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Noetical
Flip Horrorshow


Registered: 11/28/04
Posts: 9,230
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Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection
#7759709 - 12/14/07 07:07 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I have an old dell inspiron 4100 that has served me well.
Lately for whatever reason the ac adapter isn't connecting when it is plugged in to the computer (computer - cord end) and since my battery is shit it just dies.
I can wiggle and jiggle and sometimes get lucky and it will work but I can't move it anywhere.
So one day when it wasn't working I got angry and just jammed a screw driver in there and twirled it around (highly thoughtful and scientific I know). It works better now.
What can I do or am fucked
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rawtoxic
Stranger
Registered: 10/06/02
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Loc: smokey mountains
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Noetical]
#7759738 - 12/14/07 07:12 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I think pics would be great.
I am a fan of afro - engineering
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supra
computerEnthusiast
Registered: 10/26/03
Posts: 6,446
Loc: TEXAS
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Noetical]
#7759912 - 12/14/07 07:53 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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i had an hp laptop do this to me once, I fixed it by opening up the laptop, and where the power cord connector connects to the PCB was a little cracked and worn. I soldered that bad boy up and have never had another problem.
peace
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Ramlaen
Pysconaut



Registered: 11/06/04
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: supra]
#7760030 - 12/14/07 08:27 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Order 6.00 jack replacement on ebay, and desolder old one off the motherboard and solder in a new one.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Ramlaen]
#7760514 - 12/14/07 10:56 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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yeah, these conncections are fucking stupid. If you talk to dell they say they have to replace the motherboard, which I'm sure is bullshit. They probably just solder the part on.
They even prohibit the manufacturer of certain of their connections from selling them, so you're fucked and have to find a workable replacment.
Dell works hard to fuck you over.
Why can't they simply have the connector mounted to the case, and then soldered wires running between the connector and the motherboard, to eliminate the stress of the plug from fucking up the connections? This is a common problem, why the hell don't manufacturers take this simple step and solve the problem, mostly for good?
Does anyone see a problem with the above fix?
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: johnm214]
#7760876 - 12/15/07 02:45 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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> They probably just solder the part on.
It tends to be 50/50 with laptops... I have never seen a dell plug that wasn't soldiered directly to the board. Very few apple laptops have the plug soldiered to the board (most use a $20 board that can be replaced, called a DC-IN board). HP does it both ways. I haven't worked with enough other brands to know.
Worse case, you can cut the old plug off the logic board and soldier wires to the board in it's place. Run the wires out the hole that the plug used fit into and soldier a generic plug to the wires hanging out of the computer. Not the best looking, but better than paying for a new logic board. (be careful to preserve polarity)
> Why can't they simply have the connector mounted to the case
Most people will buy a new laptop rather than replace the logic board to fix an old one. (corporate greed in answer to your question)
Although I tend to dislike Apple hardware, they really did a pretty good job addressing this problem. New Apple laptops use a magnet, rather than friction, to hold the power plug to the laptop. If you trip over the wire and yank it out, no big deal... nothing breaks. On the inside, the plug is usually isolated on a board by itself and is very cheap to replace (hard on the labor, cheap on the part). The only downside in their design is dirt can sometimes foul the plug. Much easier and cheaper to clean a plug than to replace a logic board, so my gripe here is very minor.
Oh, if you are soldiering on the logic board, be very careful of surface mount components around the plug, both on top and bottom of the board. Usually, the plug is fairly well isolated from other components, but not always.
One other trick that might help... wrap the prong that plugs into the hole with a tiny bit of fine sand paper. Plug it in and out once or twice. (You want to avoid creating metal shavings!). The idea is to knock any corrosion or dirt off the inside of the plug. I've seen this work in some cases. (Make sure the laptop is off, battery out, and AC adapter is unplugged when doing this.)
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Seuss]
#7760933 - 12/15/07 04:11 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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so your saying some h.p.'s have the laptop plug not soldered directly to the motherboard? Is the DC-IN board the standard name for this?
This will literally be the selling point for my next laptop. Dell screwed me over so bad. I've literally had the thing sent back 7 times in three years for the same thing. They just lost a lawsuit over my model, and some others, for this and other issues, and were forced to extend the warranty.
Otherwise you either pay 500$ for a new .50 plug via dell, or you have to pay a private shop hourly rates to find something that will work and solder it on- which generally means you have to figure out which plugs will and won't work.
Dell also has a special sensor which detects if your not using one of there ac adapters (horribly overpriced) and cuts down your charge rate if so, while displaying a b.s. message upon bootup saying you don't have the optimum setup (when they are really fucking you on purpose).
I hate them so much... but it was a good deal when I bought it (or so I thought).
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: johnm214]
#7762331 - 12/15/07 04:11 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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> Is the DC-IN board the standard name for this?
Only on Apple. With HP, look at partsurfer.hp.com and drill down to whatever laptop model you are interested in to see if the plug is attached to the logic board directly or by cable.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Ojom
member




Registered: 10/27/99
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Seuss]
#7767621 - 12/16/07 09:57 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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After reading this thread, especially johnm214s posts I don't think I'll ever even consider buying a Dell product.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Ojom]
#7768221 - 12/17/07 02:10 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Dell has good support while in warranty, and I doubt my problems are specifically related to them, per se.
The problem is, you'll have your power cut off intermitinly, then have to send it back.
Then it will be anywhere between two weeks and six month before the thing will fail again. Every time you have to send it away, you lose a week of the computer, and have to go through the same bullshit w/ the indian techs. (YES, I did try unplugging the battery, yes I powered it down and decharged it by hitting the power button w/ out power input, yes I tried a different outlet, et. cet.)
Also, my design on the laptop was such bullshit. The air intake is directly below the cpu, and there aren't really any "feet" to raise the computer up. So the laptop itself restrict the airflow if its not levitating. Then the dust from under the laptop gets in the heatsink cuz the damn fan sucks from the surface its sitting on (as opposed to the side, or above).
Then it overheats, graphics card dies, and you learn you have to take the thing apart and clean it every month at least or it will fail, but your not allowed to do this, so you have to send it back.
And then the motherboard fails as a result of the poor case design, which places stress on a solder joint for a chip. And this starts failing, and you realize you have to physically break plastic parts off the laptop to fix it (which does work, hasn't failed yet since I've done this.)
For the stunningly stupid design flaw in the last example, check out this site:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43678/
So Dell's fine if you calculate in the extended warranty as part of the laptop price, cuz they bar their suppliers from selling to consumers or shops, and make you buy new laptops or motherboards instead of replacing a 50 cent part.
I presume Seuss's mention of the new Apple design w/ a magnet would help alot of these problems. Just fucked up these things happen when I always have my laptop on a table, and have never tripped on teh cord or abused it.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: Seuss]
#7768223 - 12/17/07 02:14 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > They probably just solder the part on.
It tends to be 50/50 with laptops...
-----
Yeah, I know it is directly soldered to the board.
Do you know other brands that don't have the power cord plug soldered on the board, or otherwise have a fix for this seemingly-common problem- besides apple?
Any other thoughts? I just can't believe they make laptops like that, if you actually use a laptop as a laptop (i.e. take it to work, out to study, et cet) you're going to plug and unplug several times a day, of course it will fail.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Fuckin' retarded battery a/c adapter conection [Re: johnm214]
#7768312 - 12/17/07 04:46 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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> http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43678/
Related to the above URL:
Quote:
Just keep pots for all the screws so you know where they go back
An empty ice cube tray works well for this task.
Quote:
With a very fine electronic soldering iron (with a pin point tip) touch each of the IC legs for 1 second to remelt the connections
Wiser to use a hot air reflow tool. They are easy to make for simple repairs:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/ http://www.dansworkshop.com/SMT%20Hot%20Air%20Pencil.shtml
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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