Thinkpads Forum

I have a mystery. This afternoon, I had to charge my 600E. So I plugged it in and left it. It was charging when I left it. When I started my computer, it was fully charged and running off of battery, but the thing is, the AC Adapter was still plugged in--I was getting no current.

The adapter is not warm. I will test with my brother's when I have a chance tomorrow, but I thought I would put this on the board since I don't like sitting around doing nothing. Is it possible for an AC Adapter to just stop working from old age? I wouldn't think so, but I suppose electrical current can produce a kind of stress.

I have only seen two failures of the IBM adapters myself so it's pretty rare if you ask me. They are usually very reliable. It is fairly easy to check by swapping adapters or with a volt meter.

Replacements are very available and not to much.

Brad

My bet is that you have a loose contact in the cable. Try wiggling around a bit and see if the TP reacts. As Brad pointed out, the bricks themselves are pretty solid, and replacements are readily available.

Check the AC power cord off the brick too - I found that the moulded strain relief gave out and allowed the wires to break right near the brick end of the plug.

A replacement was cheap - any "mickey mouse" (look end-on at the end of the AC cord that goes into the brick, and you'll see a familiar shape) style cord will do.

Rob

Thanks everyone. The problem seems to have righted itself. When I took it over to my brother's, it worked fine. I would suspect my electrical socket as the culprit except that I tested the socket at the time and my lamp worked just fine.

Then again, there is some evidence to suggest my place is haunted...

@Rob

And what if the low voltage cord is causing the trouble?
Do you open the brick to replace it?

Hans

hjanzen wrote:@Rob

And what if the low voltage cord is causing the trouble?
Do you open the brick to replace it?

Hans

Sorry for the late response -

I've only experienced a problem in the AC cord thus far, which is removable from the brick. I have not had occasion to want to open up the brick itself.

Never having been inside one, I can't say if the low-voltage cord is replaceable or not.

Rob

Thanks Rob!
The reason I asked was that someone was offering an adapter on Ebay, mentioning a loose contact in its low voltage cord.
But I got another adapter elsewhere.
Regards,
Hans

I think I have discovered the problem. I seem to get power surges in my electrical sockets. Bad wiring? Half of the lights on my Christmas tree burnt out over two separate incidents. Does anyone think there could have been any damage to my ThinkPad... it still seems to work normally, but you never know...

I'd have a qualified electrician come out and inspect the circuit(s) which you had the Christmas tree lights and IBM AC adapter plugged in recently. If the lights blew out, to me that means you might actually have 220VAC coming out of those outlet(s). The AC adapter is designed to handle that voltage; the Christmas tree lights, probably not.

edit: I should say that the adapter is designed for a constant voltage source of 110-220VAC. Don't know what it would do if it has been running with 110V and then suddenly gets a few seconds of 220V...

Thanks, Ray... I'll try to get the landlord to do that; barring that, I have an electrician in the family.