Replacing a Laptop PSU

ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
edited October 2007 in Hardware
I've finally been feeling able to work and have been doing some first line of defense(if I can pull it of then why call in the expensive experts:bigggrin:) computer repairs for a government office. Everything was going fine until I met up with an employees laptop - Toshiba Satellite 3.06 Ghz 512 Ram .... that kept restarting randomly ...with the power light flickering(if you could catch it) minutes before restart. No viruses and no spyware. All hardware tests came back positive. But if you play with the power chord (wiggle or move it) - it would restart. Since I could not advise anything more than buying a new power chord and perhaps checking it for motherboard/PSU damage ; it was taken to a computer shop .. the diagnoses was ..dead CPU and dead motherboard. Funny thing is when I charge up the battery it works fine ... until battery runs out ..of course !*2BloodyHours!. And it was given to me as a paperweight ... as a bonus:cool2:

Any advice??? .. or shall I enjoy my new 2 hour toy!:p

Comments

  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Hey Thelemech!

    If the the wiggly power "chord" :) is near the laptop end, it is most likely the adapter jack on the mother board has broken loose. You can meter the connector and wiggle the wire to see if the cord itself is actually bad.

    The solder points can break contact (Cold Solder) or like the SO's notebook here, the adapter jack can actually arc and burn through the board... a little scraping, some solder wick as a bridge and a little time... Now it charges and works sweet... Unfortunatly the battery has since packed in on this one...

    I haven't seen too many dead PSU's in notebooks that would actually let it boot and work from battery. But YMMV...

    Pain in the A$$ to fix the power adapter, as the whole notebook has to come apart and the MB come out of it.

    Much Fun!
  • ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Thanks for the response troll.... I will be looking at the adapter jack .. I'm sure this is the problem + - a dying power cord ; although it will charge the battery fine enough. It has to be the power cord or connection(adapter jack as you mentioned) or either the PSU.. the motherboard ram and hd are all healthy according to software.
  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Good luck with it and let us know how you make out.
  • joytime360joytime360
    edited October 2007
    I guess it is ok now .
  • stoopidstoopid Albany, NY New
    edited October 2007
    This is very common on laptops and won't be the last time you see this :). if it's under warranty then send it back and let the manufacturer repair it, otherwise it does requires good soldering skills.
  • ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    stoopid wrote:
    This is very common on laptops and won't be the last time you see this :). if it's under warranty then send it back and let the manufacturer repair it, otherwise it does requires good soldering skills.

    Apparently this exact model =Satellite A70 is renown for this soldering ; adapter jack problem ,,, I have been to several computer repair shops who do not even want to touch it after I explain the problem and solution!:p I cracked the case and took a peek (since inevitably I will have to do the fix myself) ... hmmm looks like a precise job :but straightforward.
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