The problem: a charger that stopped working — and a monkey to blame
Short answer: Rhesus macaques (the common north Indian urban monkey species) are attracted to the warmth and rubbery texture of laptop cables and will chew through charger cables, display cables, and USB cables left accessible near open windows or balconies. A cleanly bitten-through charger is the best outcome. The worse outcome is a partially chewed cable that continues to function intermittently — exposing bare conductors, creating fire risk, and occasionally sending unregulated voltage into the laptop's charging circuit.
Three cases from the bench
Case 1: The HP charger bitten clean through
A customer from Lucknow couriered their HP Pavilion to us after discovering their laptop charger had been bitten completely through at the DC barrel connector end — a clean bite, cutting through all wires. The monkey had grabbed the cable through a ground-floor window while the laptop was left unattended during a prayer ceremony. The adapter itself was undamaged. We supplied a compatible HP charger at ₹1,100 and the laptop was fine — the clean cut had prevented any voltage from reaching the board. The customer was fortunate: a partial bite with exposed copper was what they narrowly avoided.
Case 2: The Lenovo charger that caused a charging IC failure
A Lenovo ThinkPad E15 arrived unable to charge at all. The owner had noticed their charger cable was chewed about 8 cm from the adapter end and had taped the exposed section with electrical tape, then continued using it for two weeks. The tape eventually lost adhesion, the bare copper wires made intermittent contact, and a brief over-voltage event destroyed the charging IC (the BQ24780S — a specialised power management chip on the motherboard). The cost of replacing a ₹900 charger was avoided; the cost of the resulting IC repair was ₹3,400. Lesson: a chewed charger is a one-time-use item. Replace it immediately.
Case 3: The display cable bitten during summer window use
In a case from Agra, a customer's Asus VivoBook had its display cable partially chewed — not the charger, but the thin ribbon cable running from the hinge into the display lid, which was slightly exposed at the hinge gap on an older model. A monkey on the window ledge had apparently found the cable end interesting. The display showed vertical lines and then went completely dark. The eDP cable (the thin wire that carries the display signal) needed full replacement: ₹1,800. The laptop was otherwise undamaged.
The India geography pattern
This damage type concentrates in cities and towns where rhesus macaque populations are large and urban: Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Mathura, Vrindavan, Rishikesh, Shimla, and some neighbourhoods in Jaipur and Lucknow. It also appears around south Indian temple towns with large langur populations. Almost all cases involve laptops left near open windows or on balconies — places where the cable becomes accessible from outside. The pet cable damage stories follow a similar pattern for dogs and cats indoors.
For customers who regularly work near open windows in monkey-populated areas, a genuine replacement charger is always the first recommendation if the existing cable shows any animal damage. Taped cables are a short-term illusion of safety.
When to call a repair service and what it costs
When to act immediately
If the charger cable shows any bite marks — even shallow ones — stop using it. If the laptop has already been used with a damaged charger and is now not charging, not turning on, or showing an error on the battery indicator, the charging circuit may have been affected and needs diagnosis.
Typical repair costs in India
Genuine replacement charger: ₹800–₹2,500 depending on brand and wattage. Charging IC replacement (if the damaged charger caused a board fault): ₹2,000–₹5,000 at chip level. Display cable replacement: ₹1,200–₹2,500. Diagnosis doorstep visit: ₹149.
A note from the LRW Engineer Team
This is one of those repair categories that Western repair guides simply do not cover, but it is genuinely common across India. We have received chewed-cable cases from Shimla, Agra, Mathura, and Delhi — always the same story, always with the same avoidable second-stage board damage. The prevention cost is under ₹300 for cable armour sleeves. The cure after a board fault is ten times that. Keep cables out of reach of open windows and replace anything that has been chewed immediately.