.

If another power cord works, good job — you’re fine.

If your laptop is off when you attempt to charge it, it could be the battery or the cord that’s causing the issue. If you can’t borrow a power cord, buy a new battery for your laptop and a new power cord — take your current battery and cord with you when you go to the store so that you can properly identify what type/size of each you’ll need.

If you already know what model your computer is, you can also consider ordering a replacement battery and power cord off the Internet. If none of this works, then you have a damaged laptop that needs to be repaired or replaced.

If the battery does end up being the culprit, and you need to replace it, also consider our free Battery Optimizer for extending the life of your new battery between charges.