AC Adapter not charging

[laowai]

This makes little to no sense, but hey, that's life.
Here's the layout:

My adapter was dying, the stress reliever on the charging tip broke and the cable was frayed. So, it finally stopped working and I had to take apart the gray sheath and re-solder the line. Well, it worked great.. until today. The power works just fine, but the second it is plugged in I get a "Battery Not Installed" and a gray bar with 3 dashes instead of the charge. Something weird... is there a fix?

[laowai]

help?

[jdhurst]

Having taken apart an adapter and its wires myself just to see, that assembly is not readily repairable. You can purchase used adapters inexpensively (I got an extra for my T61 here in the forum). I hope, in your attempt to repair, that you did not damage the machine. Adapters are so much less expensive than machine repairs. ... JDH

[laowai]

Machine undamaged, my theory was correct in the end too.

Called up IBM/Lenovo, explained the situation, told a clever story about how with a friend's adapter it worked just fine (hey, needed a new adapter anyways) and they rushed a new one to me no charge... makes sense I guess, if I had brought it in for warranty service it would have cost them more than just sending me something they already have a lot of.

I got it today and sure enough, problem solved, it powers and charges. It's only a 65W however.. but it was free, so I will leave it as is until I get irritated with it and splice the 90W into it.

So, here's the scoop on this whole thing. IBM/Lenovo adapters are paired to the DC jack in some mystical magical way, most likely having to do with that lip on the gray plastic of the charger tip. If it's not there, you cannot charge, plain and simple. I'm assuming this is what they do to kill off most of the "universal charger" competition for replacements, or their excuse "making sure that non-IBM power supplies are not used on IBM machines for liability reasons".

Anywho, word to the wise on this is, even if the adapter dies, keep as much of the cable as you can and do not distort the charger tip or it's casing, and if you DO do what I did, leave as much of the casing in-tact as possible.

[Superego]

Called up IBM/Lenovo, explained the situation, told a clever story about how with a friend's adapter it worked just fine (hey, needed a new adapter anyways) and they rushed a new one to me no charge... makes sense I guess, if I had brought it in for warranty service it would have cost them more than just sending me something they already have a lot of.

Not sure I'd call defrauding Lenovo a clever idea. If you have an extended warranty why not use it? If not, then you should just accept the consequences for messing with a piece of equipment that could have been cheaply and easily replaced. Just my 2 cents....I'll get off my soapbox now.

[laowai]

Called up IBM/Lenovo, explained the situation, told a clever story about how with a friend's adapter it worked just fine (hey, needed a new adapter anyways) and they rushed a new one to me no charge... makes sense I guess, if I had brought it in for warranty service it would have cost them more than just sending me something they already have a lot of.

:roll:

Not sure I'd call defrauding Lenovo a clever idea. If you have an extended warranty why not use it? If not, then you should just accept the consequences for messing with a piece of equipment that could have been cheaply and easily replaced. Just my 2 cents....I'll get off my soapbox now.

Didn't "mess" with it. It failed completely all on it's own through regular and non-abusive use and I made a ghetto repair so I could at least "use" my laptop.

I have a 3-year warranty and this is my second Thinkpad in a row, after the comedic issue with the T42 and it's video card BGA of fail, I feel very much satisfied with the service I have gotten. Do not believe that AC adapter is covered by 3-year warranty, much like the 1-year on the battery.

To rehash this:
1) Cable was breaking
2) Cable broke completely and sparked
3) Project due in 2 hours and laptop in trouble
4) Ghetto fix results in power but no charge
5) Call up Lenovo and jump the gun to the solution that I need anyways.
6) Lenovo sends new adapter when I was expecting to pay for a new one.
7) Adapter arrives, problem gone, me=happy camper (except it's a 65W :( )
8) ...
9) <3 Lenovo

Also, simple fact is that if this didn't do it, it would be a motherboard issue, leaving me without a laptop for 2 days at the bare minimum and 2-3 round trips to the closest service center (say goodbye to a tank of ga$) and as a telecommuter, that's my livelihood. Simple solution is simple and taking a shortcut through the mindless troubleshooting shortens a 2 hour phone call to 15 minutes.