Laptop Power Supply?

J

Joey_P

New Member
Hello all... new to the site...

Quick question -

I've got a friend whose laptop will not come on at all - just one night *pffzzt* - he'd recently installed a new battery... the old one never held a charge... so he always left it plugged in to the wall when he needed to use it...

Now, I have a fairly good background with PC repairs... but, I haven't worked on any laptops "hardware-wise" aside from installing RAM, new hard drives , batteries, etc...

He tried a new AC adapter, so I assumed it was the power supply - I mean, if someone described the same behavior about a desktop, that would be my guess... plug it in, but no lights, no fan - nothing...

But after an exhaustive search online for a laptop power supply, I've found nothing... Do you call a PSU something else when it's in a laptop? if so... where the hell can I get one? Your questions, comments or criticisms are welcome...

Thanks,

Joey
 
the "psu" of a laptop is the block on the power cable... so id you replace that then it cant be the problem
 
It's probably the motherboard.

He's better off either sending it in for repair or buying a new one, because laptop mobo's are a pain in the rear to replace yourself.
 
yeah my friend had a dell laptop, and it was gonnna cost him like 900 bucks to replace the mobo. so he gave it to me and i sold it on ebay for 150

hahhahhah
 
That's what I was afraid of - that's alright... I'll tell him to buy a new lappy... it's no wonder that every time I searched for a laptop power supply I returned AC adapter... that's what I needed to know

Thanks for the timely response... I'll have him buy a new one and send me the old one - good project for a rainy day... likely a swollen capacitor... clip it out and solder a new one on, clean it all up... who knows...

Thanks again...

-Joey
 
Joey_P said:
That's what I was afraid of - that's alright... I'll tell him to buy a new lappy... it's no wonder that every time I searched for a laptop power supply I returned AC adapter... that's what I needed to know

Thanks for the timely response... I'll have him buy a new one and send me the old one - good project for a rainy day... likely a swollen capacitor... clip it out and solder a new one on, clean it all up... who knows...

Thanks again...

-Joey
Click to expand...


Hold the phone.
Lack of power on a laptop could be a couple of things.

First test the cord.Plug it in the wall,,insert a red lead from a multi meter and check the DC voltage.It should read about 12-19

If the cord is good, next thing to check would be to remove the HD and see if the lights light up.If it does then its a bad HD.

Next thing to test would be to see if someone has a charged dell battery and let you slip it in the laptop.If it powers up on battery then its not the mother board.
Go to ebay and check out power jacks for your unit.If its none of the above you probably have a bad powerjack.Powerjacks cost under 10 bucks.A good laptop guy can solder you one on in under two hours.About a $100 to 150 dollar job.
 
Joey_P said:
That's what I was afraid of - that's alright... I'll tell him to buy a new lappy... it's no wonder that every time I searched for a laptop power supply I returned AC adapter... that's what I needed to know

Thanks for the timely response... I'll have him buy a new one and send me the old one - good project for a rainy day... likely a swollen capacitor... clip it out and solder a new one on, clean it all up... who knows...

Thanks again...

-Joey
Click to expand...


Hold the phone.
Lack of power on a laptop could be a couple of things.

First test the cord.Plug it in the wall,,insert a red lead from a multi meter and check the DC voltage.It should read about 12-19 but you say he bought a new cord and its the same thing.

If the cord is good, next thing to check would be to remove the HD and see if the lights light up.If it does then its a bad HD.

Next thing to test would be to see if someone has a charged dell battery and let you slip it in the laptop.If it powers up on battery then its not the mother board.
Go to ebay and check out power jacks for your unit.If its none of the above you probably have a bad powerjack.Powerjacks cost under 10 bucks.A good laptop guy can solder you one on in under two hours.About a $100 to 150 dollar job.
 
Hold the phone.
Lack of power on a laptop could be a couple of things.

First test the cord.Plug it in the wall,,insert a red lead from a multi meter and check the DC voltage.It should read about 12-19

If the cord is good, next thing to check would be to remove the HD and see if the lights light up.If it does then its a bad HD.

Next thing to test would be to see if someone has a charged dell battery and let you slip it in the laptop.If it powers up on battery then its not the mother board.
Go to ebay and check out power jacks for your unit.If its none of the above you probably have a bad powerjack.Powerjacks cost under 10 bucks.A good laptop guy can solder you one on in under two hours.About a $100 to 150 dollar job.
Click to expand...

camel lips (odd handle...),
Interesting... He has checked the continuity on his power cord... I'm not sure if he's removed the HD - I'll have him try that... seems that it would still try to come on if that's the case, but then - what do I know? That's why I'm here...

I'm not sure why I'd want to use a charged Dell battery when the lappy's a HP - he has tried two brand new HP batteries, and he says they were charged...

As for the powerjack - that's a good idea - I'll look into that as a last resort...

I'm going to have him send the thing to me (if the HD isn't the culprit) since we live 700 miles apart... And as anyone whose worked in IT before knows - it's really hard to try and fix things over the phone - especially hardware. Thanks for the reply camel lips - lots of good ideas - I'll get back to ya...

-Joey
 
Joey_P said:
camel lips (odd handle...),
Interesting... He has checked the continuity on his power cord... I'm not sure if he's removed the HD - I'll have him try that... seems that it would still try to come on if that's the case, but then - what do I know? That's why I'm here...

I'm not sure why I'd want to use a charged Dell battery when the lappy's a HP - he has tried two brand new HP batteries, and he says they were charged...

As for the powerjack - that's a good idea - I'll look into that as a last resort...

I'm going to have him send the thing to me (if the HD isn't the culprit) since we live 700 miles apart... And as anyone whose worked in IT before knows - it's really hard to try and fix things over the phone - especially hardware. Thanks for the reply camel lips - lots of good ideas - I'll get back to ya...

-Joey
Click to expand...

Camel lips is a drum corps thingy

Sorry man,,I had dell on the brain.If you can try a HP battery in it and it fires up,,your good to go.Its the power jack in that case.

I had a laptop the other day with a corrupt Hd.No power,,,pulled the HD and it starting lighting up again.Installed a new HD and ran OS..Back in business.

Gettting Hp's apart is tricky.I suggest you download the manual online before attempting the repair yourself.Lots of hidden screws on that puppy.Get yourself a egg carton and as you take screws out ,,,put them in the individual trays and lable each tray where they go back in.

Good luck.Shout at me if you have any trouble.I can replace a power jack for $150 if you feel like its over you head.
 
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