dead emachines laptop?

gazozborne · 9 Jun 2007 at 20:35

Hi There,

I have an eMachines M5118 Laptop im having problems with charging.
At first i had to hold the connector in the back so it would charge properly or jiggle it about so it would charge.

However after not using it for a while now it wont charge at all! The battery pack (Fig. A) from the mains lights up however no amount of jiggling will get it to light up and charge.

Its well out of warranty now however it cost nigh on £700 when first bought so id like to try and sort it out, im just not sure what the problem could be?

Would another laptop cable work or could it be something else?

Thanks

BlackDragon · 9 Jun 2007 at 21:59

Have a look at the power port on your laptop. Is it one of those ports that is a whole, then a small tube in the middle of the port with a whole in the middle? And then does your power connector look like it shoves something into that whole? if so it could be that you have broken it with use over time. Its known that this is the cheap way of connecting a power adapter to the laptop and breaks easily. I know because at my old school they bought a few hundred laptops (was a technology college) and they all had the same connector type which broke easy.

If not then, could be a dead battery? I think its the lithium batteries which die if you let it deplete below a certain power level. Could be wrong though.

Foehammer2003 · 9 Jun 2007 at 23:56

Had an issue with the power connector in an HP laptop i had a while back, where the centre pin broke free inside, the only fix was to open the laptop up, drill... yes drill though a big metal plate that was obviously just there to hinder any user servicing and re solder the connector to the board, hopefully its not that drastic for you but those kind of connections are a bit well er.... fragile

gazozborne · 10 Jun 2007 at 00:57

Yeah its like a hole within a hole and a little pin in the connector from the A/C powerpack, had to jiggy it about before but now it wont charge at all even though the powerpack is lit up?

Cant 100% check at the moment as im not quite sure where parents have hid the bloody thing, still stumped as to why i had to jiggy it and now suddenly it wont work at all though :confused:

Dont think il be able to solder it tbh, and powerpacks/adaptors on emachines site are nigh on £70

are there any other solutions i could try? another laptops powerpack maybe?

Foehammer2003 · 10 Jun 2007 at 01:05

Yeah sounds like it to me, if you had to jiggy it about it sounds like it was coming loose from the pcb, and the jiggling most likely has ended up removing the conection completely from the board... could be wrong, you might be able to strike it lucky if you keep trying but i wouldn't get your hopes up mate.

Best bet if to get it fixed by someone who knows one end of a laptop from the other

I doubt a new power pack will help as the problem ( i think) is with your actual laptop connection. Hopes this helps... even better maybe someone can give you some better news , and know an easy fix