A few months ago I was minding my own business when my laptop started dinging at me. The battery was nearly depleted, it said, and the laptop was about to shut down. I sighed, thinking I’d somehow managed to kick out the power adapter yet again, and then I frowned when I noticed two things:
1. The power adapter was plugged in to the laptop.
2. The power adapter plug could not be removed from the laptop.
After a good five minutes of trying to work the thing out, I finally managed to remove the power adapter plug. The end of the plug had melted off. Not a good sign. There was also a smell of burning plastic coming from within the power adapter plug. Also not a good sign.
I didn’t know what to do. I managed to find an old power adapter plug for an unused HP laptop that had almost the same power specifications, and lo and behold, it fit. It has been my stopgap plug ever since while I’ve tried to figure out what, exactly, to do.
I’ve bought no less than three replacement power adapters. One was the official power adapter that comes with the model laptop I ordered. It lasted all of two hours and then did exactly the same thing my original one did. I also ordered two “universal” power adapters that did the same thing in even less time. The only one that has managed to survive is the one for the old HP laptop, and it’s starting to get quite warm.
So it’s time to retire this laptop and find a replacement. It’s not the most convenient time to go shopping — we’re not exactly flush with cash at the moment — but I have located something that I think will work for me. So sometime late this month I’ll be spending a few days cursing as I try to bend a new machine to my will.
Hopefully this one lasts until then.
