Customer almost kills his laptop with wrong AC adapter

[NYJimbo]

A few days ago Client brings in a Toshiba A105 with a broken jack, its one of those slip-fit jacks with a wire harness, not soldered to the mobo. The client also hands me the AC adapter and tells me "This is the adapter you will need". I am greatful he brought it in, so many customers don't do that. Now I realize I dont have a jack like this so I order a couple and wait for them to come in the mail.

Upon arrival, I was ready to install the jack and I tried to test fit the jack to the plug on the AC Adapter (as I always do) and what do ya know, it doesnt fit. Seems the jack pin is 3.0mm and the plug on the AC is 2.5mm

I go on ebay and find out that this jack comes in both 3.0 and 2.5mm, damn it, but when I ordered it I did i for the specific model, A105-s4384 and it showed a 3.0mm jack. Now, this sort of thing happens all the time with HP laptops, there is one jack type that comes in 1.65, 2.0 and 2.5 for different models, so I just order a couple 2.5's for this laptop and wait for it to show up.

This morning I was getting ready to install the new jack and something bothered me about the AC adapter. It was shiny and new, not a spot on it.
I look at the laptop and its scuffed all over, the AC adapter, spotless and not a scratch. Closer checking showed that this had to be just purchased, but it was a Toshiba power adaptor so I didnt think about it the first few times I looked at it. Suddenly I am thinking, this guy didnt just break the jack, he also broke the AC adapter and bought a new one.

I go and run a check on the adapter (pa-3516u-1aca) and what do ya know, its the wrong adapter. This is for a A135, not the A105. It's 19 volts, not 15 volts that the latop needs.

I call the client and ask him about the adapter and he tells me he ordered a new one from toshiba and that's what they sent him. They actually sent the wrong one.

So now I installed the correct 3.0mm jack in the machine and he has to go out and buy another AC adapter.

I dont know what would have happened if he brought 19volts into the machine that was expecting 15, but I dont think it would be worth risking.

Just thought I would share that little story, you have to be really careful with these things, if a client gives you the wrong AC and it turns out a series of laptops use different center pins you might also end up making the mistake I almost did.

 

[usacvlr]

A laptop will often have different center diameter pin sizes in the same series. Just depends on what jack size they got the cheapest for that run. I keep all the common sizes on hand because of this and yes the customer's adapter is often the wrong voltage because they buy a replacement thinking that will solve the jack problem.

A few days ago Client brings in a Toshiba A105 with a broken jack, its one of those slip-fit jacks with a wire harness, not soldered to the mobo. The client also hands me the AC adapter and tells me "This is the adapter you will need". I am greatful he brought it in, so many customers don't do that. Now I realize I dont have a jack like this so I order a couple and wait for them to come in the mail.

Upon arrival, I was ready to install the jack and I tried to test fit the jack to the plug on the AC Adapter (as I always do) and what do ya know, it doesnt fit. Seems the jack pin is 3.0mm and the plug on the AC is 2.5mm

I go on ebay and find out that this jack comes in both 3.0 and 2.5mm, damn it, but when I ordered it I did i for the specific model, A105-s4384 and it showed a 3.0mm jack. Now, this sort of thing happens all the time with HP laptops, there is one jack type that comes in 1.65, 2.0 and 2.5 for different models, so I just order a couple 2.5's for this laptop and wait for it to show up.

This morning I was getting ready to install the new jack and something bothered me about the AC adapter. It was shiny and new, not a spot on it.
I look at the laptop and its scuffed all over, the AC adapter, spotless and not a scratch. Closer checking showed that this had to be just purchased, but it was a Toshiba power adaptor so I didnt think about it the first few times I looked at it. Suddenly I am thinking, this guy didnt just break the jack, he also broke the AC adapter and bought a new one.

I go and run a check on the adapter (pa-3516u-1aca) and what do ya know, its the wrong adapter. This is for a A135, not the A105. It's 19 volts, not 15 volts that the latop needs.

I call the client and ask him about the adapter and he tells me he ordered a new one from toshiba and that's what they sent him. They actually sent the wrong one.

So now I installed the correct 3.0mm jack in the machine and he has to go out and buy another AC adapter.

I dont know what would have happened if he brought 19volts into the machine that was expecting 15, but I dont think it would be worth risking.

Just thought I would share that little story, you have to be really careful with these things, if a client gives you the wrong AC and it turns out a series of laptops use different center pins you might also end up making the mistake I almost did.

 

[AtYourService]

igot a a105 laptop in my shop today , the customer dropped it down the stairs ,cracking the lcd, and pushing in the corner where the jack is and break the die-cast type metal frame under the bezel, luckily for her that toshiba makes the jacks with harnesses and not soldered to the mobo, the customer only wants the lcd repaired , ill try to get the bezel fixed up as much as possible

 

[usacvlr]

Hot glue works very well.