The last few days, just to make life interesting, my notebook computer’s been acting up. Either there’s something funky inside the box or the multi-tip Kensington power supply Circuitous City sold me last month when my existing power supply went Tango Uniform, doesn’t quite fit the socket.
What’s been happening is, the power keeps flickering. It’s obvious from the way the screen dims when the machine goes on battery power, as well as the fact that the power-input indicator light goes black. It’s annoying. Fiddling with the plug where it goes in the back of the computer sometimes brings it back. Usually, if sometimes after many attempts.
So after a day or two of it behaving itself mostly, I started having trouble again today. The battery got a bit low, so I got it where it was telling me it was getting power and left it to recharge.I ate dinner and came back to get some writing done. And the computer was black. No lights on; nobody home. Wouldn’t turn on.
Ulp. Uncomfortable feeling. Everything’s backed up – sort of. But it’s been a while since I backed up to the removable hard drive that my desktop PC will actually read.
I tried diddling the plug around in the socket. Nothing. I began to fear the power fluctuations had fried my motherboard. Which would be a Bad Thing.
I sat for a bit contemplating my options. Okay, mainly I was stunned. It did occur to me I could run my thumb drive to some friends’ house and get ‘em to cut me a CD I could slap in my desktop to transfer recently added/edited files. Be a pain, but it’d get me back writing again.
After a while it occurred to me to drag out the package the new power supply came with, which I’d stashed with the old power supply, and see if a different tip might work out. The answer to that was, “no.”
But it came to me to try the old adapter. Sort of on the “it can’t actually hurt” principle. And damned if it didn’t work.
I have no idea.
Also, no idea how to proceed. Obviously I’ve no idea how long the old adapter will continue to work. I’m not altogether sure the problem isn’t inside the box, although we had different symptoms with the two different power supplies.
Gah. Everything’s been breaking lately.
I shall persevere. At least the ‘puter’s working now.
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Vic, sorry to hear about your laptop woes. It’s a sad coincidence indeed that I’m having the exact same problem with my laptop. I replaced the power supply maybe a month ago and this one is starting to flicker now. Fingers crossed that this one doesn’t die too.
Haha, “circuitous” is right.
Happy Thanksgiving from Boston.
Hey, Jeremy, good to see you here.
Amazingly the old adapter continues to perform flawlessly. Fingers crossed.
At lunch yesterday at our customary VI my best friend Joe suggested the symptoms suggested the problem indeed lies “inside the box.” He said it sounded to him as if the contacts are loose inside the laptop. I have to concur.
I’m still pretty handy rooting around inside a desktop PC – as you know as well as anybody, they’re actually pretty straightforward. I’m not even sure how to open my Toshiba notebook case; they ain’t made to have user-serviceable parts, beyond easily-swappable items such as hard drives and batteries. I may still get brave and look around for a means that won’t let the smoke out, since the problem could be as easily resolvable as screwing down a contact. And the repair charges are liable to be ruinous.
Speaking of which … if you or any of my loyal friends and readers has any suggestions about how to find a reputable-yet-affordable computer repair service, please, please lay them on me. It’s like finding a dang trustworthy auto mechanic. Speaking of which, if you know one of them…
Anyway, sounds as if you might have the same internal issues with your ‘puter. Good luck getting ‘em resolved.
And have a great Thanksgiving, off there in Beantown!