Thinkpads Forum

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T500 (2241-3XU) and I think the plug for the power adapter on the laptop has a bad connection. I reached this conclusion because I have three adapters (original Lenovo and two after market) and only one works well (one of the after markets). The other two lose the connection whenever the laptop is moved ie the connection seems to be loose. I am not bashful about opening the case (I have replaced the keyboard and harddrive in the past) and am wondering if I could replace the adapter plug myself. I tried to find the part number on Lenovo site but failed. Any help would be appreciated.

David McKeal
dapeg1@comcast.net

Welcome to thinkpads.com (after lurking for a year )!

I don't have a T500 but a quick search on eBay shows that the T500 jack has a connector on the end which implies that it's fairly easy to replace:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=len ... 00+dc+jack

Generally, this type of design has the jack held in place via a small screw on the bottom of the laptop and the wire and connector routed to a matching socket on the motherboard or smaller interface board. You can download a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the T500 which contains instructions on how to disassemble the system from here:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... 630_04.pdf

Thanks for the ebay plug advice. Research says that some of the T500s use the plug with the quick disconnect cable but others have the adapter plug soldered into the mother board. It is still changeable, but, obviously, not nearly as easily. Short of taking the computer apart in advance, can anyone tell me how I might determine whether I have the soldered in adapter plug or the one with the quick disconnect plug? Both types are available on eBay. Thanks.

Dave