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!)

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]

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