This is why..

[konakona]

Defects and failures are part of everyday life, a fact that I never dispute or deny. To turn a blind eye on a frequent malfunction detrinmental and costly to the customers is something else altogether however.

I have owned a HP/compaq for about two years now. Other than the terribly irresponsive keyboard with laughable rollover characterics, the experience had been generally satisfactory. The computer being a gift from someone, I did not have the luxury of choosing the model; had I had a choice, I would have done some extensive research before making a such costly investment. Nonetheless, it is supposed to be one of the upper tier (business class) models, and I righteously expected something more rugged and reliable.

This pretty much sums up the trouble I am having with my laptop.
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic73146-0.html

for the lazy: HP has a serious design/construction issue which often results in failure of power subsection and/or burnout of internal components.

The first time this happened, I was totally clueless about this issue, which is apparantly very common and widespread. Luckily, my laptop was under warranty back then, and I was able to get a free mobo replacement.

Out of the blue, it happens again. Just like the last time, I never handled my laptop remotely close to what you could call violently; in fact, I had it sitting firmly situated on my desk for the most part. At the time the plug gave ghost I was browsing on the internet with the laptop completely stationary.

Now I am totally SOL. To see if I can do anything at all, I ordered replacement DC jacks and gonna open the thing up when I get time, keeping my fingers crossed the jack havnt been arcing all over and burnt other components inside.

According to that link, gateway is equally as bad, but dells and toshibas are supposed to be much better in that regard.

 

[legoman666]

Friend of mine with an hp lappy had the same problem. We opened it up and resoldered the power plug. That worked for a few months but it wasn't really a permanent solution. He ended up buying a mac.

 

[Ns1]

We bought 2 brand new ones. 1 worked for about 2 minutes, did a windows update, restarted, BOOM died. the 2nd one worked fine. They believe it's due to screen breaking somehow. Whatever. Returned it and got a new one. They wanted us to send it back, BRAND NEW, and have them fix it and send it back. Turnaround time: 4 weeks. F-U guys. Sent it back to CompUSA, they sent us a new one overnight.

 

[FoBoT]

my work laptop is a HP Compaq nc6220, it works fine

before that, i used a Compaq nc600 for 4 years, it still works fine

but i am glad i didn't pay for them

 

[elektrolokomotive]

I had the same problem with a Pavillion 17" model someone gave me. The plug was so bad I couldn't get it to work without putting it in the port replicator. About a month later, the MB fried out. After a quick trip to the dumpster, I went out and got a Fujitsu.

 

[George P Burdell]

This is why I stick to Toshiba.

 

[trmiv]

My wife's HP pavillion laptop has this same problem. Luckily it hasn't given up completely yet, but the jack is barely hanging on.

The last place I worked used HP nc6220's and the power plug is much stronger than the home units in my experience (I was in desktop support, so I saw a lot of them).

 

[thedarkwolf]

My sister gave me her old one with the same problem. I resoldered the plug and its been working fine for a couple months now. We will see how long it lasts. My dad just gave me his old one aswell which is exactly the same as my sister's so at least I have spare parts.

 

[Old Hippie]

This is why I stick to Toshiba.

I'm on my third. :thumbsup:

 

[compuwiz1]

Compuke FTL!

 

[mitaiwan82]

thinkpad ftw

 

[Daishiki]

I used a Compaq laptop at my last job and it was dreadful. I come to my current place and the same one is here. My coworker had laptop troubles and he brought it in to have one of our guys look at it. Yup, same model.