Power adaptor plugs melting....

T

tthomasson

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Joined
Feb 29, 2004
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Hello all, I'm new here, and I have a major problem. I own a Hyperdata model 7321 laptop (yes, it sucks) with a mobile AMD processor, 640 MB of RAM of which 32 megs is being shared as vid memory, and WinXP Home. Here's my problem: about a month ago, I was using my laptop, and I smelled something hot. I tried to unplug the power adaptor plug from my laptop, but it would not come out. So I turned off the laptop and unplugged the adaptor from the wall outlet, and let it sit for about 4 hours. After it had cooled down, I managed to pull the laptop-end plug out of the laptop, but the plastic tip had obviously melted before, and the rubber insulating part behind the metal piece was badly warped and had expanded from heat. I assumed that this had happened because I had not unplugged the adaptor from the wall outlet at night before going to bed, so I simply bought a new adaptor and started using it.
One week later, I was up at night playing NFS: Porsche Unleashed, and I smelled something hot....so I unplugged the power adaptor from the laptop, and this time it was melted, so I had melted plastic in the power socket. I was able to get most of it out, but my problem remained.
Here's the current situation: I can plug the adaptor to the wall outlet and to the laptop, and let it charge the battery, and it will not get hot. And I can put it in Standby mode, and it will not get hot. However, while the laptop is actively drawing power from the adaptor (from the wall outlet), it builds up heat, and within 5-10 minutes, I'm forced to pull it out for fear of melting yet another power adaptor plug. What is causing this to happen? Is it an internal power supply problem, or possibly melted residue from the first power adaptor tip? Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated, as I have no idea what to do.
 
Are you plugging into the same outlet...have ya tired a different outlet in the house? If not the outlet itself then I would say its a problem with the power supply. Had a similar problem years back with a power antenna, did the same thing. Turned out being a bad power adaptor, since ya have already replaced that I would guess one of the other problems.
 
You are saying your laptop has a intergrated power supply. Not an external. Is the laptop under any form of warranty?
 
well it sounds as if the laptop is drawing too much current for that poor little plug to handle. The only possible explanation for that happening that I can think of that seems remotely likely would be a short circuit. So well - I'd say that it's time for you to collect on that warranty - which I hope you have :)
 
Thanks for your insights. My laptop is past its warranty period, so it looks like I'll be improvising for a while. I've learned the lesson that you get what you pay for: this was a cheap laptop:(
 
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