Power Supply Flicker

[fearfromtron]

While playing games, there's this insane flicker coming from my power supply that keeps saying; Charged, battery, charged, battery..etc. I also look at the light on the power supply brick and I notice a slight flicker every couple of seconds. Does anyone know what the cause of this is?

[dstrakele]

Are you referring to the battery icon notification on the right side of the Taskbar? If so and it keeps switching between "Battery" and "Fully Charged" while remaining plugged in, I would suspect a faulty power adapter or bad connection at the battery. Unplug the system, carefully remove the battery, then try starting Windows on just the power adapter. Is this successful?

Another possibility could be a faulty power pin connector. The G53 series appears to be prone to broken power pin connectors. What is the model of your ASUS laptop? I imagine a power pin connector getting ready to break could produce the behavior you report.

If this is a newly purchased system, I would contact the retailer and try to have them exchange your system for a new unit.

[fearfromtron]

I'm starting to believe that it's the 290 driver causing this. I have the g74sx and when I had the 285 driver it was fine. After installing the 290, the powersupply acted up like this. After reverting again, it went fine. How would I withdraw the performance increases from the 290 driver without succumbing to this abnormal situation?

[JRd1st]

Were you getting dark horiz bands?

[dstrakele]

I decided to do a clean Windows 7 install today to see how it compares with the ASUS 'Bloatware' installation. I've installed the NVIDIA 290.36 BETA driver and do not observe the flickering power adapter light and alternating "Charged - Battery - Charged - Battery" behavior you report. My graphics application is running without any problems. I don't believe the NVIDIA driver is the cause of your issue, but I'm uncertain if I understand it completely. Does your issue ONLY involve the power adapter light?

I do have a minimal installation at this time and have not yet installed some drivers (Ethernet, Bluetooth, Card Reader). Power4Gear is also missing from this new installation as are ALL ASUS apps.

[JRd1st]

dstrakele wrote:
I decided to do a clean Windows 7 install today to see how it compares with the ASUS 'Bloatware' installation. I've installed the NVIDIA 290.36 BETA driver and do not observe the flickering power adapter light and alternating "Charged - Battery - Charged - Battery" behavior you report. I don't believe the NVIDIA driver is the cause.

I do have a minimal installation at this time and have not yet installed some drivers (Ethernet, Bluetooth, Card Reader). Power4Gear is also missing from this new installation.

Wow! Drewey tookthe plunge! Woohoo!

[BrodyBoy]

dstrakele wrote:
I do have a minimal installation at this time and have not yet installed some drivers (Ethernet, Bluetooth, Card Reader). Power4Gear is also missing from this new installation as are ALL ASUS apps.

Cool! I think you'll like it. 🙂

I have a list of "essential" drivers I install, and then I just leave it at that, I get (so far....fingers crossed) none of the weird and frustrating software snafus that seem so common around here. I love using clean machines....!

[dstrakele]

After reading about k2roo's problems with the Bluetooth driver, I added the 'maintenance' Windows 7 clean install in a dual boot configuration. I also added a 'maintenance' Administrator account to each installation. The redundancy will always allow me to have a working installation on reboot even if one of the HDD's fail. Plus I can test out the beta drivers without having to hold my breath.

[JRd1st]

dstrakele wrote:
After reading about k2roo's problems with the Bluetooth driver, I added the 'maintenance' Windows 7 clean install in a dual boot configuration. I also added a 'maintenance' Administrator account to each installation. The redundancy will always allow me to have a working installation on reboot even if one of the HDD's fail. Plus I can test out the beta drivers without having to hold my breath.

The extra account is a must, you should also splurge and buy Acronis, a new install is the best time to make an image. 😉

[dstrakele]

As for the flickering light on the power adapter issue, I'm thinking it's either a hardware fault, poor grounding issue, or power fluctuating on the incoming line. I notice the light on my power adapter NEVER flickers. It even stays steadily lit for some time after unplugging it. There must be a capacitor storing electricity in there.