Hanging By A Wire
About a month ago, I noticed that when I moved my laptop from my desk over to my bed, the screen would flash and the light around the power plug on my laptop would flash as well. This means that to power was getting disconnected while I was moving my machine. I initially thought this was just the plug coming loose on my laptop, but once when I was watching to make sure it didn’t come out, the power still cut off. I wiggled the cord a bit and that caused it to flash. Something here was not right.
After a bit of investigation the next morning, I figured that the little cord going into the adapter for my laptop was breaking the circuit if you moved it. The wire or something was loose and it was causing my computer screen to flash everytime the power got disconnected. I needed to do something to stop this from happening so I got some tape to try and stop it. I also started treating the adapter very fragile. This was a temporary fix and I was hoping it would last till I got a new laptop (MacBook please 
) next year. Here is a picture of the first fix.
It lasted close to a week before it started happening again. This time it was worse. It was harder to stop it from disconnecting. I tried to tape it back up again but after half a dozen attempts as that, the tape couldn’t keep the circuit closed. After a lot of thinking, a somehow managed to get it to work using 2 clips. That worked well enough to work although it seemed like it was a very very temporary solution. Here is a picture of the second fix.
Today I went into town to find a replacement adapter. I ended up going to Dick Smith Electronics and getting a random third party notebook adapter. This was a well overpriced $149. I didn’t particularly want to spend any money on fixing this machine because it would cost a good $1000 to fix everything up so it is at a usable standard for next year, but at that price, I’d be better off getting a whole new laptop. Anyway, I didn’t use my money to get this so I didn’t mind that much.
I was a bit hesitant to use this adapter after I got it. I was worried it would ruin my laptop. Thanks to a “friend” on an IRC server I am on, she told me her horror story which made me even more hesitant to use it. I eventually just bit the bullet and switched it on and plugged it in and it worked how it should. No problems or blowing up of my computer (thank god!) I don’t know what I would have done if it ruined my computer, but it would probably be something along the lines of getting a cheap $1500 Windows laptop. It’s a shame that this adapter is so ugly, otherwise I wouldn’t mind using it so much. In saying that, I’d rather be able to use my laptop than be without it so I have to compromise on the aesthetics of the adapter. I can’t wait to get my new MacBook. That time can’t come sooner!
Related posts:
Power plugs these days are made out of cheap wire which is a shame -_-. $149 for some wires, 4 diodes and a two coils of wire and an iron core is amazingly expensive.
is there any way to cut open the actual cable and remove the damaged section of wire?
Technopath: The lose wire is actually inside the power brick. I couldn’t see any easy way of getting into that thing, and I suspect it’s because they don’t want you in there.