# Huh. Strange. . . Has anyone ever had a laptop power supply konk out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036 "2016-05-06T00:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036/21 "2016-05-12T23:15:59Z")
I work as head of IT in a medium sized industrial facility with about 300 PC’s and an equal number of other devices. I don’t typically do hardware support myself because we have part-time techs for that but I have to keep a very large cabinet of replacement parts including power supplies for every model of computer in the building as well as monitors, keyboards, mice and lots of other misc parts. If you ask, does X fail, the answer is always yes because they all can and do. I have seen every type of failure imaginable. The most common things people ask when that happens is “What did I do to cause it?” and “Will I get in trouble for it?”. The answer to those questions is “Probably nothing because electronics just break often for no apparent reason” and “You won’t be in trouble because I don’t report routine failures to anyone let alone your boss unless you tried to clean it in the dishwasher or something.” Individual computers and their parts are usually fairly reliable for a few years but there is a big spike in failures for new ones followed by a generally stable curve that starts to rise slowly as time goes by but any component can fail at any time with no obvious cause. I am glad you got yours straightened out. It will probably happen again several times in your lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036/22 "2016-05-13T02:43:10Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > If you ask, does X fail, the answer is always yes because they all can and do. I have seen every type of failure imaginable. The most common things people ask when that happens is “What did I do to cause it?” and “Will I get in trouble for it?”. The answer to those questions is “Probably nothing because electronics just break often for no apparent reason” and “You won’t be in trouble because I don’t report routine failures to anyone let alone your boss unless you tried to clean it in the dishwasher or something.” On the other hand, I have rescued electronics by cleaning it in the dishwasher. A friend’s girlfriend managed to spill a large cup of Starbucks coffee on her Macintosh laptop. This was before Steve Jobs went completely insane, and Apple devices still had removable batteries, so she had the presence of mind to pull the battery to minimize the damage. I took the whole thing apart and washed all the case components and the motherboard in a dishwasher. I did not wash the display or hard drive. After that, I made sure all the components on the motherboard were fully dry with compressed air and a heat gun. After that, I re-assembled it, and it worked perfectly for many years after. Printed circuit boards are routinely washed in industrial dishwashers after wave soldering to remove rosin. We used to use trichloroethane, a liquid that has since been banned. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036/23 "2016-05-13T07:22:21Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Damn. I was right in the middle of a NetFlix binge, too. > > My battery drained down. I had my laptop plugged in, but apparently it was running on the battery the whole time. While I had ‘the brick’ plugged into my laptop, I didn’t notice, but the “charging light” was not lit. Simple logic tells me the brick is . . . well, _bricked._ Anyone ever see that before? > > For the record, it _is_ a six year old system. Runs like a champ otherwise! > > Tripler > Confused. Curious. Enquiring minds want to know. Not sure if this is the same thing, but I have a Lenovo ThinkPad that will neither accept a charge, or a battery from another unit. I think it just went toes up. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036/24 "2016-05-13T15:01:40Z")
Here’s something I’d posted a couple years ago. > [@Help! What is destroying our laptop power supplies?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-what-is-destroying-our-laptop-power-supplies/706516/5): > > Here’s something that has happened to my laptop supply a few times: > After having not used it for a few hours (ie home just home from work or on waking up), I’ll find the laptop off and the battery dead. Checking the power supply with a meter, there was no output voltage. The first time it happened, I assumed that the cable between the supply and the barrel connector got pinched or something and I actually cut it off at the supply to check continuity. I was puzzled to find that the continuity was intact on both leads and, checking again, even more surprised that the output voltage had been restored! > > I still haven’t figured how it is triggered or why but the supply apparently goes into shutdown and needs to be removed from AC power for a few minutes to reset. Of course, this would have been nice to know BEFORE I’d snipped the cable but nothing some solder and shrink tube couldn’t fix. This has happened maybe three or four times since the first and, while annoying, the fix is easy. > So to the OP, unplug it from the wall and check it again in ten minutes or so. > It may just fire up again, mine did. It still happens a couple times a year. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036/25 "2016-05-13T20:11:38Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > Not sure if this is the same thing, but I have a Lenovo ThinkPad that will neither accept a charge, or a battery from another unit. I think it just went toes up. Often, it is a switch in the power jack. It switches to battery when the plug is not inserted, and can wear out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-strange-has-anyone-ever-had-a-laptop-power-supply-konk-out/754036.md?page=1)