Assistance needed with laptop

[Kingwuulf]

Hey, I'm new to the forum and I'm looking for some help that I can't seem to find by myself online. I have some issues with my laptop that I want to get fixed, If I can do it myself, I would like to.

The major problems I have with my laptop now is:
-Wifi
-Charging
-Sound

I don't know if it's driver issues with WiFi, sound or hardware but the issues with charging i'm also am unclear if it's the power connector cable or the a/c adapter that I have to replace. I have to move it in a certain angle for my laptop to charge. I've removed the boot and split the insulation to check the wires, I'm convinced it is the a/c adapter but I'm not 100%.

I have a Hp pavilion g7 series, it came with windows 7 but I have windows 8 installed... recently when i'm home connected to wifi the wireless button on my keyboard is usually lit white when on and lights orange when off...for some reason it changes itself and I can't seem to enable wifi again so i'm stuck not being able to connect to wifi and pressing the button does nothing. I've re-installed the drivers, also getting new drivers that was available on the hp website it hadn't fixed the problem.

With sound, when I play a video/music I get like a distorted/crackling /popping/dip in sound it hadn't done that before. I've done the same thing with the drivers update and or re-installed and still nothing.
Can someone advise me on what to check/do to diagnose or repair my laptop.

I'd love a new one but I not in the position for a new one right now with all my programs and data on my current laptop. Help me save it's life lol

 

[carnageX]

Hey, I'm new to the forum and I'm looking for some help that I can't seem to find by myself online. I have some issues with my laptop that I want to get fixed, If I can do it myself, I would like to.

The major problems I have with my laptop now is:
-Wifi
-Charging
-Sound

I don't know if it's driver issues with WiFi, sound or hardware but the issues with charging i'm also am unclear if it's the power connector cable or the a/c adapter that I have to replace. I have to move it in a certain angle for my laptop to charge. I've removed the boot and split the insulation to check the wires, I'm convinced it is the a/c adapter but I'm not 100%.

If you own or have access to a digital multimeter, test the output of the power brick with that. Make sure the voltage output matches up with what it says on the label for output voltage should be.

When you plug it in, is it loose when you wiggle it? If so, it's most likely the power board or power connector on the actual laptop that's damaged. You'd have to see if it's an easy replacement of a separate power board, or if you'd have to solder a new power connector on.

I have a Hp pavilion g7 series, it came with windows 7 but I have windows 8 installed... recently when i'm home connected to wifi the wireless button on my keyboard is usually lit white when on and lights orange when off...for some reason it changes itself and I can't seem to enable wifi again so i'm stuck not being able to connect to wifi and pressing the button does nothing. I've re-installed the drivers, also getting new drivers that was available on the hp website it hadn't fixed the problem.

With sound, when I play a video/music I get like a distorted/crackling /popping/dip in sound it hadn't done that before. I've done the same thing with the drivers update and or re-installed and still nothing.
Can someone advise me on what to check/do to diagnose or repair my laptop.

I'd love a new one but I not in the position for a new one right now with all my programs and data on my current laptop. Help me save it's life lol

For your wifi issues.. make sure the HP utility is also installed - I've seen systems act up when the keyboard utility/touch-button utility/etc. aren't installed as well.

Also, get the driver for both your wifi and sound from the component manufacturer's websites, rather than from HP's website. HP will have older drivers, and not the latest.

If you're not sure where to get 'em from, open up Device Manager and post the brand/model of both your wifi card and your sound card and I can look them up and link you to the proper drivers.

 

[Kingwuulf]

Thanks for the reply!!
Yes the power connection is a bit loose but even if i wiggle the adapter connection, I still have power going if I have it at the weird angle. I wanted to cut the tip of the connector open and re solder the wires to see if it fixes it rather than buying a new one but a new charger is pretty inexpensive.

My laptop was originally windows 7, I don't know if all these sound/wifi issues with the drivers may be due to having incompatible drivers with windows 8. I attempt to fix, I'll prob have a temporary fix but I would still have the same issue.

I don't seem to have HP utility, do you mean hp update software utility?
Network: Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n wifi adapter

Sound: IDT High definition audio codec
AMD High definition audio device (not sure which so I posted both)

 

[carnageX]

See if this one is more up to date than the one you got from HP:
Realtek RTL8188CE Wireless LAN driver for Windows 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), 8 (32-bit, 64-bit) - Lenovo V490u, ThinkPad Edge E130, E135, X131e, T430u - Lenovo Support (US)

Can't find one for the IDT audio driver besides from HP. What you could try doing is in Device Manager, right click it -> Uninstall -> check the box to "Delete driver software" as well. Then reboot and try and reinstall the driver you downloaded from HP.

Also, if it installs any extra audio software, disable or uninstall it to see if that fixes any issues for you as well.