Dropped laptop on side..no longer charging

[Syringer]

I have a Dell 1545 that I dropped maybe a few inches from the ground while still plugged in, and it landed at an angle of where the outlet area is.

Now then, within Windows I get a message that it's plugged in, but no longer charging.

The battery is only at 22% right now, so it probably doesn't have much left if I want to unplug it. Is there any easy way to fix this?

 

[CurseTheSky]

It landed on the power plug that goes into the laptop?

Chances are you cracked the housing around the laptop's power plug receiver. The last time someone brought a laptop to me where this happened. I had to completely disassemble it and glue the plastic housing back together.

As a temporary fix, try gently wiggling the power plug from side to side and hold it at different angles to see if you can get it to start charging.

 

[Syringer]

Yeah I've tried repositioning it in many ways, and the only difference is that it acts like it's completely unplugged, or I get the "laptop plugged in, not charging" message.

 

[Syringer]

Here's a picture..top is the broken one. Should I just take it to a repair shop?

 

[CurseTheSky]

If you're not up for pulling it apart yourself (Google the model number + disassembly and see if you find anything) or generally aren't great with hardware, I'd take it to a shop and get a quote. The friend's that I fixed got quoted $300, which was worth almost as much as the laptop (~2 years old at the time). That was from a company that tends to overcharge everyone and do shoddy work, though.

 

[TheStu]

If you are lucky, then you can tear it apart, and get a new port off ebay and just 'drop' it in.

If you are not lucky, and my experience with Dells say that you won't be in this case I am afraid, then the port will be soldered to the motherboard, with incredibly difficult to remove solder.

 

[Hacp]

If you are lucky, then you can tear it apart, and get a new port off ebay and just 'drop' it in.

If you are not lucky, and my experience with Dells say that you won't be in this case I am afraid, then the port will be soldered to the motherboard, with incredibly difficult to remove solder.

In that case, just buy a new mobo. Dells are the easiest to take apart TBH.

 

[Syringer]

So I wouldn't be able to just fix this by opening it up? I'd have to order an extra part for it?

The battery is just slowly dying by the minute now, since the cable is loose it'll sporadically disconnect so at 0 battery it'll just power off by itself.

I'm thinking I should just get a new laptop for now and then get this one fixed and have a spare one available.

 

[Spikesoldier]

you probably cracked the power pin on the mainboard. sometimes notebooks can use a DC-in cable but otherwise you are looking at a mainboard replacement or DC board replacement.

 

[Syringer]

Okay so I kind of fixed it..

It turns out middle part was contacting the outer edge of the plug.. by separating them it's charging again.

I diagrammed the contact point here:

So removing that contact it's now charging again. Not sure how permanent of a solution this will be though.

 

[wirednuts]

sometimes when you get the 'plugged in, not charging' message you just have to turn off the laptop and take out the battery... then put it back together and plug it back in.

my hp tx2z dropped onto its power jack, and i had to wiggle the connector to get it to charge. after a couple months of this, it wouldnt work at all anymore.

luckily, my problem was the power supply cord itself. i cut off the protective rubber on the tip and noticed the wire broke off the solder point. i re-soldered the wire, stuffed the whole thing full of hot glue then shrank some heatshrink around it all. its much more durable now, the problem i see though is if it falls on that side again, the jack inside the laptop will probably be whats breaks.

 

[Emulex]

i'd give it a go at repair man, 1545 is a very cheap laptop maybe not even worth fixing. (part it out on ebay and buy a new one) you'd be suprised that in some cases a parted out mostly working laptop value is > a delloutlet replacement lol.