Laptop Power major problem

Passport

Hi,
please give me good news,
I bought a gericom supersonic laptop from ~Germany two years ago, at the time it was really powerful and relatively still is,
However the power input yoke went funny on me, as in the hole where i connect the power lead to, I had to keep adjusting the lead for the power to flow in,
It has now completely broke as the power lead just fits in but the pin it is meant to connect to has been destroyed and it is now just fitting into an empty space,
I can not turn my laptop on or recharge the battery,
I sit possible to replace this part of the laptop and if so where?
or is there any alternative way of charging the laptop eg some device that connects to the usb?
Thanks for any help

tom_ass19

Have you tried contacting the support line or send them a email?

abelard

I had the same problem with Dell earlier in the summer. I rang Dell and they said they would have to replace the whole motherboard for some god-awful price. So I rang my isurace co. and they took it away, got it assessed, and just decided to pay out for it rather than get it repaired. So basically the moral is going along those lines may not be a good idea.

However, it's must just be a physical piece of metal/plastic that's broke. If you know much about the inner workings yourself, or brought it to a competent repairs shop they would probably be able to just replace it/solder it back into place. If I was back again that's what I would have done. I didn't realise at the time that the insurace co. would just replace the whole laptop, and wasn't confident enough to go rooting around inside it myself.

Anyway hope that helps a little

Ruu_Old

You are probably looking at replacing the motherboard as that part is probably soldered which is going to cost you.
I had the problem with an old HP laptop, a friend soldered it for me and it worked for a while longer but kept having problems with it, so gave up.
Contact tech support if they have any to see if they can help.

Passport

It does occasionaly let out a bit of steam and smells horrible, so that is quiet worrying, the thing is even at that stage it had been working perfectly, and when I turn it on with the battery that is remaining it works of but there is only about an hour left, how did you manage to get money from an insurance company did you have it insured or was it insured as a conent of your house?

thefinalstage

That happened to me. I ripped the damn socket out and soldered it. I got a half hour of play out of it and boom!

Cal

More common on HP & Compaq laptops, but the solution is getting a new motherboard or getting someone to strip down the unit and repair the power connector on the board. I've soldered a few and they seem to hold up fine. Providing they are handled with kid gloves.

Cal.

Tom Dunne

The first thing I would do is trawl the net to see if there is any kind of device that would recharge your battery outside of the laptop.

I know I had a battery charger for an IBM thinkpad some time back, but I must admit I haven't seen anything like that for a while.

The next thing I would do, and it's really as a last resort, is get out the screwdriver and open it up. Have a look at the power connector and see if it there is any way it can be soldered back into place. Do you know of anyone doing electronics in college who would be comfortable soldering?

Failing that, there are some laptop repair places in the stickies on this forum, though it ain't gonna be cheap.

Saruman

You know.. if you fancied a fight you could see if the law in Germany is the same as here. Regardless of warranty a manufacturer is responsible for their product if it fails for 6 years.
Very few people know that.. its a statutory right here but it could be EU wide. Most people just buy a new one or pay for a repair when they are usually entitled to have the manufacturer sort it for free.
Would probably be a small claims court thing here... you might be screwed since you got it in Germany.

I mean it may be considered ware and tear but its only 2 years old and the acceptible life of a laptop is more than 2 years!!

mickoneill30

Saruman wrote:

Regardless of warranty a manufacturer is responsible for their product if it fails for 6 years.
Very few people know that.. its a statutory right here but it could be EU wide.

That sounds cool. Do you have any links to more info.

abelard

Passport wrote:

how did you manage to get money from an insurance company did you have it insured or was it insured as a conent of your house?

Had it insured seperately, as such. It's insured as a special addition to contents insurance. Depending on the spec and price, shouldn't set you back much more than €50 per year, and it was worth it when that happened.

Passport

I went in with it to Pc World today and was told queit bluntly that it was "burnt out" and no-one in Ireland would be able to repair it.

arseagon

Passport wrote:

I went in with it to Pc World today and was told queit bluntly that it was "burnt out" and no-one in Ireland would be able to repair it.

Why can't it be repaired? That's a terrible excuse to give anyone. I'd give soldering the connector back on. What have you got to lose? The laptop is unusable in its current state. Just get someone who's good at soldering to do it. Dry solder joints are what will overload the motheboard and cause it to blow.

Cal

Passport wrote:

I went in with it to Pc World today and was told queit bluntly that it was "burnt out" and no-one in Ireland would be able to repair it.

And how far did they strip the unit down before deciding this? Let me guess......... Not at all.

If the issue is just a loose power connection on the motherboard then it is very fixable.

Don't bin it yet.

Cal.

Passport

zippy28 wrote:

Why can't it be repaired? That's a terrible excuse to give anyone. I'd give soldering the connector back on. What have you got to lose? The laptop is unusable in its current state. Just get someone who's good at soldering to do it. Dry solder joints are what will overload the motheboard and cause it to blow.

Yeah he was very ruda and abrubt, a typical example of PcWorld staff, but it is the only place in Waterford that fixes laptops,
I have no idea what soldering is, so I don't want to just open it up, i will try and bring it to someone in Dublin soon.

Tom Dunne

Passport wrote:

I have no idea what soldering is, so I don't want to just open it up, i will try and bring it to someone in Dublin soon.

I see from this thread that you are in college. Try somebody in the electronics department - they will know what soldering is. It's kinda' like welding on a minature scale.

Don't give up on this laptop yet!

arseagon

Passport, i second what Tom said, check with the electronics department. There sureley has to be someone there that's able to do it.

Failing that, i'm not too far away in wexford and would be happy to give it a go for you.

Passport

Hi good news, it turns out it was insured, so they seem willing to accept a valuation of 1300 (-250 of the claim)on it, as i got a letter from a Pc shop in town saying it was irreparable, they say they will first try to rplace it as they have some laptop replacement scheme, but I doubt they will be able to replace the same model as it came from a very small german company so hopefully will be getting a cheque soon enough.

Ps. On a sidenote what do you think i should do with it, is there any hope of selling the parts on ebay or anything?

frodo_dcu

If the insurance co. pay out in full for it they're gona want to keep it thats what they did with a machine i had that got water damaged so try and back up your HD

Stargal

frodo_dcu wrote:

If the insurance co. pay out in full for it they're gona want to keep it thats what they did with a machine i had that got water damaged so try and back up your HD

Is it possible to back up the HD if he's not able to turn the laptop on? I'm in exactly the same situation, so if this is possible it would be great news.

arseagon

stargal wrote:

Is it possible to back up the HD if he's not able to turn the laptop on? I'm in exactly the same situation, so if this is possible it would be great news.

Yes, you can take the hard disk out of the laptop and use a 3.5" usb caddy to connect it externally to another computer.

frodo_dcu

zippy28 wrote:

Yes, you can take the hard disk out of the laptop and use a 3.5" usb caddy to connect it externally to another computer.

yes but you need but you need 2.5" for laptop hard drives you can get a external one like this for €25

http://www.buy4now.ie/galaxy-computer/aspx/productdetail.aspx?pid=3431&loc=P&catid=120

Your hard drive is very easy to remove check your manual for details

Stargal

Thanks for that lads, that's great - thought I'd lost everything on my laptop.