atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories HP Laptop Power Adapter

The power plug going to the back on my laptop became so worn out (loose fitting) on my power adapter it was hot to the touch a few mornings ago after charging the battery all night. I mean to the point it would burn your finger if you touched it long enough so I unplugged everything and chopped that bad boy off so I wouldn't forget and plug it back in that night and burn the house down.

I figured I could just stop by the Shack & pick up a new plug and fix it myself.... wrong. They have one that almost fits but isn't quite right and they pretty much told me they can't get the correct one I need. No luck at Staples either unless I am willing to spend $100.00 for a universal power adapter that "should" work.

Is there a source for these hard to find plugs any of you know about?
Of course, I will pay for the whole damn power adapter if I have to because they have me over a barrel but it just irks me to have to pay so much when all I need is a $2.00 part at the most.

Ok, I'll climb off the soapbox now!

Bobby:

Call ALL Electronics @ 1-800-826-5432

WWW.allelectronics.com

i've bought several HP parts off ebay. actually my last purchase was a power adapter for $30

My boss replaced the entire PC-mount coaxial jack on his Sony vaio. Bought the part off eBay, and spent a couple days carefully opening the whole thing, soldered the jack and reassembling it. Cost like $20 with shipping.

If you can find a more standard jack and plug size, then you could replace the jack on the notebook the same way, then if the plug fails again (they do take a lot of abuse) the plug is now a standard RatShack item.

I thought about that too Rob but I've seen a laptop taken apart on more than one occasion and I don't think I want to tackle that right now.
I'm not that brave!

This isn't an uncommon failure. If you hadn't chopped the cord I would have suggested a try at warranty replacement.

If the part which is hot is the cord, then you should just replace the adapter. Where it plugs into the notebook is where they fail and you probably have a partially broken wire(several strand failure). I'd go with Ebay or if you have a local PC recycler they may have one in a box kicking around just make sure the model on the adapter is the same as yours.

Other Parts Suppliers are
www.mouser.com - Mouser Electronics

www.digikey.com - DigiKey

Update: I soldered a new plug onto the power adapter and babied that thing along all of this time with the help of tooth picks (and propping it up any way I could) in order to get the battery charged. I tried a couple of power adapters that were supposed to be "universal" that didn't work.
I even tried the correct HP power adapter that I borrowed from a friend that used to own a computer shop and it still had a problem.

Which meant there was a problem on the mother board with the DC. jack. (Which was what caused the plug to burn up on my adapter in the first place I discovered later.)

So I decided I was going to bite the bullet and buy a new laptop or tear that thing apart to see if I could fix it. (Or tear it up so badly nobody could fix it... what did I have to loose at that point?)

After finally getting the mother board out I discovered a cold solder joint that, according to my friend, may have been present when the thing was manufactured and just never became evident until recently.

Anyway, long story short, I managed to change the plugs to something I can buy at Rat Shack if this ever happens again. And everything works like it's supposed to as far as I can tell!

But, I learned some things during this operation:
1. My eyesight is piss poor.
2. Magnifying glasses are good things.
3. I have fat fingers.
4. Tweezers are good things.
5. Beer does NOT help the above!

When it's all said and done: I never want to see the inside of a laptop again!

6. Laptops have WAY too many screws!

Amen.

That would be "tiny" screws that can get lost quickly.