Couple of laptop questions...

C

Cloverfield

New Member
Hope this in the right place :S

Hi guys. I recently purchased a laptop on ebay, from America. I am from the UK. The power adaptor that came with the new laptop is this - http://www.powersuppliesonline.co.uk/public/ranges/images/139/YP12-YC12.jpg however in England we use - http://www.binbin.net/photos/generi...tandard-figure-of-8-uk-3-pin-plug-version.jpg Basically, my current laptop is the acer aspire 5920 and my new laptop is the acer aspire 5920G. It's the upgraded version. The power adaptor from the old english laptop actually works fine in the new laptop. Is it ok to use that? Or should I be using the other power brick that came with the laptop.

My second question is probably more important although I don't know how you will know what the problem is or how it can be fixed. Basically, when I turn the laptop on, sometimes it will get to the ACER grey screen and then the very next screen after that will have a flashing '_' in the top right and it will do the forever. Othertimes it will get to that flashing symbol and then instantly turn off. And other times it will get past that bit, get the the desktop but if I do something like download a file the whole thing will just shutdown. Instantly, just go to black. How the hell can this be fixed? I'm pretty sure it's not the power supply turning it off because I even turned the laptop on without the adaptor plugged in and when I went to do something like open a new firefox page it just shut down.

Any ideas?
 
Cloverfield said:
Hope this in the right place :S

Hi guys. I recently purchased a laptop on ebay, from America. I am from the UK. The power adaptor that came with the new laptop is this - http://www.powersuppliesonline.co.uk/public/ranges/images/139/YP12-YC12.jpg however in England we use - http://www.binbin.net/photos/generi...tandard-figure-of-8-uk-3-pin-plug-version.jpg Basically, my current laptop is the acer aspire 5920 and my new laptop is the acer aspire 5920G. It's the upgraded version. The power adaptor from the old english laptop actually works fine in the new laptop. Is it ok to use that? Or should I be using the other power brick that came with the laptop.

My second question is probably more important although I don't know how you will know what the problem is or how it can be fixed. Basically, when I turn the laptop on, sometimes it will get to the ACER grey screen and then the very next screen after that will have a flashing '_' in the top right and it will do the forever. Othertimes it will get to that flashing symbol and then instantly turn off. And other times it will get past that bit, get the the desktop but if I do something like download a file the whole thing will just shutdown. Instantly, just go to black. How the hell can this be fixed? I'm pretty sure it's not the power supply turning it off because I even turned the laptop on without the adaptor plugged in and when I went to do something like open a new firefox page it just shut down.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

To be safe, I would buy a converter. And use the american plug. But I honestly don't know.
 
Cloverfield said:
Hope this in the right place :S

Hi guys. I recently purchased a laptop on ebay, from America. I am from the UK. The power adaptor that came with the new laptop is this - http://www.powersuppliesonline.co.uk/public/ranges/images/139/YP12-YC12.jpg however in England we use - http://www.binbin.net/photos/generi...tandard-figure-of-8-uk-3-pin-plug-version.jpg Basically, my current laptop is the acer aspire 5920 and my new laptop is the acer aspire 5920G. It's the upgraded version. The power adaptor from the old english laptop actually works fine in the new laptop. Is it ok to use that? Or should I be using the other power brick that came with the laptop.

My second question is probably more important although I don't know how you will know what the problem is or how it can be fixed. Basically, when I turn the laptop on, sometimes it will get to the ACER grey screen and then the very next screen after that will have a flashing '_' in the top right and it will do the forever. Othertimes it will get to that flashing symbol and then instantly turn off. And other times it will get past that bit, get the the desktop but if I do something like download a file the whole thing will just shutdown. Instantly, just go to black. How the hell can this be fixed? I'm pretty sure it's not the power supply turning it off because I even turned the laptop on without the adaptor plugged in and when I went to do something like open a new firefox page it just shut down.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

As to the first question: Most, if not all, laptop power bricks these days are made to run on voltages from all countries. The only difference is the plug on the end of the cord that plugs into the mains. Isn't there a sticker on each brick stating the voltages and currents of both? That would be the easiest way to be sure.
 
It will be fine as far as voltage is considered, when I was stationed in Italy I just bought a converter piece for the end. Never damage my laptop. But if your old laptop power cord works then just use that, if it was going to do any damage it would have done it already. Electricity doesn't take it's time burning stuff up, it actually will do it almost right away.

The other issue sounds almost like a HDD problem. I would do a fresh re-install of the OS, Is the computer brand new? If not that is something I would have done first thing.
 
Power - Have a look at your transformer. If it say 100V - 230V, what you need to do is just get a power cord.
 
DMGrier said:
It will be fine as far as voltage is considered, when I was stationed in Italy I just bought a converter piece for the end. Never damage my laptop. But if your old laptop power cord works then just use that, if it was going to do any damage it would have done it already. Electricity doesn't take it's time burning stuff up, it actually will do it almost right away.

The other issue sounds almost like a HDD problem. I would do a fresh re-install of the OS, Is the computer brand new? If not that is something I would have done first thing.
Click to expand...

Cheers for your replies guys. As to the question above about the newness... it's not brand new. Infact, the guy that had it before installed a cracked version of Windows 7 on there (gave me vista disk too if I wanted to reinstall). After using it for a day and reading up a bit more, it seems like it has a overheating problem. As soon as it gets a little too hot, it just shuts down. Now my current acer aspire does sometimes get INCREDIBLY hot at the bottom but never switches its self off instantly. Occasionally I get the blue screen but never a complete off. I think there maybe a problem with the fan as it shouldn't keep switching off every hour. Ideas?
 
I had that problem with one of my Dells, I just went to Dell.com and bought a new fan for $20 and when I open it I used some can air to clean it out and replace the fan.
 
Can this overheating also cause lag? The laptop is 4GB however even the blu ray drive was lagging as I put on a film and it wasn't fluid, it was juttering.
 
When people say to get compressed air and blow it on the fans, do you have to open up the laptop or anything? As I don't know where the fans are.
 
Cloverfield said:
When people say to get compressed air and blow it on the fans, do you have to open up the laptop or anything? As I don't know where the fans are.
Click to expand...

Here is a video of someone taking apart the 5920G to bake the video card. Anyway, it shows him taking off a panel, and you can see the fan. It is actually as much about getting the dust out of the heatsink fins (if not more) as it is getting the dust out of the fan. Hold the fan still when using compressed air to blow out the dust. You don't want to "over rev" the fan and possibly overheat and damage the bearings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDXGouSv_X8
 
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