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bdquick
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Joined: 26 Jun 2025
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Location: Little north of DSM and south of Ames
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 Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2025 11:40 pm Post subject: Laptop problems |
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I've just encountered a fun issues, and I'm not sure what is wrong. I looked down and noticed it was draining battery power, but saying it was plugged in. The charge light was not on. I wiggled the plug and stuff thinking maybe it just wasn't seated enough. I shutdown and as soon as the computer powered off, the battery started charging.
I actually saw it do this last night, but I was shutting down at the time anyway. After it powered off I wiggled the cord and it wasn't fully seated, so I assumed that was the problem. I guess it wasn't.
Anyone have any ideas?
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bdquick
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| Ok seems to be a short. Just moved the laptop with the battery out of it, and it lost power. Now I just have to figure out if its the cord, or the connector.
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Germ
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| I'd bet on the connector.
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Lord.DragonFly.of.Dawn
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 2:08 am Post subject: |
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if you are lucky it's the cord or the brick. thats only $50-90 to fix.
if you are unlucky it's the connector.
then you gotta open the case (not easy for a laptop) and see if it's fixable.
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tlmiller
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| What type of laptop, some of them it's cheap enough just to get a new motherboard if it is the connector.
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bdquick
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| Its a Dell Insiprion 5160. I'm guessing its the connector the way it acts. The motherboard already has another problem. The wired nic loses connection too. Might be time for a new laptop.
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tlmiller
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 3:10 am Post subject: |
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Possibly. I found motherboards online for $120-$250 for it...but considering the age of the laptop, most people might not consider paying $140+ after shipping and insurance a worthy price for a laptop that would probably only sell for around $160-$180.
You can find great deals out htere. I got my Inspiron 1525 (when I bought it, 1280x800, the new 64-bit Celeron @ 2.0 GHz, 1 GB ram) for $400. I get D610's used for almost nothing, although usually need to repair a few things on them before they'll ready to go. So look around and you'll be able to find a much more modern laptop for cheap.
However, I'd still tear it open and see if it's something you could resolder first. Maybe save yourself a few hundred.
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richard
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| There are companies out there that do repair the power connectors on laptops and there prices should be pretty reasonable. I would advise against getting a replacement motherboard for it unless you get it from a reputable dealer as most of them are 2nd user parts and tend to be of dubious quality.
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bdquick
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2025 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I will probably tear into and see if I can just re-sauter it. The problem will be if I can tear it apart successfully myself. Have a friend at work that is pretty good at tearing apart laptops too though. To me its not worth spending the money on a different motherboard. I've been kind of thinking about a new 17" widescreen laptotp anyway. But since any of those I'd probably buy will come with Windows, I'd like to wait until I can get a free Win 7 upgrade.
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Germ
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bdquick
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tlmiller
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| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2025 12:17 am Post subject: |
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Oh yeah, you acn find 17" windows laptops for 1/3 the price of a Mac.
Speaking only of personal tastes, I think the 15.x" widescreen laptops are the best. I had a 17" widescreen, and it was just TOOOOOO big IMO. Cumbersome and totally unwieldy. The 15's are definitely not svelte by any means, but they're still small enough to be portable. Obviously, just my opinion.
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bdquick
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| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2025 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| I don't travel with mine much. Mostly just use it in my living room from the recliner. I don't like sitting at a computer desk when I get home from work.
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Lord.DragonFly.of.Dawn
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| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2025 3:12 am Post subject: |
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well if the connector is destroyed you could always do what I did to my last laptop after the connector sheered off in a fall (which broke the LCD too)
I just soldered the raw wires to the right places on the MoBo and turned it into a server. If the LCD had remained intact i would have kept it as a laptop, the battery life was already pretty crappy so i always had it plugged in anyway.
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masinick
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Joined: 03 Apr 2025
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| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2025 3:17 am Post subject: Changing parts in old laptops |
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| tlmiller wrote: | Oh yeah, you can find 17" windows laptops for 1/3 the price of a Mac.
Speaking only of personal tastes, I think the 15.x" widescreen laptops are the best. I had a 17" widescreen, and it was just TOOOOOO big IMO. Cumbersome and totally unwieldy. The 15's are definitely not svelte by any means, but they're still small enough to be portable. Obviously, just my opinion. |
For real mobile use, I like the 14" or 15.x" models too. However, that Gateway PA6A, a 17" model, works real well as a mobile desktop; almost as large as a bigger screen LCD, reasonably good on power, quieter than most desktop systems, and since I got it from you, the price was right! 
On a side note, the disk drive and possibly the fan on that old D600 that I got from you are going fast. Is it possible and easy to swap for another disk (maybe with more capacity), and how about fans? What would I be looking at if I took a look, and what would you recommend? Any reasonable way to copy contents between laptop disks? On a desktop, it's easy with those ribbon cables; not too familiar with laptop tricks, so I was hoping you had advice on replacement parts and the best way to change things. |
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