Skeezix

Ok. So I have a story to tell.

I was having trouble with my desktop (see other posts of mine) I decided to try and buy a laptop of craigslist. I get a guy selling his laptop to go buy a cellphone. I wasnt able to make it to go pick the laptop up so I sent my girlfriend with the money to pick it up (Because I felt time was important factor with the price). So she picks it up and said it only had a few scratches on the outside but it booted up ok.

Anyhow, I get the laptop and I imeddiatly see that it has an aftermarket power adaptor (iGo Multi extension). So I flip it over and notice there are a few screws missing from the bottum. So my first thought is that I just lost my money. I was able to power up the laptop and look at the stats, which Ill list below and that made me happy because they were slightly better than advertised.

Heres the problems:

The power adaptor does not power the laptop when it is plugged in and turned on. It runs off battery power, I cant get it to switch to AC power. It does however charge the battery when I get it plugged in just right.

The Power adaptors tip that I am using to make it work is not the one listed that is made for this laptop but I have the tip that is made for it and that one doesnt seem to work at all. The one that works is an L3 where the one that is supposed to is an L6

The next problem is the windows power meter. It doesnt seem to work correctly. Either it is reading 5% or less for 2 hours or it is showing completly full and then will suddenly drop (which Im hoping doesnt happen right now).

I ordered a replacement AC power supply for my model and it does not seem to work at all. I can only guess that possibly the previous owner had power issues and replaced the power input.

I dont know if I should order another replacement power supply input off ebay and try to have it installed on the motherboard or not to rule it out.

Know any good laptop techs in AZ (Arizona) that could help me without charging an arm or a leg?

The laptop is a HP ZV5000. P4 2.8Ghz HT. 256mb Ram. Nvidia GO video card. Win XP Home (Fresh install)

hwm54112

It really sounds like the classic-dc power jack solder joint is broken. if you can, try moving the pin that is in the jack- if you detect movement, can actually cause the connection to work, the jack is most likely the problem. the amount of movement is very slight, hair's breadth is all that’s required. Given that the wrong plug seems to work, I would also have to think the jack itself may be broken

One solution that’s often posted on TSF is to purchase a new jack, take the laptop apart, and and take the mobo to a tv repair shop and have them solder the jack on

Skeezix

Awesome, I was thinking of where I would have that done. TV shop. Thats an awesome tip.

Do you think that is what is causing the power meter in windows to freak?

hwm54112

one could assume that a break in the power circuitry would cause erronious power meter readings but I've never seen a schematic of the circuitry nor do I know how the physical circuitry relates to bios and software control of power. All I know is that there are three solder points on the jack-one is ground, one to switch and one to the charging circuitry and even that is an assumption because the third connection could be a part of the polarity protection. Since your laptop charges the battery and you can only run off the battery-it seems likely that only one of the solder joints is broken

Skeezix

Ok I ordered the power jack yesterday and I am excited to receive it. I am pretty good at taking thigs apart on a clean table and such but a friend told me that with laptops I need to have a clean room because they are so tempermental.

True? Do you have any tips on how or where I should take the laptop apart?

hwm54112

Your friend is probably thinking of opening a hard drive rather than a laptop. Hard drives require clean rooms, laptop's don't.

Follow the directions for disassembly to a T. There are numerous hidden tabs that you can't see. a part may be held by 5 tabs and one screw. break the tabs and you may have to reassemble with duct tape.

I tape the screws to sheets of paper in their approximate location in the laptop so nothing gets lost or the wrong length is used on reassemby. it's usually two or three sheets as they tend to come apart in layers

use a strong light. I like to put a sheet on the floor if working over carpet in case a screw is dropped

Good luck with it. They're really not that hard to work on. Just follow the directions

Skeezix

Awesome. So far the laptop is held together but it is missing some screws from the bottum. I am sure the previous owner probably tried to take it apart to fix it. I am pretty sure I can find a dissassembly manual out there but I am wondering where I might be able to get replacement screws. I checked at the local frys electronic with no luck, im going to try at ace to see if have any luck there.

ideas?

hwm54112

You might be able to buy a "screw kit". i've seen some manufacturer's or repair manuals that lists a package of screws as a "part". you might be able to buy the part from HP if you get the manual or that part may be available on-line. my guess would be that you're more likely to find the part on-line

> laptop screws< link from an ebay search-"hp laptop screws"

Skeezix

Ok fun stuff.

I replaced the loose dc input jack with the new one I ordered. Let me tell you, laptops are great, millions of fun layers, ugh.

Anyhow new dc jack in the laptop powers up but will not respond to being plugged in. What else could be causing that?

I am going to try the universal power cord when I get it from my work tonight but the cord I am using now is supposed to be an oem replacment and the new dc jack was supposed to be an oem replacement as well.

eagle76

just for info. We have a HP ZV5000 with a DC power supply connector issue as well.

Downloaded off HPs site the tech manual that includes the disassembly instructions for the laptop. Figured it was something to do with the DC Jack located on the mobo so went after it.

first of all, disassembly was easy... only thing would recommend is taping the screws to sheets of paper to help make sure you get the right ones back in the right holes. And as I didn't perform each step called for, I wrote down exactly what I did, when, so I could reverse what I did.

to make a long story short, the solder joints on the mobo were sound, continuity verified with meter to points other than the solder joints themselves while stressing the DC jack. Even the center pin was solid.

with the confirmation that the DC jack wasn't the issue, looked at the darn DC p/s connector. As our problem was, we could get it to connect if we stressed the DC connector to DC jack interface, but left unstressed it wouldn't 'connect', noticed in the tip of the DC connector tip are two 'tiny wires' located across from each other... Bent them towards the center, plugged it in, and it worked...

so all along, our problem wasn't the DC jack, it was simply that with time, those tiny 'wires' inside the tip were being pushed away from the center and losing connectivity...

now for my fix. I am in the process of buying a right angle DC connector, intend to attach a short piece of wire to a more robust connector (similar to a 2 wire "square white plastic style connector' that will be more rigid when in use)... I intend to use screws and wire restraints and capture this short assembly onto the back of my laptop.

the intention is to fix that right angle DC connector to the DC jack interface so that their is NO movement of that interface. Any stress as a result of movement of the laptop when its plugged in will be felt on the more rigid secondary connector I am going to install....

and for info, as someone with prior microelectronics repair experience, trying to replace the DC jack on the mobo would be very interesting without some specialized soldering equipment. Not to mention the concern over maintaining a proper bridge from the joint side to any internal traces or traces on the opposite side of the mobo.... guessing thats why when I talked to one computer repair shop in our area, they would have simply replaced the mobo itself in order to fix a DC jack issue...

kind of overkill, but maybe as a result of the design, an evil necessity.

Slaingod

Something else that may be of concern is the power output of the power brick. I have the same model laptop, and it will charge the battery with a 90 watt brick, but it will not run it. My CPU requires more power, and will not run if it is not provided.