Why can't you take the battery out and run it on the ac adapter only?

Your AC adapter may be shot.

Pam

I did replace the adaptor and the battery still does not charge and the laptop will not run on the AC adaptor alone. Any other suggestions?

Does the led lights on the laptop show it's on AC or charging?

Jim

Wiggle the DC connection in the back of the laptop (not too hard) and see if the charging lite comes on.

To summarize, you replaced the battery and it worked until the charge ran down. You replaced the AC adaptor and it will not work on the adaptor alone. Is that right?

That sounds like a problem with the connector in the laptop or in the laptop's power supply. Those can be difficult problems to fix. You might be able to get the AC adaptor to power it if you hold it at a certain angle where it goes into the laptop, but that would probably be a short lived solution.

You'll probably either need to have it repaired or replaced. If you're brave, you could watch Ebay and try to find the same model with other problems and swap parts until you get a working model. If you decide to replace the laptop, you can put the hard drive in an enclosure and recover all the data.

yes, light shows batt. charging but still no chargy. will try wiggle test, but if that doesn't work, could it be a prob. with the mother board as a local comp.repair shop suggested that it most likely needs 2b replacd? cant see how mother board would have anything to do with incoming power supply, if you get my drift.....
put the hard drive in an enclosure...what do you mean?

What bpgreen is talking about is an enclosure that you can insert your removed hard drive into to allow you to plug into a working computer's USB port for the purpose of retrieving the data. Usually removing a laptop hard drive is pretty simple, most have one or two screws, once removed it usually just unplugs from the laptop. You would then insert it into the enclosure that you then connect a USB cable into, then plug into a working computer's USB port. It should then show up as removable media in that computer's 'My Computer' page. They sell for somewhere between 12 and 35 dollars. I have linked a Google search for you to view your options should you decide to go that way.

Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: Google for laptop hard drive enclosure

There is a circuit charging board attached to the mainboard where the DC jack enters the back/side of the laptop. Often times with different models, the solder joints will break off and need to be resoldered or the DC jack being replaced.
Try the external HD encloser to get your data off. After removing the HDD, your will probably have to take the HDD out of a small cage (couple of screws) before putting the HD in the external drive enclosure

Here is a link that might be useful: Removing laptop HDD

I see....also talkd to someone today who did mention the older laps were wired directly to m.b. so if anything went wrong w/ p.s., motherboard would have 2b replacd. This laptop only 2 yrs. old, so he thinks charging circuit separate from m.b. on this presario c300. thankyou xox. (you're actually talking to 2 people here...it's my wifes laptop, she initiated this so not sure if she going to have more ques...)
more to follow(?)

I rarely post but just had to jump in on this one. I had the same exact problem a year ago... When I went to visit my daughter over Christmas of course I took my laptop too. We took my power supply cord to Circuit city and had it tested.It was barely showing any power at all.. I bought a new one, granted a more expense one than came with my Toshiba I have had no problem since... Just my thoughts...
jackie

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)