Okay. You guys are great. Clearly the collective wisdom is not to throw money at the problem - but figure the problem out. Owbist - in my thread on not connecting my husband's vista laptop to our network, I tried quietly, methodically to troubleshoot the issues - to no avail. I found lots of similar frustrations on google - but no solutions that worked - and I think I tried them all - at least to the best of my ability. thanks for those great, easy-to-follow instructions to transfer to an external hard drive. He'll want to do that anyway - even if he keeps this computer. This computer guy is pricey - but where I am in DC they seem to fall in the $125-140/hour range - and they can usually fix a problem. Others that charge $40-75 - that the uninformed think are good - but their know-how is less than what I find here. I tried a few of those locally recommended guys - and they accomplished the simple tasks but also made mistakes I had to hire the more expensive guy to fix. My main complaint with him is that he's wedded to his biases - he hates Vista - so his recommendation is usually to avoid or ditch it. Our struggles with Vista seem to often be how often we're blocked from things or performing simple tasks have all sort of obstacles - for "safety's" sake. Thanks to everyone for pointing out that Windows 7 is just a revamped Vista. I got my first issue of Smart Computing and they were tauting it and described some features I thought I'd love. DA - if W8 is in process, is there any indication of what it will be like? Probably worth waiting for - or at least waiting to hear more about how Windows 7 is panning out. So I'll keep plugging away on my other thread to get him connected. If I don't succeed by Tuesday, the computer guy will come and fix it. I guess we'll stop there. Thanks. Lynn.

There are a couple of things that could be going on here. First, how old is this laptop? I'm guessing it is maybe 8 years old or so and it's possible that it's not dual voltage. You should contact Acer tech support to find out whether or not it is, and to determine how to best approach this. If it's not dual voltage, then you should be able to buy a voltage converter so it can charge properly. If it's not dual voltage, I would worry about having it plugged in right now and causing damage to the computer (although the lower U.S. voltage may be less of a concern than if it were the reverse situation.) Secondly, I believe there are at least two kinds of European plugs that both have the round pins and look almost the same, but aren't. Sometimes if you have the wrong plug end adapter, the pins might not make proper contact inside the plug end converter. (Also, is this a 2 blade plug, or a grounded, 3-blade plug?) If you are convinced that power is coming from the receptacle, and to the original transformer, then that is not the problem. In that case, there could also be a break in the cord running to the computer, or something wrong with the little plug that inserts in the computer. Give Acer a call and then report back, please.

Several months back I also had problems with my 4 year old HP laptop. The power adapter had to be wiggled for the darn thing to make a connection and keep power flowing to charge the battery and power the laptop. I took it to a shop that specializes in laptops and had it checked out. What was wrong was that where the adapter plugs in at the back was cracked inside from wear and needed to be replaced. The tech took apart the laptop and even showed me where the problem was. The new part had to be sodered (sp) so was not just a simple fix. With labor, parts and having them add another 500mgs of ram (Something I had been wanting to do for a long time.) it cost me around $300 for everything. Cheaper then a new one and works like a charm now. It should last a few more years until I'm ready to upgrade ;o)

This is normal good battery charging practice. Battery life is much longer if they are not fully charged to 100% all the time so most laptops and mobile phones stop charging before they reach 100%. Some then show the message "connected but not charging". The amount they actually charge to varies each time and is usually between about 80% and 95%. In effect it is "exercising" the batteries internal chemicals.