Laptop damage and best options

mercutiouk

In March last year (2011) I purchased a laptop (from Scan).

The laptop had some problems and has had a prior repair. When it came back there was no sign of the power adapter. As I "got lucky" with the repair (was caused by an external part so was possible it wouldn't get fixed under warranty) I bought a replacement power supply which was the same as the one originally bundled with the laptop (made by Delta Electronics).

Now, it seems this replacement PSU wasn't QUITE so high grade, the plug into the back of the laptop doesn't fit so well (was FRACTIONALLY loose). While in Greece with my girlfriend the power plug has melted onto the power pin in the back of the laptop and eventually snapped the pin off (just the pin, socket is ok).

Considering this may come back as a "sorry, not our problem" response when I get it away for warranty (will try it that way first) do I have any other options?

The laptop was around £850 and bought on a barclaycard. The adapter was from a UK supplier who makes a big deal of using the official power adapters etc. The adapter has caused the damage.

bazster

Well if you don't tell the PC manufacturer that you replaced the PSU, and it looks identical to the original one, how would they know you replaced it? (that is, if it really IS identical - some manufacturers, e.g. Dell, produce laptop PSU's that look identical, and even have the same electrical outputs, but nonetheless are only compatible with specific models, which needs to be checked by part number).

The more honest option, however, would be to take it up with the supplier of the replacement PSU. Not sure what, if anything, the DSR's provide for with respect to consequential damage.

If the worst comes to the worst it shouldn't be too difficult/expensive to have a new socket soldered onto the motherboard.

Notmyrealname

Charger socket replacement is about £30. Plenty of people on Ebay offering a repair including replacement socket for that price.

robmar0se

(i) I doubt the PSU supplier would accept consequential loss, usually excluded in terms and conditions.

(ii) As plug melted (a short or arcing) there may be more damage internally; can only check by a partial or full dismantle.

(iii) Nowadays, the jack is not soldered on most laptops, they are connected by plug/socket onto the board via a short cable, so the jack is more easily replaced. However manufacturers have created a new problem in that they hold the socket/jack in place with plastic lugs which form part of the plastic base of the laptop. If there was a melt, not only was the psu plug ruined, the socket is probably damaged too, and possibly the lugs, in which case you might also need a new base.

bazster

robmar0se wrote: »

If there was a melt, not only was the psu plug ruined, the socket is probably damaged too, and possibly the lugs, in which case you might also need a new base.

Or, given the often-outrageous price of replacement plastics for laptops, a little bit of ingenuity to fix it in place...

mercutiouk

Yup, aware of the options for fixing, I've got a "tear down" video on youtube, it's board mounted and I have all the tools needed. Just a £3 AC socket if I go that route.
There's still a good 10 months warranty on the laptop though (had 2 years) so I'm just checking what options there are for repairing while keeping warranty (e.g if I could get a service centre repair extra to warranty then bill the PSU supplier if they won't do it as a warranty fix).

The laptop IS still working too, if held EXACTLY in the right spot it charges.

Figment

The reason the plug on the replacement power supply was fractionally loose was probably because it was the wrong size and not identical to the original.

Although irrelevant now, why didn't you take the issue of the missing power supply up with the original repairer?

bazster

mercutiouk wrote: »

Yup, aware of the options for fixing, I've got a "tear down" video on youtube, it's board mounted and I have all the tools needed. Just a £3 AC socket if I go that route.
There's still a good 10 months warranty on the laptop though (had 2 years) so I'm just checking what options there are for repairing while keeping warranty (e.g if I could get a service centre repair extra to warranty then bill the PSU supplier if they won't do it as a warranty fix).

The laptop IS still working too, if held EXACTLY in the right spot it charges.

Sounds like an awful lot of fuss over not very much. I doubt that the convoluted route of getting it fixed and billing the PSU supplier would work.

Why not try the warranty route, and if they refuse just fix it yourself? TBH, if it were me, I would just pull it apart right now and fix it, a lot less hassle even than a warranty fix.

bazster

Figment wrote: »

Although irrelevant now, why didn't you take the issue of the missing power supply up with the original repairer?

Actually he did explain that. He was getting a warranty repair to which he wasn't entitled (the fault was caused by something he plugged into it), and having got away with that he didn't want to rock the boat.