Thinkpads Forum

Hello,
Is it more likely for my power jack to be damaged or the AC adapter? My X220 is giving me continual beeping (as if going on and off charge mode) with an aversion to charge when the lid is opened unless I hold the cord a certain way. For some reason, it seems to be much more willing to charge if the lid is closed and I'm not using it. I have 2 batteries and both seem to net the same result so I don't believe there's an issue there.


I have a new X250 on the way so I was hoping to test the AC adapter when it arrived (although I'm not even 100% sure it is compatible with the 220) but just wondering where the problem likely is and/or if this is a common/known issue.

The X250 uses a rectangual plug whereas the X220 uses the round plug, so unfortunately you won't be able to test A/C adapter on the X220.

I've seen more bad power cords near the connector than bad power jacks, although that doesn't mean in your situation it's more likely to be one over the other.

With the laptop off and battery removed, see if there is any movement of the center plastic piece inside the power jack. If you have access to a voltmeter, try measuring voltage on the outside of the barrel and inside of the barrel connector (NOT the center pin inside the barrel) while you flex the end of the cable.

In my experience when there's a problem with powering/charging a laptop and moving the cord a certain way fixes it (albeit temporarily), then it's usually the fault of the DC input jack in the laptop. Can sometimes be fixed simply by tightening a screw (if it is indeed held in place like that) that's directly under the jack on the bottom, or opening up the system and re-seating a connector, or it may require replacing the jack itself. From a quick search on eBay, this is what it looks like:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=thi ... dc%29+jack

That's not to say that the plug/cord of the AC adapter is not defective. It could be that there's an intermittent break in one of the wires in the cable. As it turns out, the AC adapter from an X250 will not (directly) fit to the X220. The X250 uses the newer "flat" plug while the X220 has the typical round barrel. There may be a plug converter that will allow you to connect a "flat" AC adapter to an older laptop with a barrel jack. However, in this case I would NOT recommend this as a standard X250 adapter is rated at 45W and the X220 requires a 65W supply.

If you could manage to use your X220 adapter with another Thinkpad that uses the same plug and it works there, then that would eliminate the adapter as the source of the problem. If the other Thinkpad also experiences the same intermittent beeping then you need to replace the adapter.

i have experience with the symptoms like yours ... my issue was non genuine charger and its plug to thinkpad. on t61 i used to have some sort of stick to make connector at some angle , then i got genuine charger and no need of bending, angling etc etc . so double check if its genuine or no and if its yes it could be charging lead , plug or socket in your laptop. do not know anything about x220 laptop socket but on t61 i took it apart even pins , cleaned , inserted back and inserted match between the gaps so fixed temporary , but another problem is middle pin in the chargers plug.. and non genuine one seems to me gets loose/broken after a while so this is one of the reasons why you have to adjust angle of your charging plug.
p.s thats from my point of experience
p.p.s my non genuine charger is all wobbly in all laptops (t61,x220,x230) but genuine ones - firm . but if i fiddle about with non genuine - i will able to use it.

Alas, genuine chargers can get wobbly. I have a x220 and the symptoms you're describing are very familiar. As a matter of fact, I've just bought a new (non-genuine) charger from a guy in Germany, which eliminated the 'prolongated beeping' problem. By the way, some things I observe:

- The charge will begin if your laptop is in sleep/suspend. So if you set up your system in a way that e.g. closing the lid makes it go to sleep, than connecting AC is as simple as closing the lid, hookin it up and then opening. No beeping then [edit: this sentence concerns that faulty AC]
- In my case it was definitely the fault in the adapter, although I cannot fully rule out that wobbly laptop input (which I also have) contributed to this. In any case, both my new non-genuine AC charger AND my wife's x230 charger are instantly accepted when plugged in, and no spurious beeps emmited.
- Using a voltometer (called multimeter in FR:)) I have measured a 1V DC swing onto the laptop chassis when using the old, beeps-inducing AC charger. Not only it causes that swing, but also some noise when the laptop is connected to certain external speaker system. Basically what I mean, is that when the 'beepy' AC charger is in use, the laptop is not properly grounded (my wife has the quasimagical ability to feel that 1V when she touched the laptop lid. I never felt anything over >1yr use). Now, grounding the laptop may help both for beeping and the mentioned noise, which are in fact symptoms of the same thing.

So, it seems that the problem is an evident voltage swing / lack of grounding, but (as a scientist) I cannot guarantee 100% that is the fault of the AC, it just might be the AC/input_jacks combination.

Oh yes and forget that x250 charger!

... i do get bleep when connecting charger but these bleeps could be switched off in settings but no bleeps when laptop is suspended ( i do suspend to ram in linux).
talking about noise from speakers with bleepy charger: if you wouldnt mention noise i would not remember t61`s noise from somewhere underneath of on/off button . so , plugged in genuine one and no noise, cant hear anything ... but if i plug non genuine one - there will be noise . time to evaluate chargers a bit more and i have 2 genuine and 2 non genuine ones ... voltmeter and spare t61 with broken nvidia.

For clarity, I will add two case scenarios, for the two AC adapters I have.
1. [new, non-genuine replacement AC adapter] When the laptop is on & running, once AC is connected, we get one duotone bleep*. ACPI says the charging starts instantly.
2. [probably faulty, genuine Lenovo AC adapter] If lucky, once AC is connected to a running laptop the scenario may be as above. If unlucky, the beeping continues 'till kingdom come, and more importantly the charging doesn't start (as OS says). Turning off the beep only helps to soothe nerves here, as we don't charge.
Using both ACs when connecting to a sleeping/ram-hibernated laptop the charging starts (of course there is no beep then)

Probably instead of speaking of 'luck' I should be speaking of some ballance of voltages and currents here and there, but well, I don't know enough.
And congratulations EvoT61 on your T61 collection, I would totally like to play with any Tseries. Actually I've always wanted a T, not X, but a friend bought me one, presenting me with fait accompli. I haven't switched since, mainly because T420 don't go with IPS and that's addictive:)


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*) I know those could be turned off in Bios, but that's sort of not the point here.

There's another thing to consider: batteries may have been swapped!
You can run a charged X230 battery in an X220 but not charge it in an X220.
You can run a charged X220 battery in an X230 and also charge it in an X230.