Friggin' laptops!

[Tim Downie]

Well, I've done it again. Bought a cheap laptop and now paying the price.

Once again I've got problems with the DC power socket on a laptop. Symptoms are of increasingly bad electrical contact (temporaily restored by wiggling the plug) which has now reached the point of total non-conductivity. I've checked the power supply lead and plug carefully and it isn't a problem with either of them.

The last time this happened to me I was able to resolder the socket on the motherboard but that doesn't look possible on this one.

By way of lateral thinking I got to wondering if it would be possible to dismember the battery and lead power in through the battery contacts from a suitable power supply (I'm not worried about running off battery power). The slightly confusing thing is that the battery has 7 electrical contacts so perhaps this idea is a non-starter.

Of course I could just send it off for repair but it's going to be a new motherboard job and it probably needs a new battery too and and the end of the day, it'll still be a fecking Packard Bell Easynote laptop.

So, has anyone done this?

Tim

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

You mean get a duff battery and take the cells out and connect power supply to the lappy this way? Yes it is possible as an old pico I had was subject to the same problem,however this only had 4 terminals on battery,2 of them were not active.

[Grunff]

Simplest thing to do is open it up, remove the DC socket and solder in a short (~30cm) flying lead terminated in a line socket. Use a good grommet at the exit hole.

And *don't buy Packard Bell again*!

[Tim Downie]

I did that with an old Medion but the constant flexing of the fly lead eventaully knackered it again. I was hoping for a better solution.

Well I know that *now*! ;-)

Tim

[Tim Downie]

Yep.

Having 7 contacts is certainly complicating things somewhat. I've wondering if the might be a 5V take-off as well as a 12V one from the battery.

Tim

[Grunff]

No, the battery will have a single output voltage. Other contacts will be various things - some unused and one (or two) temperature sensing.

[Grunff]

If you secure the lead to the case, you shouldn't have a problem for a very long time.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I am afraid it probably is.

If it has lithium batteries in it they have a deal of clever circuitry hung around them to make sure they don;'t get over charged, over discharged, or relatively differentially charged.

Us toy plane fanatics rip all this out to save weight and increase power, but we pay the price in increased danger of SERIOUS fires.

No way would I run a laptop without all that protection.

A LIPO fire is no joke.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have to agree.

[Weatherlawyer]

Buy a secondhand docking station.

[manatbandq]

The way I read it, he's talking about using a dismembered baterry casing just to get access to the power terminals. If he takes out the cells then there's no danger of fire.

MBQ

[manatbandq]

Remember the sale of goods act gives you more than just the manufacturers warranty so you may be able to get a *free* repair for a number of years. If, however, it was so cheap you couldn't reasonably expect it to last very long then you may be on a hiding to nothing.

MBQ

[Dennis Pogson]

Happened to me a few years ago. I learned the hard way that to disconnect a laptop from it's power lead, you split the lead at the power brick and leave the plug in the laptop socket, every time!

Inconvenient but very, very cheap!

Dennis.

[Dennis Pogson]

Most of the £399 laptops are assembled by chimpanzees in coutries where it is not illegal to train such members of the animal kingdom and pay them by feeding them occasionally.

I tell my customers this, but they still go out and buy this garbage instead of my Thinkpads and Toshes.

A chimpanzee let loose with a soldergun is not the best guarantee of joint integrity, and they are so strong that they can tweak a nut to breaking point without using a socket spanner.

As with cheap cameras, such laptops are not meant to be used, but are just sold for effect, or as collectors items.

Be warned!

Dennis.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

But,but...toshy's are are a load of crap,you only have to go to the forum on the american toshiba site a see how many people are getting peeved off because of them being made by more chimps.

[Richard Conway]

Could you route the fly lead inside the case to a suitable spot to mount a better quality socket?

[dennis]

You could solder the fly lead to a couple of steel plates and glue them to the case. Solder the power lead to a couple of magnetic catches and away you go.

Now polarity is a problem so you need to think about the shapes a bit.

[manatbandq]

My Thinkpad was only =A3399, new, from a high street store. IBM sold the brand to Lenovo, and guess where they are made ;-)

MBQ

[The Natural Philosopher]

If that is the case, then yes, should work..

[Dennis Pogson]

So that on leaves HP and Dell. I have 3 Toshes and they are all excellent. But then, I don't spend my time pulling the mains lead in and out of them.If I did........................who knows!

8-o