Laptop fail

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:35 am

So my laptop no longer receives power from power adapters. I've tried two of them now. Since before it stopped working entirely, it worked if I jiggle the plug into exactly the right position, I blame the port.

This is a 3 year old computer with unrelated problems (speakers, lan port, keyboard, cd drive, and some USB ports have problems) so I'm not willing to invest significant resources into fixing this. My folks will help me buy a new laptop come Christmas.

That said, if I could get this running again the rest of the fall quarter will go better for me. And I could use it as a secondary gaming rig for when my fiancee and I play City of Heroes.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:41 am

Have you tried a docking station? This may forced the jack into the right position and hold it there for you.

You could also de-solder and re-solder the jack into the proper place.

I had a USB device like that, and had to pop the MP3 player part off down to the circuit board and just use it bare. (Not that I needed a 100 mb MP3 player anymore these days.)

I will go out on a limb and guess it to be a Linova (formerly IBM) Thinkpad right?

The ports on those things never lasted!

Heath Robinson · Post by **Heath Robinson** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:12 am

Without knowing the arrangement of the jack, I can't help you much except to say that I've dealt with a similar situation before. My answer then was to use a thin needlelike piece of metal to bend the copper contact inside the port back into shape.

With the battery removed, of course.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:37 am

I have had a similar problem since a previous laptop fell and damaged the port. Jiggling would work for a while but eventually you will likley kill the battery that way with an inconsistent power flow. You might want to take it to a shop and see how much it would cost to replace that part. Might not be too bad.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:56 am

Anyone have advice on finding a shop or on what a replacement might run?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:06 am

Yeah, that was a big problem with older laptops. See, it's really cheap to solder the port onto a board, but over time, it eventually breaks off.

Macs haven't had that problem for like ten years now (though first gen G4 laptops had a problem where the whole port plane would come off, but that's why Macs haven't had ports on the hinge since) and even now have a magnetic type of latch that literally can't fail that way. (but the cable can still fray)

To fix this, the only way is to crack the case and repair (if possible) the board. You may be able to re-solder it or jigger it somehow, but the board might just be frayed, and it might not be possible to repair, just replace the part.

-Crissa

PS, the brand is somewhat important to how to get it repaired. Shops will have access to various brand parts (or not). For me, I could get pretty much anything fixed by going to the end of the street at Central Computers, but I know that even in the smallest town there's some sort of limited repair shop that can do the level or repair I'm capable of t home.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:09 am

Boolean wrote:Anyone have advice on finding a shop or on what a replacement might run?

Depends on the brand and model of the laptop.....

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:09 am

Dell Inspiron 1501.

I got a deal through my school.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:10 am

Boolean wrote:Dell Inspiron 1501.

I got a deal through my school.

You might be screwed then.

How old is it, and I will run a parts check on a few websites to see if they have either docking stations or replacement power ports.

http://www.golaptopparts.com/Products-D ... 501-1.html

Not sure about this place, but it lists a few docking stations, but no replacement port.

You could try searching for either of those docking stations if it has the correct ports for your laptop, and hope it can force the plug back into line.

Often when a Dell plug falls out, that is it for the laptop.

Good luck with any fix so you don't miss out on the laptop for class use.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:08 pm

I have an old IBM T40 that suffered from a completely different power problem. It wasn't that the external power port could not supply power, it was that the laptop didn't want to accept the power. It didn't want to accept it from the battery either. Sometimes I had to remove the battery for a while and then it would accept the power. Sometimes I had to wait until the batteries completely drained and there wasn't even enough power to power the clock.

Now it is 24/7 in the docking station. In theory I could take it out, ouce it is running it can select the power sources correctly, but I dare not turn it off because it may never come back on.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:59 pm

Dells are pretty easy to find support for, though, since they use really common parts.

-Crissa

lostinlove · Post by **lostinlove** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:06 pm

I also have a dell its performance an maintainance is really better than other laptops

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:11 pm

A netbook might be a better idea than repair. You should be able to get a new one for 300ish dollars and a decent one should be able to beat any conventional laptop in the size, runtime and power consumption departments. City of Heroes has pretty low requirements, right? I have seen people play comparable games on their first-generation netbooks, so that might work out ok, if you can get used to the much smaller screen that is.

Example from Newegg

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:07 am

I would suggest repair, as you'd end up with a better final product than jut buying anew.

Also, not repairing is wasteful.

-Crissa