Power supplies

Diy-Computer-Repair can help!

Repairing Laptop Power supplies and power adapters.

Where to begin? Well the Laptop Power supply is inside the computer, the power adapter is connected from the AC to the computer. Fooled you. You thought the little black box that had the AC cord was the power supply! For those that know go on down the page. It works like this: Because a laptop is considered a device that is 'Global' the first manufactures needed to come up with a way to get 110 to 220 volt AC to the laptop. Solution: create a device that only reduces the AC to 20 - 12 volts DC with an amperage high enough to drive the Power Supply inside the laptop where it converts the voltage to DC with the +5, -5, +12, and -12 volts that the components of the computer need to operate. Cool huh? Those guys thought it out and now if you travel to some far off place and they have Electricity you can use your laptop and charge the battery for those places that don't!

Note: Do not take these voltages/amperages as gospel, check you own system to find out what can and CAN NOT be used!

You will find more information on reparing your laptop in the Self Computer Repair Unleashed! E-Book.

So now you know that you have a device that will reduce voltage and amperage to a safe level for you laptop.

Some things to know about laptop power supplies:

1) They will fail with time. Nothing lasts for ever, even stars burn out.

2) On battery the power supply will not produce enough power for some external USB devices, sorry the battery can only supply so much.

3) My experience is that the power adapter will fail long before the power supply, may want to get a spare and store it. When the original fails there may not be any left to buy.

4) When a battery will not charge anymore it is 99% the battery and not the power supply. If you have two batteries and neither will charge then it is your power supply in the computer.

5) When the computer starts to age the battery does too, it will not hold a charge as long as it did when it was new, see my battery page for more info.

6) Your power supply is a marvel of engineering, it either works or it doesn't and when it fails replace it. Now replacing a power supply in a laptop can be a easy task or a nightmare, it depends on the computer. I have changed out a Compaq power supply in less than an hour, then again the last Toshiba I power supply I changed took me half a day. Depends on the manufacturer. You will have to at a minimum open the case, remove the keyboard, some you have to take the motherboard out of the case to get the power supply out (Toshiba).

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