[JenB]

I had this problem with an HP laptop a few years back. The power jack had come detatched from the motherboard. I ended up getting a docking station for the laptop, it connected differently and avoided the broken power jack. It worked, anyway.

[randog]

If you've gone through several cords then the problem is probably at the jack.

[aft_lizard]

I actually had the same problem with my mouse dock, I took it apart and resoldered the wires at the jack and slightly crimped it to make a tighter connection. I would reckon its a similar problem with your jack.

[flashbunny]

Is it a direct, original cord made for the laptop, or one you bought off brand as a replacement?

Is it a single barrel DC plug? Is the plug male or female?

[Pox]

Hold the jack steady in the port and wiggle the cord near the base of the jack. If you still get intermittent connectivity, it's likely the cord. Another cord is called for, or a repair of the current cord if the open is far enough away from the jack, although that isn't really a great idea unless you simply can't afford a new cord.

If you get no change in connectivity, it's likely the port in the laptop. Some power ports on laptops will simply be a female receptacle that has a few wires running from it to a PCA inside the laptop, but typically, the solder joints on the port connect to the motherboard (or another PCA that the port is attached to) and have become cracked or separated from the PCA itself. This is a problematic issue that can sometimes be repaired by touching up the joints with a soldering iron and maybe a little more solder, but that also depends upon the design of the board itself. Tearing down the laptop to get to that port is no small task and you can easily damage your laptop further just from disassembly. More often than not, the board the port is on needs replaced.

Not a fun problem to resolve.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Had the same symptoms -- twice...

First time they sent me a new adapter -- was ok for a short while...

Second time in for factory depot maintenance they fixed it -- no probs since...

[Equality 7-2521]

I have this problem periodically with my Toshiba laptop. A few times, I've been able to remove the motherboard and simply resolder the post (in my case, it's always the post that goes to the +VDC, but yours could be different). A few times, I've had to locate replacement jacks on Ebay and solder new jacks in place. Next time, I'm going to probably run a pigtail out of the back to a jack with some kind of strain relief to keep it from pulling free from the motherboard.

It's quite a hassle.

[DouglasKC]

It's the jack almost for sure. I had the same problem. Drove me nuts. Finally I took my laptop apart and saw that it was the barrel connector. It was mounted to a small circuit board that also contained the USB ports. Found the replacement connector on the internet, they cost like 5 bucks each. The first connector I soldered back on, but it broke in a matter of weeks. The second time I did it I soldered it on AND super glued it down. I haven't had the problem since (9 months or so).

It's an easy repair IF you have experience taking apart laptops and kind of know what you're doing with a soldering iron.

It's a very common problem with laptops. Do a search on "laptop jack repair".

[Right in Wisconsin]

I had a similar problem with an HP a few years ago. The first time HP fixed it under warranty. It happened again and ended up being more expensive to fix than to get a new one because the "short" was actually in the mother board and the charging cord no longer could make the connection to power it or charge the battery. It is a known problem for HP's so you may want to contact them.