posted
I have a laptop computer that I do not use that often anymore. It's around 4 1/2 years old and can be pretty slow. Anyway, I was using it today. I noticed that the power cord/the part that actually goes into the computer was REALLY hot. I pulled it out and it hurt to the touch.
Maybe related to this. My surge protector also got flipped off. I thought maybe the cat had stepped on the switch, but I'm thinking maybe there was an actual surge or whatever. Maybe due to a faulty power cord?
Should I just get another power cord? Is there anything else I should be worried about?
ETA: I had been dealing with a sort of frustrating problem for a while. If the power cord wasn't placed into the laptop in exactly the right way, the laptop wouldn't recognize it and it would run on battery power. In other words, I'd have to jiggle the prong around to make sure the laptop was working off of AC and/or the battery was charging.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
It sounds like the laptop is drawing too much current for some reason, but I don't know enough about the inner workings of laptop power supplies to know why this would happen.
I will say though, if my assumption is correct and it's drawing too much current, it is definately a fire hazard and you shouldn't be using it.
-------------------- "Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
If the cord is hot at one location only. Not the whole length and computer is not overly hot as well. I would say that due to cord flexing at the conections the wire may be breaking a part. The few strand that are left taking to much load thru them and getting hot. The power cord most likely need replacing.
If you are drawing to much power thru a power cord it will heat up the most were there is a conection, but the rest of the cord will still warm up. I had serveral power supples go bad over the year on my computers. Computer will ether not start at all or power on and power off again quickly do to detecting a bad power source.
Posts: 597 | From: Bellingham, WA | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Maybe I should have been a little more clear. It's not really the "cord". It's more the little plug at the end of the cord that physically goes into the laptop. I didn't notice the entire cord being warm generally, but I really wasn't paying attention to that.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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that was weird. . . I tried to post in a completely different thread. . .
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Lydia Oh Lydia: Maybe I should have been a little more clear. It's not really the "cord". It's more the little plug at the end of the cord that physically goes into the laptop. I didn't notice the entire cord being warm generally, but I really wasn't paying attention to that.
It is at the conections that they most likely will go bad. It the place the see the most stress.
Posts: 597 | From: Bellingham, WA | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
You could have a poor connection there. That would cause an arc and generate heat. Not a good thing. If it is not too $$$, I would get a new cord.
-------------------- And now for something completely different... Posts: 4164 | From: Alabama | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Maybe I should have been a little more clear. It's not really the "cord". It's more the little plug at the end of the cord that physically goes into the laptop.
Bad connection, but it may also have some hot component next to it that's heating it. If that's the case, it's no problem.
If you can touch it without jerking your finger away, it's not as hot as one might think. We measured when you jerk your finger away in a school lab once, and it was almost exactly 40 degrees Celcius, even when the most macho people did it. Yep, only three degrees above body temp.
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Thanks, everyone. I think I will check on the price for a new cord. Hopefully, it's something that simple.
Troberg - it was jerk my finger away and look for blisters hot. I'm used to my laptop getting hot but not like this.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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Like everyone else said, it's a poor connection between the plug and the recepticle. In the laptops I've had, the common cause was that a small metal sleeve had fallen out of the plug and the connection was very loose. The only ways to fix it were to either buy a new cord or to install a new recepticle (not for the faint of heart).
When you do go shopping for a new cord, make sure you pay more attention to the plug shape and the statistics printed on it (amperage, etc.) than to the brand. Buying namebrand replacement cords can cost an arm and a leg, even when the guts are identical to a generic one. My old VAIO had cords that cost up to $100 if bought through Sony - so I just bought the generic replacement cords that cost about $35. Depending on the manufacturer of your laptop, sometimes you can do even better. Now I have an Acer that takes a widely-used generic cable that only costs about $20.
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I'm having the exact same problem, only with a twist. The laptop in question is a Compaq that was purchased about three years ago, but the cord is almost new. It's an official HP cord (it was half the price of the generic one Best Buy offered me) that I bought this summer after my sister's dog chewed up the original. So a six-month-old cable is shorting out.
I hope it's the cable and not the laptop that's doing this; the warrenty on the laptop ran out a year ago and it would probably be almost as cheap to just buy a new laptop than fix it, given its age....
Posts: 131 | From: Newark, OH | Registered: Sep 2005
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