Computer Question

[Yugoboy]

I am trying to get my photos ready for tonight. For whatever reason, my home laptop isn’t getting a charge from the power strip it’s on. So in an effort to see what’s up, I plug in my school computer. It is similarly not getting a charge. So I change power strips. Nada. I go back up to my den. Nada. Thinking that maybe it’s a deal with power strips I plug directly into wall socket. Still nada. Mind you, all the power is on in the house. My wife’s desktop is getting juice, as is her netbook. Even my cellphone is charging… it just seems to be these two machines anywhere in the house. I haven’t yet gone to another location to see what’s up, but I thought I’d check with y’all.

If I can’t get this resolved, I may be over to the main contest thread to ask for an OBO.

Any ideas?

[nobigdeal]

Are you using the same charger for both laptops?

[Yugoboy]

No. I can’t. One’s HP, one’s Dell. Both use same cord type into the “charger box”, but each has its own charger box, and I’ve used 3 different wall-to-charger-box cords.

[amish_animal_scientist]

The only thing I can think of is that both may have been plugged into something else that killed both boxes. I’ve gone through several on this laptop for some reason. I can’t think of another reason off the top of my head why they both wouldn’t be working.

[Yugoboy]

Well… at least there are dozens of the work computer ones at work, and I can always get another one from the tech dudes. The home one is out of warranty by a LOT and as such is going to cost me a Rocketfish universal charger (because iGo doesn’t make the “tip” I need… I’ve been through this once before. . .when it was under warranty, but I didn’t want to wait the couple weeks for the new one to get shipped here. I’ve got an iGo one for my REALLY old laptop – the one with WinME on it. . . )

[Yugoboy]

WTF… now the work one’s working (for now) but the home one is still squirrelly.

Dammit.

Last time, it at least did me the courtesy of taking a while to die, and giving me lots of chances…

As long as this is working, I’ll hold off the OBO request. That may change, however.

[amish_animal_scientist]

That’s weird that they would start working again at random. And that it would happen to both at the same time.

[nobigdeal]

Weird. I just bought a charger for my laptop this weekend after I left the original one at work. The Igo was $65!! ouch! but now I have an extra and don’t have to lug one back and forth to work.

[Yugoboy]

That’s weird that they would start working again at random. And that it would happen to both at the same time.

When I wrote that, the other one wasn’t working. I finally had an inspiration. When I was taking everything downstairs, the charging box (because I don’t know what the real name for it is) dropped on the floor. Wasn’t the first time, but when I plugged it in and it still didn’t work, I figured it was worth a shot and whacked it a couple times real good with my hand… it started working. I got no clue…

Does not explain the work one, though…

[chupathingie]

The one you whacked sounds like it’s got a crappy solder joint inside. Possibly a silly question, but do you have a volt meter in the house?

[Yugoboy]

I do. Apparently it’s a really nice one. (I got it as a random Christmas gift a few years ago from my wife’s family during a round-robin sort of thing. It garnered praise.) I am not sure I have any idea how to use it, though.

[CauseISaidSo]

In general:

1. On the meter, there should be a socket labeled Ground or Common (or some abbreviation thereof). Plug the black lead into that.
2. Plug the red lead into the remaining socket on the meter. If there are 3 sockets, likely one of the remaining is labeled something like “High Current” or high amperage. Ignore that one and use the other.
3. Look at the label on your “charging box”. It should state the input (110 VAC) and the output. For most laptops, the output will be either 12 or 15 volts DC.
4. Your meter may be auto-ranging, so this step will depend on what the dial on your meter looks like. On mine, there are two sets of ranges: one for DC voltage (V with a couple of straight lines over it) and one for AC voltage (V with a couple of wavy lines over it). Within each of those ranges are multiple max voltages. Select the right type of voltage (most likely DC) and if applicable, select a voltage max that’s greater than or equal to the output of your charging box. For my laptop and meter, that would be the 40VDC setting since the next smaller is 4V and my power output is 12V.
5. Plug in your charging cord (to the outlet, not to the laptop) and BEING CAREFUL NOT TO LET THE LEADS TOUCH, insert one lead into the hole in the barrel plug (the plug that goes into the laptop) and touch the other lead to the outside of the barrel. If it’s a modern meter (which it sounds like it is since it’s just a few years old), then the actual polarity won’t matter and your meter should read close to either positive or negative 12 volts (or whatever the output says). If you’re sure the leads are making good contact with the metal parts of the barrel plug and you’re not reading any voltage (or significantly lower than it should be), you might have a problem with your power converter (charging box).

Something else to try that’s frequently the problem with laptop power converters: If there’s a light on the cord or the laptop itself that indicates that it’s receiving power and charging, look at that while you flex the cord at various places up and down its length. The most likely candidate for a problem is not the cord from the outlet to the box but from the box to the laptop (since it’s thinner). If it flickers when you do that, you’ve got a bad/flaky cord. This happens frequently since laptop cords are always being flexed (coiled and uncoiled) and pinched and rolled over by chairs. If this is the case, it’s easy enough to fix, but will require some basic soldering skills.

[fluffybunny]

CISS, so you’re taking it easy on Yugoboy by not telling him to set the dial to amps and “test” the meter by putting the leads into the 110v socket? Where’s the fun?

/I keed, DO NOT DO THIS.

[orionid]

CISS, so you’re taking it easy on Yugoboy by not telling him to set the dial to amps and “test” the meter by putting the leads into the 110v socket? Where’s the fun?

/I keed, DO NOT DO THIS.

I thought you put it on MegOhms and stuck one lead into a open cut on each hand?

/I also keed. Definitely DO NOT DO THIS.

[chupathingie]

Another very common location for cracked solder joints is where the power socket is attached to the laptop’s mainboard. CISS’ method can usually pick this up as well.

If you find the loose connection, the fun will be trying to get access to it… they just don’t build stuff to take apart these days. The power port on the lappy is relatively straight forward (if a bit cumbersome), but often the case on a power supply/charger is glued permanently shut.

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