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Alternate Power Source for a Laptop

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College kid must have dropped the laptop and jammed the power plug into the port. When he pulled it out part of the power plug stayed inside. Not sure I can get it removed. It had some battery left and came up so the board is not fried but I need another way to power the beast up. Anything that works off of the USB port?

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Clarifications

In reply to Alternate Power Source for a Laptop

Clarifications

Power-in through USB port? I don’t think so.

In reply to Alternate Power Source for a Laptop

Docking station, if it is an option for that laptop. Otherwise, just have the power connector repaired.

(Seems to be a popular topic in the Questions forum lately!)

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In reply to Power-in through USB port? I don’t think so.

Oddly enough, the pin was there but it would not remain in the port snugly enough to function. I found another Dell power supply that looked absolutely the same but the plug is just slighly bigger and now it works. Thanks for the reply!

Central Pin still inside the PowerJack is it ?…

In reply to Alternate Power Source for a Laptop

This is the most common cause of damage with laptops but it is NOT due to having been dropped. It is due to having been knocked off the desk it was sitting on while plugged in, usually by someone pushing against the laptop or someone tripping into the power cable.

When the central pin in a laptop power socket is broken off, it requires a new socket. Unfortunately, most times the replacement of the socket is too time consuming to be economically viable and most repairs will involve the replacement of the entire motherboard.

Unless this laptop is still under warranty and the repair is honoured under warranty, this ‘small damage’ could well turn out to be very costly indeed.

Feeding power in via a USB socket is not possible and could cause a laptop fire if attempted.

[i]There used to be some laptops years ago that [b]by way of a design fault[/b] could be powered by feeding the AC Mains through the Media Connector, but those laptops a very old now and the method was frowned upon widely by the computer community.[/i]

memory Jog

In reply to Central Pin still inside the PowerJack is it ?…

“There used to be some laptops years ago that by way of a design fault could be powered by feeding the AC Mains through the Media Connector, but those laptops a very old now and the method was frowned upon widely by the computer community.”

I think that was what I was trying to remember but hoped that maybe they had updated it to a USB option or something similiar.

Cannot Backfeed Power

In reply to Alternate Power Source for a Laptop

Well let’s see.

First off, as stated you cannot backfeed power through the USB ports. USB runs on 5 volts, the main power for the laptop is around 18 volts.

You have 2 options.

Get a spare battery and an external battery charger.

Have the power jack replaced.

Even if you can find the correct power jack that fits the board, this can be a very difficult repair as the board is likely at least a 4 layer board. Improper desoldering technique will destroy the board. That is, if the physical damage did not already damage the board.

Chas

Fortunately

In reply to Cannot Backfeed Power

Battery pack is an excellent suggestion and I will have to remember that for the future. If this thing craters again that may be his of cheaper than a new laptop.

Thanks!!

[Author]

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