Could this happen from using the wrong AC adapter on a laptop?

[kranky]

A friend who isn't technical bought an old Toshiba Tecra laptop on ebay. He asked me what to watch out for, and I gave him a list of things to ask about. The seller answered the questions to his satisfaction, and he won the auction. He got the laptop Friday and it did not include an AC adapter.

My friend had an old IBM laptop adapter that happened to have the same connector, so he figured he'd use it. The screen has about a half-inch blank horizontal bar right across the center. Everything above and below looks fine, and it operates fine as well. The laptop did not indicate it was charging the battery or running on AC power - in fact, it started to beep a low battery warning after a few minutes.

I didn't see the unit until all this had happened. I have no idea what volts/amps the Toshiba adapter would put out, so I'm wondering if it's possible that using the wrong adapter could have fouled up the display. If so, he'll eat it; if not, he'll pursue it with the seller.

I'm already mad at myself that I didn't think to tell him to make sure the laptop included an AC adapter, so I'm trying to make the best of it now.

 

[corkyg]

The only way to really find out for sure is to get the complete specs for that Tecra from Toshiba to include the A/C adapter-charger. Then compare it to the one your friend used. Normally those things are proprietary withing reasonable limits. There are some universal ones available. It seems odd that the unit did not come with the charger. Maybe that is why it was sold?

Example, my laptop charger has an output of 19 volts at 3.06 amps. Anything greater could be damaging - and much less might not do the job.