Power supply losing connection on Inspiron 1300

walshki

Lads,

Any advice appreciated. My power supply is getting dodgy. I think its through a certain amount of abuse where when its been plugged it, it might be leaned against something etc. Anyway its now at the stage where when its plugged in I have to figgle the connection into the laptop around a little (i.e. where the cable enters the laptop). Sometimes it loses connection and it appears to be getting worse.

From peoples experience does this tend to be something which is a big problem or difficult to fix. Basically any advice welcome. For now, its still ok if I make sure its pushed in as far as possible so I'm going to be really careful but I wouldn't mind knowing if its likely to be a big problem if it goes completely.

majiktripp

From what you describe it sounds like the power jack on the motherboard is loose causing you to have to wiggle the power cord to get the right contact to charge/power the laptop.
It will only get worse over time and , if you know someone with good soldering abilities, you could dismantle the laptop and try resoldering the joints on the motherboard and using some no conductive hot glue to hold the jack firmly in place again so its not loose.
Again this can be a trial and error process with sometimes 100% success and other times..well no success.
Its a budget laptop you have so if you know someone will good soldering (and you trust them) then its worth a shot. Just be prepared for the "it didn't work" speech after an hour or two of working on it!

rubadub

Could be the motherboard. I would have thought it is more likely the cable end.

Do you have to wiggle the end of the cable, i.e. the flexible bit, or are you moving the bit in the actual laptop. Try holding the socket bit still and move the cable around.

This is usually where earphones fail too, where the flexible bit meets the hard casing.

There are a few options here. If it is damaged it coudl be cut and there might be frayed wires. I have stuck a pin in before to join them.

On good earphones I just got a cheapo pair, cut the cables on both and twisted them together to make one good pair. You could possible get an old laptop with the same socket and do the same, or buy a cheapo low power one on ebay and do it.

Sometimes the cut/frayed wire can be partly down the cable, then you can snip, strip and twist them together again.

Of course do not mess with electrics unless you know what you are doing.

Another low tech solution is to bend it gently over until the connection is ok, it is usually frayed wires that will touch in a certain position. Once you find the right position then tape it up with electrical insulation tape, or some other strong tape.

walshki

Cheers for the replies. I don't think its the cable. I've tried it again and it definitely looks like its the part within the laptop. For now I'm going to be really careful and its not chronic yet but I'm worried its just going to get worse over time. If that happens I'll consider the soldering option but I won't do it unless I have to.

Thanks

Capt'n Midnight

majiktripp wrote:

Again this can be a trial and error process with sometimes 100% success and other times..well no success.
Its a budget laptop you have so if you know someone will good soldering (and you trust them) then its worth a shot. Just be prepared for the "it didn't work" speech after an hour or two of working on it!

on a similar model it was a 10 second soldering job and it worked

there were 49 screws of different lengths and lots of subassemblies to take apart to get at the connector so yes an hour or two , photopied the laptop and placed the screws on the photocopies real PITA job. Next time I'll just cut through the plastic.

mecanical reinfrocement of the socket would help / use gaffer tape to hold the cable in one position or other wise reduce the strain on it