A laptop that won’t charge is the most common fault we see at our Perth workshop. The good news: most of the time it’s something you can rule out in five minutes — and the rest of the time, it’s a clean fix.
Before you book your laptop in, work through these four checks.
1. The charger itself
Half the “laptop won’t charge” jobs we see turn out to be a failed charger, not a failed laptop. Chargers fail because:
- The cable develops a break at the laptop-side connector (you’ll often see it kinked there)
- The brick has died from age
- The wall plug pins are loose
How to check: borrow a charger of the same brand from a friend, or try yours on a friend’s laptop. If their charger charges yours, you just need a new charger — much cheaper than a laptop repair. If yours doesn’t charge their laptop, the charger is dead.
2. The charging port
If the charger is fine, the next suspect is the port on the laptop. Wiggle the plug while it’s in the laptop — if the charging light flickers on and off, the port has cracked solder joints or is physically loose.
This is a board-level repair at our Perth workshop. The port gets resoldered to the motherboard, or replaced if the port itself is damaged.
3. The battery
A failed battery can stop a laptop from charging — but the laptop usually still runs from the charger when plugged in. Symptoms:
- “Plugged in, not charging” message in Windows
- Battery icon shows red X
- Laptop dies the instant you unplug the charger
How to check: pull a battery report. Windows command prompt: powercfg /batteryreport. macOS: System Settings → Battery → Battery Health. If design capacity is well below the original, it’s the battery.
A replacement battery in our Perth workshop is $249 for most laptops. Same-day fitting once we have your model’s battery in stock (most are 2–3 business days to arrive).
4. The motherboard charging IC
If the charger is fine, the port is fine, and the battery is fine, the issue is the charging IC on the motherboard. This is a tiny chip that manages power delivery from the charger to the battery. It can fail from power surges (Perth thunderstorms!) or from age.
This is a specialist board-level repair. We’ve done hundreds of these in our Perth workshop. We diagnose, source the right IC, and reflow it onto the board — much cheaper than a full motherboard replacement.
What it costs in Perth
Standard laptop charging repairs in our Perth workshop:
- Port resolder / replacement: from $175
- Battery replacement: from $249
- Charging IC board-level: from $175
All start with our $85 inspection fee — a real technician diagnosing the fault before we quote you in writing.
When to skip the troubleshooting and just book it in
If your laptop won’t charge AND won’t turn on at all even with the charger plugged in, skip the checks above and book a repair. That’s a motherboard fault and needs a technician on the bench. We start every laptop within 2–3 hours of booking — call us on 08 9325 1196 or drop it in.