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    LACamper

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    Jun 3, 2007
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    My wife's laptop power connector stopped working recently. I ordered a generic replacement a couple of weeks ago. It worked fine for about 2 weeks, then stopped. No power light, no charging. I assumed I had a defective charger, ordered a new one and got an RMA for the defective one. The new one came in today. It doesn't work either.

    If the battery goes bad I was assuming it would give some warning. The laptop is about 3 years old and battery life isn't what it was but a charge was still good for 1.5 hours or so. I wouldn't think it would go dead instantly. Even if it did go dead, I'm assuming it would still try to charge and the power light would come on.

    Any thoughts?

    If I can't get this thing up and running I will still need to pull the data off the hard drive. Laptops do use standard IDE connectors (its not new enough to be sata I don't guess) and typical power adapters, right?
     
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    edman87k5

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    Oct 22, 2007
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    Are you saying the laptop will not work at all? All of mine Will run with 0 battery and I am guessing without the battery even in there.
    I have had maybe 4 or so of the cheap chineewe replacement power supplies on 3 of my computers and never a problem.
     
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    edman87k5

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    I will add that the last power supply I changed due to a frayed cord about a week ago actually made the battery star working again. Before, it would die within 10 seconds of
    being unplugged from the power supply. I have no idea why this changed, I figured he battery was toast until now.
     
    BigNick73

    BigNick73

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    Soldering that jack is real easy just getting through the molded plastic can be a pita. Once its resoldered I like to use hot glue and then electrical tape to re-insulate.

    If you do end up pulling the hard drive it'll be a 2.5" it's IDE but not the same as a 3.5" IDE that you'd find in your desktop, but you can buy an adapter to go to whatever you want including USB but about $10 online.
     
    slacker

    slacker

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    some computers have a battery with a chip inside that counts how many charge cycles it has endured and the battery will 'turn off'. it's a supposed safety thing, i think that was mainly an HP/Compaq thing. all of mine will usually degrade to 10 mins etc before they just die.
     
    slacker

    slacker

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    some computers have a battery with a chip inside that counts how many charge cycles it has endured and the battery will 'turn off'. it's a supposed safety thing, i think that was mainly an HP/Compaq thing. all of mine will usually degrade to 10 mins etc before they just die.
     
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    noob

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    LACamper said:
    I'm betting its the jack where the power cord comes in. I'm tempted to try a solder job at this point.
    Click to expand...

    what's the model of your PC? i've had to replace the power jack on a few HP's and on a Dell once. some of the really older ones were soldered to the mainboard, but now, i guess they figured they had a lot of issues, it may be as simple as pulling a little plug and replacing a power jack "assembly".
     
    N

    noob

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    LACamper said:
    Gateway MX6421
    Click to expand...

    oh, that model would be the solder type. but your hard drive is a 2.5" IDE model. so you should be able to either purchase or borrow a connector to convert it to USB and transfer the data if needed. be VERY careful while trying to de-solder the power jack to the mainboard. they must use some high-heat solder or something b/c it was REALLY difficult to get off on my sister's HP.
     
    jimdana1942

    jimdana1942

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    Try google search for your problem and PC brand, you might hit upon a matching problem others are having.

    I know laptops are handy but they just don't last anywhere nhear like a desktop.
     
    BigNick73

    BigNick73

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    Oops ignore my earlier post about the solder job though you meant the end of the charger.

    That one inside the laptop can be a pita to get to but it's only a $3 part. When you desolder make sure you tin the iron well and use as little heat as needed, same for soldering the new part back in place. The joints are large but you gotta be careful not to lift the pad.
     
    herohog

    herohog

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    The IDE drive used a special connector that can be ordered CHEAP from NewEgg or similar places. With it you can fire up the drive and salvage your data.
     
    L

    LACamper

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    Jun 3, 2007
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    Metairie, LA
    BigNick73 said:
    Oops ignore my earlier post about the solder job though you meant the end of the charger.

    That one inside the laptop can be a pita to get to but it's only a $3 part. When you desolder make sure you tin the iron well and use as little heat as needed, same for soldering the new part back in place. The joints are large but you gotta be careful not to lift the pad.
    Click to expand...

    I meant the jack on the mobo where the power cord plugs in.
     
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