Laptop Adapter Issues?

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Tiger Edge

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A few months ago, my adapter started having issues while plugged in. It would only charge if the cord was pulled a certain way. I noticed that it started to get worse this year in that I had to spend more time adjusting the cord. It was also having a harder time staying hooked into its little hole.
I have no idea what happened yesterday but this morning the male end refused to stay put inside the hole. It comes out easily and doesn't even click. I can charge it, but only if I spend 5 minutes moving the thing around until I find the exact spot. Aaand then I can't move at all, so there's no point in even doing it.

Is this a laptop issue or the actual adapter itself?
I found one online that I can buy for $32, but I just want another opinion before I go and blow my money on something that might not even be necessary.
(Of course the alternative is that my laptop is in need of serious repair!)

I have a Sony VAIO VGN - FS810/W
The adapter is: VGP-AC19V11 AC Power Adapter 19.5V 4.7A
 
if you have to pull the cord in order to make the adapter work it sounds clearly like there's a malfunction in the cord. Seems like the wires can't connect to the plug or something like that.
 
Well, I'd go ahead and buy the adapter and hope that's it. But, it could also be the actual AC port on the laptop as well. My guess would be the adapter first though, since you've been having issues with it for awhile now.
 
I would take the laptop to the store. Tell them you are considering buying a new adapter, but need to quickly check and make sure that's the problem. Make it clear you are NOT interesting in leaving the laptop for their "professional" diagnosis, just ask if you can find your laptop on display and quick plug in their adapter. If the charge light goes on, buy a new adapter. If it doesn't, then you need the connection on the motherboard repaired. That usually involves some re-soldering, but is pretty easily fixable. Unless your cord is obviously damaged with wires exposed, there's no way to know for sure whether it's the adapter or the connection on the motherboard. In my experience, it's usually the motherboard, not the adapter. You'll know within 2 seconds if you can plug in an adapter that you already know works.
 
I should, but my laptop model is well over two years old and they most likely won't have a store model on display. I went ahead and ordered a new adapter. I can always return it or sell it off if it doesn't work.
I have a friend who does internal laptop repair so I'll definitely ask him to look at it if the adapter doesn't work. For right now, I've ghettoly (hah, new word) scotch taped my adapter in. If I move it around to just the right spot it stays in place and charges.
 
You don't need the same adapter, you only need to have the same amps/voltage and it will work. Usually it's no problem to find another laptop whose adapter will work on your computer.

And stores generally carry universal adapters which are quite pricey (over $100), but I've heard mixed reviews of those.
 
Same thing has happened to me and I've been too lazy to take it in, also for fear of the $$$$ it will cost to have them look at it. Thanks for the suggestion of just asking to 'borrow' their adapter to check.
 
I got a new exact replacement for only $33 on eBay.

I know this isn't for adapters, but my friend recommended pricewatch.com for any other computer needs. I found a battery (which of course now needs to be put on hold) for about $10 less than the best price I found by myself.
 
I shouldn't have jumped the gun. It wasn't an adapter issue.

How easy is it to re-solder? My dad says that he can probably fix it (he's an engineer). This means I have to order the DC part, right?
 
If he thinks he probably can, he probably can. I've never done it because I think it voids the warranty if I do it because I do not work for Dell, HP, etc, but I've seen many tutorials for it online.
 
Well, I felt like an idiot for starting another thread with a different problem, so I'll just put it here.
I think my laptop is about to take a nosedive. Word, Firefox and Internet Explorer stopped working for me today. They'll work for about 5 or 6 minutes before totally freezing up for 10 minutes. Then they start to work again.

It's not a virus because I managed to scan the entire system today with AVG and Ad-Aware, just for good measure.

The really weird part is that it has nothing to do with internet access. I've been running AIM the whole time with no problems or anything. It's just that some programs are crapping out on me.
Any ideas?
 
Hrrm, it seems to have stopped for now. I guess it was just a hiccup in the system. Still scary! :angry:

*I take it back, it just happened again. :mad: :mad:
 
Last edited:
Liesje said:
Hard drive going bad?

:no:

I don't know. WordPad works fine though.

I think I'm going to fix the DC jack, sell the laptop and get a new one. I can't believe it's going through such a downfall so fast.

Should I attempt a system restore to last Friday?
 
I had a Sony VAIO once.

I owned it for 3 weeks before it crapped out (screen died).

I got my $ back and never looked back again. Sony is overpriced, their laptops are apparently a bitch to fix so many places will just tell you to send it to an authorized repair shop and then who knows when you'll get it back.
 
But their screens are so shiny. :drool:

I had an HP before I had the Vaio and it lasted me just about the same amount of time. A speaker blew and the screen was losing connectivity so that it flickered constantly. Not to mention that it crashed and burned on me twice, requiring a complete hard drive reformat.

This being all said and done, I want to try a different brand next time, (not Dell, the home desktop hasn't worked well since day one) possibly Toshiba.

Anyway, in case I have someone following my little story... :hug:
I found my receipt for the VAIO last night after 2 hours of searching. Turns out that I bought an extended 3 year warranty. I'm going to rough it at school for a few weeks (God help me) while everything gets fixed.
 
Run, don't walk, away from the Toshiba Satellite's. If you want something that's solid as far as hardware, honestly just get a Mac. With laptops of any brand or platform, you will get what you pay for.
 
I thought about it. Especially since repairing a Mac would be 10 times easier in case I needed to. There's a Mac store about 15 minutes from my house and one of my friends is a Genius.
 
New problem! This thread should really be renamed at this point.

Okay, short story: My laptop completely died. I left it alone for the weekend and when I tried to boot it on Monday it wouldn't start so I assumed that the battery had also kicked the bucket at the same time the DC jack did.
I'm sending it in for warranty repair but I wanted to back up my hard drive just in case anything should happen. (Funnily enough, this week I read about a lawsuit against Best Buy when a woman sent her laptop in and they lost it, compromising her financial information.)
All I want is to copy the photos/videos I have saved up. Everything else I can pretty much do without in case of an emergency, and I have my music stored on my iPod itself anyway.

I got the necessary cord from a friend and hooked up the old hard drive to my mom's computer. Through a bunch of clicking and a lot of help from my friend/random websites, I was finally able to open up the Desktop file on my laptop. Unfortunately, this is as far as I can get. I can't open anything on the desktop without getting a weird message like, "Doesn't recognize file type." I also can't open my pictures folder. I've tried to click the Security tab and allow access to the administrator to move and edit files, but it gives me an error message when I click on Apply. I can't copy anything from my desktop at all, either. BUT, in an odd twist of fate, I can delete anything I want without any problems.

Gah, I'm so close I can almost taste it. :angry:

P.S. - Because this has been an issue before, the OS I'm working on in my mom's computer is XP Professional and not XP Home.
 
It sounds like a permissions thing. I have this problem a lot when trying to backup files from student's computers. I can't remember exactly what I do, but I have to give permission to myself and then go in a few levels deeper and apply those permissions to everything beyond that. Then it takes forever, you can see the computer changing the permissions on every single file.
 
This saga just gets longer and weirder. :huh:

I couldn't figure it out so I went to my friend's house and plugged into her Mac, bypassing all the permissions. Her burner wasn't working so I just left my files there.
I came back home and reinstalled the hard drive. Just fooling around, I pushed the power button and my laptop turned on again! :ohmy:

I'm still sending it in because it's having the same issues with Word and Firefox, but at least I've been able to save everything I wanted to my iPod by using it as an external.
 
:sigh:

So, it's been in for repair for about a week now. I called today because they gave me a notice on the geeksquad.com site about "approving something" and apparently my laptop was unsalvageable. They've agreed to give me one of "equal technology."

I googled "best buy warranty equal technology" and basically got the worst responses ever. It seems like everyone has been dissatisfied with this policy. I'm going in with my dad tomorrow, just to make sure that they don't screw me over.
Any recommendations if they give me some options?
 
They should just give you the same model or a one-up if it's no longer manufactured.

I have to send my laptop in as well. Many dead/stuck pixels. Except my warranty is through CompUSA and they no longer exist. This should be fun....
 
Liesje said:
They should just give you the same model or a one-up if it's no longer manufactured.

I have to send my laptop in as well. Many dead/stuck pixels. Except my warranty is through CompUSA and they no longer exist. This should be fun....

Half the people here who have HP laptops have had awful issues with their pixels.

Oddly enough I don't know anyone with another brand who has (they've had different problems, but nothing with respect to pixels).
 
Yeah I don't know what happened. We got new cleaning supplies so I cleaned my laptop really well and noticed 2. Then the next day I noticed more like 12. I don't think they all died that fast, I just wasn't looking for them. They are SO tiny, some of them I was already mistaking for a fiber on the screen. I may just wait until the end of the warranty to fix it. I can easily see them on a solid white or light background, but when I'm doing my web stuff and post processing photos there's enough color and texture going on that I don't notice it.

I wish CompUSA had hired the manufacturers to honor the rest of the warranty. I already had HP replace some RAM for me and I've always had good experiences with them. However my one year manufacturer warranty just expired.
 
Okay, everything has been totally resolved for the best. They managed to give me an $850 credit for a brand new laptop so I picked out a Dell Inspiron 1420 in Jet Black. It was the last one in the store, too.
My other choices were an ugly red Gateway and a Toshiba Satellite. :wink:
The 250 GB Hard Drive is great :combust:

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