10 replies to this topic

[Matt]

I've got a Compaq Presario R3000 that's having a problem:

Basically, the plug where the AC adapter plugs into the back of the laptop (the female receptor) is loose. Now, the cord itself seats into the plug just fine, but the plug assembly itself is loose.

This, in turn, prevents the laptop from getting a constant power supply and when the plug moves slightly, it goes off cord power and right to the battery.

Now, I took the cover of the laptop last night to see if I could fix it myself, but it appeared that in order to fix the plug assembly (which is a small box about half the size of a die) I'd have to take apart even more -- which I wasn't really willing to do.

The problem appears to be a broken solder joint (I can't directly see it, but an uneducated guess). The computer itself runs fine, just on battery power, though.

Here's a pic of the problem:



Info on the laptop:

Compaq Presario R3000
s/n: CND40808RD
p/n: DS481U#ABA

Short vid (kind of blurry) of the problem: Click here for video explanation

Thanks!

[SouthernWingsFan]

I personally don't have experience in computer repair Matt, but the place where I work, our network administrator is the man, I'll see sometime tomorrow if he has any insight.

[tidysteve]

short term: wedge a piece of plastic up in the housing between it and the power receptor (ie shirtclip from bic pen)

long term: you will have to remove the housing and the larger piece of gray plastic and fix the broken solder

unfortunately until it is properly repaired you will be cursed with a wiggly power connector ... now, having said that you may find a way to jerry-rig the cord with tape so that any movement of the cord does not wiggle the receptor ...

hope this helps ...

Edited by tidysteve, 26 May 2005 - 09:21 PM.

[The Captain]

Same thing happened to my powerbook...i tripped over the power cord and it caused the solder joint to come undone...now it only holds cord power after I carefully finagle it in place--since I use it on battery power primarly, it hasn't been that big of an inconvenience...I"m guessing you'll need to take it further apart or take it into the shop.

[Muse]

I was guessing The Captain's reply would be "ditch it and get a Mac" LOL

TidySteve's answer sounds good to me. It's pretty easy to fix.

P.S. to the Captain... I just got my mom a Mac Mini for her birthday. Even she's blown away at how small it is.
Also, love your sig.

Edited by Muse, 27 May 2005 - 02:32 PM.

[Rice]

happened to my vaio, I sent it in and they repaired it for 100 bucks

[The Captain]

Am I that predictable? (Yeah, I know it.)

I haven't used the mini yet...but it's funny because on paper it's the size of a dessert plate, yet more powerful than my 2001 G4 Quicksilver Tower I made into a DVR

Here's a shocker...I just recently bought a Duhhh...duhhh Dell.

I already have 3 macs....4 if you include my 10 year old workstation 9650 (which still works great btw as an email browsing and storage machine).

The dell i got is the new Inspiron 9300 and it's got a 17" screen. The real estate on this bad boy is great, but it was super affordable compared to the 17" powerbook. I had a sweet coupon that saved me 40%.

The spyware and malware is out of control. It's really a shame, because while Windows is hardly OSX, it does do a few things better than OSX. For instance, loading pics from a digital camera is significantly faster on Windows than it is on my Macs. However, once you get the pics on the 'puter, that's where OSX shows its strength with enhancement etc.

Overall though, OSX is absolutely superior.

It's one thing to have to buy a security system for Windows because you want extra security, it's another thing to have to by a security system for Windows, because you want to use it.

That is, if you don't secure your PC, within an hour of surfing your computer WILL BE hijacked--and you likely won't know it.

www.grc.com will tell you how vulnerable your PC is
and housecall.trendmicro.com will scan your entire system for virus/security shortcomings--for free.

HijackThis
ZoneAlarm Security Suite
Ad-Aware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Bazooka

These are all programs you can put to use on the PC. It's actually quite fun if you enjoy computers, to turn it into Fort Knox, but if you're like my dad, and like most people, you just want it to work...for these type of folks...you're misguided to get anything besides a mac.

In fact the CEO of Intel, suggests that if you want to take care of security...get a Mac.

[MSUDoubleJ19]

I have a question, and I may just be dumb, but I'm curious.

Are Macs genuinely that much better at security, or are they better simply because people make viruses for PCs since they are more popular, and so there aren't a lot of Mac viruses out there?

[The Captain]

[Matt]

Please don't derail.

[Muse]

Did you fix it yet?

It will probably only take about 15 minutes to permanently fix it, as long as you know how to solder. If you don't know how, you're better off paying someone to fix it for you.