Help I melted my laptop charger!

lynnemcf

Have just been wandering around MSE and thought I could smell burning, checked that my candles were all OK then on returning to the laptop realized it is the charger for this laptop. I turned it off at the wall, then turned the machine off. The "male" part that pushes into the laptop was very VERY hot and is now a bit distorted.

I have an HP550 so the tip of the power source is yellow (every HP laptop seems to have a different charger!).

I have heard horror stories of people buying chargers from ebay which then blow up the laptop so I'm intending to take this laptop to my local computer bloke to get it sorted. Just wondered if anyone knew if it might be an "in-computer"problem or if a new charger will sort it out.

dizzyblonde82

I put my camer charger on top of the oven once and then turned the oven on, didn't realise that one of the 4 hob rings hadn't been turned off properly and it melted.

I bought a replacement charger from ebay and have prevously bought replacement laptop chargers from there aswell with no problems at all.

lynnemcf

It didnt melt because it was near a heat source, it WAS the heat source. It melted itself!

fwor

If there is no sign of damage to the male plug or adjacent cable, there's a good chance that there is a short just inside the laptop, where the socket has been damaged/dislodged from the motherboard.

If that's correct, it will cost a significant amount (possibly around £100-120) to have fixed, not because the parts are expensive, but because there's a lot of labour involved in stripping down and soldering in a replacement.

If you're thinking of trying for a replacement power supply and don't like the idea of cheap Chinese ones off eBay (which will probably be fine, as that's where the original will have been made) then secondhand off eBay is the next best bet, IMO.

Hammyman

fwor wrote: »

If there is no sign of damage to the male plug or adjacent cable, there's a good chance that there is a short just inside the laptop, where the socket has been damaged/dislodged from the motherboard.

If that's correct, it will cost a significant amount (possibly around £100-120) to have fixed, not because the parts are expensive, but because there's a lot of labour involved in stripping down and soldering in a replacement.

Wow, I seriously undercharge. As in £30-£40 total including parts.

FWIW, the socket in the HP is a remote one on a flylead so doesn't come unsoldered from the board as it goes socket - 4 wires - laptop motherboard connector. What does happen is the flat contact inside the socket that contacts with the outer on the plug is a springy metal and over time, loses the spring. You then end up with intermittent contact and heat being generated as current jumps the gap.

I tend to just get a small flat blade jewellers screwdriver and prise the plate down on those which sorts it and do it as a freebie job as it takes all of 5 minutes. You will however need a new plug soldering on the end of your charger wire or a new charger.

fwor

Hammyman wrote: »

Wow, I seriously undercharge. As in £30-£40 total including parts.

That's very good value. The shops that charge £100+ either do it because they think they can get away with it, or because they would rather be doing 5 minute tasks for £30-£40.

Also interesting to know that HP laptop power sockets aren't soldered to the motherboard. That should in theory make them a lot more resilient.

Hammyman

Pretty much every laptop that has a charger plug with yellow plastic insulator is on a seperate socket. All of them eventually end up with the same issue with the same "bodge" working in all cases.

lynnemcf

Laptop is sorted (problem as stated by Hammyman) and I was charged £35 including new charger. Thanks for the info everyone.

PS When I went to collect my laptop, someone was in the shop with exactly the same problem!

Hammyman

Looks like you found a good shop. With a half decent charger being around £15-£20, looks like they charged a minimal labour charge for doing the job.