Melting Laptop Power Supply Tip
- by AlReece45
Several (6-7) months ago, my laptop power supply cord got a cut in it and stopped working. Having gotten cheap (and short) power supplies in the past, I decided to buy 2 brand new ones from the manufacturer (ASUS).
Now, I used my laptop a little less than usual between February and March. During that time I noticed a few times that the power supply, even though plugged in, did not provide power. Often the computer would just off on me. I figured it was just that one power supply being bad. I had left the alternate at my parent's house in another state and asked them to ship it to me.
Now, at work the other day I wanted to get a file off the of hard disk. So I booted it up, knowing that it had a low battery, plugged it in. During the first 2 minutes of use, I was told that the battery was low and I should plug it in. I unplugged it, inspected the end (Being plugged in, this was suspicious), and decided I shouldn't plug it back in-- the plastic on the tip was melting from the heat of the metal on the tip.
The computer had simply booted up and I had the file-manager open. It had not been on for more than 10 hours.
Now I know that computers tend to get pretty hot. However, the melting point of plastic is usually above 200C.. so that's much hotter than the computer should be generating.
I went and bought a THIRD power supply. This time a universal one from Best Buy (it was very fast to buy and test). I tried it out on the computer and it's tip is melting as well. My older laptop that uses the universal power supply uses it perfectly (has been about a week and a part of use now). I have tried using the computer without the battery, with the same effect.
Obviously, this is not a problem with the power supply. My room mate and I being trained computer techs were contemplating taking the computer apart and desoldering and resoldering on the power tip. (The computer is about 6 months out of its 2-year warranty).
We're hoping that will correct the issue as I would prefer to devote my money on a Good Desktop rather than yet ANOTHER $1200+ laptop. Is there any thing I'm missing here that might cause the the tip on the power unit to melt?
