motor

ZfrkS62 · 09-11-2005, 06:42 PM

Ever since replacing my screen last year my battery has refused to charge and the slightest bump to the A/C input jack and the computer shuts off causing me to have to fiddle with the jack until the power light starts to flash. I have put up with this for awhile now but it's starting to get to the point where i don't even have to touch the jack and the damn thing will just lose power.

I've tried taking the fucking thing apart once to look for anything on the PCB that may be burnt out but aside from alot of dust (which i cleaned out) i couldn't find a damn thing wrong (then again if i knew what it was SUPPOSED to look like in there i might have found something).

When i click on the power meter icon i get this little box:

Obviously the computer knows the battery is plugged in and it thinks it is taking a charge. The only thing i can figure is that A) for whatever reason my battery is shorted internally and will no longer accept a charge.

B) my problem is a combination of things.

Any computer techs seen this before?

ZfrkS62 · 09-23-2005, 01:23 PM

ok, with Rita bearing down i figure i'll dismantle this thing again and see if i can't spend a bit more time hunting out the problem. I brought my soldering iron home just in case it's something i can re-solder (it's butane powered so i can use it in case the power goes out). Hopefully i can figure this out and finally rid my self of this irritating little issue

nthfinity · 09-23-2005, 04:14 PM

hmm... how old is your laptop??

one problem im guessing is that the power cable has a short in it itself, which explains why it shuts off unexpectedly... and potentially why your battery isn't charging.

also, older lithium ion batteries like all batteries; they do loose their ability to hold charge over time. rechargable batteries often last the longest when they are only recharged when close to out dead too...

ZfrkS62 · 09-23-2005, 04:28 PM

it's about 2 years old. i got it for graduating tech school in 03. I'm really leaning towards a combination of problems.

I know its not the cable itself because i can wiggle the cord until the cows come home and nothing will happen, but if i move the jack itself the thing loses power.

ZfrkS62 · 09-25-2005, 03:37 AM

ok, i've found the cause of the problem. it's the jack itelf. little mofo has been getting hot and apparently has burnt a little hole in the main board where the pegs go through and are soldered to the underside. the spring contact in it has also melted into the jack's case as well while plugged in and i have a feeling it's that part that goes to the battery to charge it. the fact taht it is contacting the case and melting into it just tells me that it's grounding out and not getting power to where it needs to go.

i have run into another problem however. i need to get the main board out of the case but i have no idea what is holding it in. i've removed all the screws and it's at the point where nothing is holding it down, yet i can't seem to get it to pull out. I need to get to the underside of the jack so that i can see if this is repairable or if i am royally fucked.

(i'm on my roomates computer atm)

here's a shot of the main board:

the little bastard causing my problem is the small black box in the top center of the pic.

*edit*
http://www.notebookforums.com/forumd...0&daysprune=-1 apparently this is a very common problem with HP

ZfrkS62 · 09-25-2005, 01:55 PM

Got the service manual from hp.com last night (surprisingly it was free) and got the motherboard out finally. I was starting to think about giving up because it seemed my soldering iron was too big. But i was eventually able to re-solder the connection and glue the jack down to the board to keep the little shit from moving around. just finished putting the fucker back together and so far moving the power cord hasn't resulted in the usual shut down. also, the amber power light is solidly on which i don't think i've seen in a long time. So hopefully i have solved the battery charge problem as well.

on a bad note i've got about 7 screws leftover from this teardown + the 4 left from the last one

I haven't had left overs in years, hopefully it's nothing major