is this a fair quote to fix laptop power supply?

olias

Hi all,

wife was using her laptop (plugged in) when she saw the low battery warning. After checking it was definately plugged in and switched on at the wall, realised it was not receiving mains power. The battery reserve eventually went and the computer switched off.

The cable from her ac adapter to the laptop was a bit mangled (she keeps getting it twisted and tangled) so I assumed it was the cable core that had become damaged so I bought a new one. The new one is definately working as the led on the adapter box is lit, the laptop however will still not power up - not even a flicker, It's dead as a whatsit.

Now I know my wife has a habit of propping up her laptop by the side of her chair and resting on the power cable outlet when it's not in use. The only thing I can think is that where the cable jack enters the computer something has become loose or dislodged. It can't be anything serious like the motherboard being fried through a power surge because the computer was functioning on it's battery reserve until the battery drained.

As luck would have it, I discovered through google a company that seems kosher and is not to far away that appears to handle schools computer repair contracts etc and on the basis of what I have told them they have quoted a flat fee of £40 to repair + £25.99 for a courier to pick up and then re deliver it and a timescale of 48 hours for the repair.

The company is www.rowcom.co.uk has anyone heard of them? and does this seem the right ballpark figure for the repair?

The company appears to be a one man band as they operate out of a private house (but I know the street and it's quite a decent area.

Thanks

Olias

Grebe

olias wrote: »

Hi all,

wife was using her laptop (plugged in) when she saw the low battery warning. After checking it was definately plugged in and switched on at the wall, realised it was not receiving mains power. The battery reserve eventually went and the computer switched off.

The cable from her ac adapter to the laptop was a bit mangled (she keeps getting it twisted and tangled) so I assumed it was the cable core that had become damaged so I bought a new one. The new one is definately working as the led on the adapter box is lit, the laptop however will still not power up - not even a flicker, It's dead as a whatsit.

Now I know my wife has a habit of propping up her laptop by the side of her chair and resting on the power cable outlet when it's not in use. The only thing I can think is that where the cable jack enters the computer something has become loose or dislodged. It can't be anything serious like the motherboard being fried through a power surge because the computer was functioning on it's battery reserve until the battery drained.

As luck would have it, I discovered through google a company that seems kosher and is not to far away that appears to handle schools computer repair contracts etc and on the basis of what I have told them they have quoted a flat fee of £40 to repair + £25.99 for a courier to pick up and then re deliver it and a timescale of 48 hours for the repair.

The company is www.rowcom.co.uk has anyone heard of them? and does this seem the right ballpark figure for the repair?

The company appears to be a one man band as they operate out of a private house (but I know the street and it's quite a decent area.

Thanks

Olias

Hi Olias, sounds like the pin that connects to the power jack is broken. This is one of the commonest probs with laptops. Your price quote is actually not too bad, considering it will only be away for a couple of days. It can cost anything from around £90 and up depending on the make of your machine.
It's one of those jobs that is so simple to fix, desoldering the power jack then replacing it with a new one ( cost of part around a fiver) but when you take the laptop apart it's like a crazy puzzle, then when putting it back together again :eek: That's why it costs so much to have the repair done.
Hope this helps.

LeeSouthEast

If you're handy with a screw-driver and a soldering iron, you could do it yourself for a lot less. But the quote does sound reasonable.