Had some problems with my laptop today, here is the symptoms:

Completely froze up when I turned it of last night.
When started up it begins to boot as normal but after about 4 seconds the power completely dies. (when battery is not used).
Can be used off battery but battery not charging.
When running off battery power the power and battery lights both flicker on and off

I have checked the plug socket, and the fuse both are fine.

I am not sure what the problem is, the electrics are clearly working for the first 4 seconds so something must be telling it to cut the power, ie the problem can’t be in the power source.

When I used the computer on battery power for a few mins everything seemed to be working as normal

Does anyone have any surgestions as to what it might be? I am thinking of taking it to a repair shop as I am no good with computers but I do not want to take it to a shop if the problem is pretty much some specialist hardwear issue they can not solve.

Could it be a virus? I am not good with computers and I would think if it was a virus surely it would effect it when I load up from battery? Evenso I thought I would get a second opinion before I back up some documents on my usb stick incase I spread it.

Its an HP pavilion, about 3.5 years old. I need to get a new machine anyway so would I be better just to replace?

What is the exact Pavilion model?

HP has some pretty good troubleshooting guides:

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html