LucyDuke
staring at the clock
My laptop is screwed up.
I bought it early this year, it's still under warranty. Also I totally suck at backing things up so there's irreplaceable stuff on the hard drive. The problem is power, so unless I can fix it up enough to power long enough to unload 160gb, I really, really, really don't want to send it to HP for warranty repair. I'll pay for replacement parts if I have to to avoid losing my data.
First failure: regular use, I go to move the computer from my lap to a table, exactly like every single time I've ever moved it. It turns off as though the power's been cut. The battery is at 100%, the AC cord is plugged in snugly to the wall and itself and the computer. There's a little LED next to where the cord plugs into the computer, it's always on when it's getting power, it's off when this happens. I panic, because this is similar to the issue that killed my last laptop. I look over the cable, everything's plugged in fine, no kinks, no visible damage. I unplug and plug in the cable a few times, remove and replace the battery a few times, trying to get a combination that'll turn the light on. No luck, until out of nowhere it works. I can't tell why. I'm still nervous but at least crisis averted.
Second failure: same as the first. Just as much panic, just as random solution.
I talk to someone about this, advised that I should test the cable.
Third failure: same as the first. Instead of freaking out, I simply twist the plug in its socket (round plug in round socket, like earphones), the LED comes on and computer powers up when I tell it to.
(The battery still works to reboot the machine after one of these failures. It doesn't prevent the failure, but after failure, I can boot from the battery.)
Fourth failure: last night, I go to move the computer from its perch on a box on my bed. My dog is laying on part of the cable, so it jostles a little bit and woo the same power failure. This time, twisting, waiting, fooling around with the cable does not work.
I think "what the hell" and start to disassemble the machine. Last time this happened, with the last laptop, the mounting for the AC adapter inside the computer was busted up, the plastic was snapped and the metal nearly broken. I used superglue and solder to fix it three times, by now that one is beyond repair. I'm looking for the power connector thing, because if there's a problem, that's got to be it (right?). Compaq wised up between the design of that old computer and this new one, the power connector is a solid block that fits snugly into a sort of channel on the side of the case. It's certainly not flimsy.
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Unfortunately it looks fine. I haven't yet gotten enough into the machine to check its connection, so it's possible that its plug has come loose or something. I suppose it's also possible that the connector itself is busted, but it looks solid.
So... what could the problem be? I don't think it's the cable that goes from the computer to the wall, since when I unplug it, it switches happily to battery, while if this failure happens, the machine goes off. I can't really see how it could be anything but this little power block thingy, but can't see how it could be the little power block thingy, either, since it looks so damn solid! I'm going to dig a little deeper tonight to get to whatever that module plugs in to, in case this is a stupid loose-connection problem.
Any and all help much appreciated. The computer is an HP Compaq CQ60, and the HP part number for the potential problem piece is 496835-001.
I bought it early this year, it's still under warranty. Also I totally suck at backing things up so there's irreplaceable stuff on the hard drive. The problem is power, so unless I can fix it up enough to power long enough to unload 160gb, I really, really, really don't want to send it to HP for warranty repair. I'll pay for replacement parts if I have to to avoid losing my data.
First failure: regular use, I go to move the computer from my lap to a table, exactly like every single time I've ever moved it. It turns off as though the power's been cut. The battery is at 100%, the AC cord is plugged in snugly to the wall and itself and the computer. There's a little LED next to where the cord plugs into the computer, it's always on when it's getting power, it's off when this happens. I panic, because this is similar to the issue that killed my last laptop. I look over the cable, everything's plugged in fine, no kinks, no visible damage. I unplug and plug in the cable a few times, remove and replace the battery a few times, trying to get a combination that'll turn the light on. No luck, until out of nowhere it works. I can't tell why. I'm still nervous but at least crisis averted.
Second failure: same as the first. Just as much panic, just as random solution.
I talk to someone about this, advised that I should test the cable.
Third failure: same as the first. Instead of freaking out, I simply twist the plug in its socket (round plug in round socket, like earphones), the LED comes on and computer powers up when I tell it to.
(The battery still works to reboot the machine after one of these failures. It doesn't prevent the failure, but after failure, I can boot from the battery.)
Fourth failure: last night, I go to move the computer from its perch on a box on my bed. My dog is laying on part of the cable, so it jostles a little bit and woo the same power failure. This time, twisting, waiting, fooling around with the cable does not work.
I think "what the hell" and start to disassemble the machine. Last time this happened, with the last laptop, the mounting for the AC adapter inside the computer was busted up, the plastic was snapped and the metal nearly broken. I used superglue and solder to fix it three times, by now that one is beyond repair. I'm looking for the power connector thing, because if there's a problem, that's got to be it (right?). Compaq wised up between the design of that old computer and this new one, the power connector is a solid block that fits snugly into a sort of channel on the side of the case. It's certainly not flimsy.
Unfortunately it looks fine. I haven't yet gotten enough into the machine to check its connection, so it's possible that its plug has come loose or something. I suppose it's also possible that the connector itself is busted, but it looks solid.
So... what could the problem be? I don't think it's the cable that goes from the computer to the wall, since when I unplug it, it switches happily to battery, while if this failure happens, the machine goes off. I can't really see how it could be anything but this little power block thingy, but can't see how it could be the little power block thingy, either, since it looks so damn solid! I'm going to dig a little deeper tonight to get to whatever that module plugs in to, in case this is a stupid loose-connection problem.
Any and all help much appreciated. The computer is an HP Compaq CQ60, and the HP part number for the potential problem piece is 496835-001.
Now I've got about 75% battery and a lot more data to recover than I'd be able to recover in the time given by 75% battery. It's gonna suck really hard if I have to send this out.
