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shadowfax

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 6, 2002
5,849
0
Houston, TX
arrr, last night i was working away at 1 AM and noted that my power was at 65% or so. "what?" i thought. "it's plugged in!" i looked down and noted that there was no light coming from the ring on the plug. crap!

the power supply itself was pretty normally warm, but it was making a funny noise. i held it up to my ear. it was ticking, almost like an alarm of some sort, but very faintly.

so i put it to sleep, and called apple support and got a new one shipped (hopefully it will be around by tomorrow; i will die if i have to spend the weekend on my *$@# PC), but gosh, i found this rather annoying. anyone else had any power supply troubles?

sorry if i don't reply for awhile, i am sleeping this thing as much as possible.
 
I had a problem with the original Pismo PSU, in that the plug fell off after a year...:p

I found a generic unit that worked just fine, but didnt look half as cool. Needless to say, the new version is fine.
 
Re: powerbook=powerless

I had a similar problem, didn't notice any funny noises but all of a sudden the DC connector would work or not work depending on which way the DC lead outside the connector was bent. It turned out that the entire time I had owned the adapter, I had been pulling the DC end out of the PowerBook by the cord, which is a big no-no since the stress gets transferred directly onto the solder points inside the connector (stupid design). Finally it stopped working altogether and I had to get a new one.
 
Re: Re: powerbook=powerless

Originally posted by alex_ant
the stress gets transferred directly onto the solder points inside the connector (stupid design)
I must admit that they should have done a better job on this. I'm wondering how long my adapter will last. But since I'm an electronics engineer I'm sure I will be able to fix it myself (warranty has voided already after 1.5 years).

The problem is that the plug has components in it for the light, which makes it a special plug and not just a cheap regular component.
 
i've got similar problems with my 667 DVI TiBook. i've still got the original power adaptor and the ring that lights up sometimes doesn't light up when it's plugged in, or it light up as red.

i pull the plug out by the connector... about 98% of the time. could these problems be caused by winding & un-winding the cord every day for a year? you'd think that they were made for that sort of thing.:rolleyes:
 
i guess it must be the wire connector to the back of the tibook.

I have to say, i am careful not to pull it out by the wire, but i have accidentally jerked the thing a few times in adjusting the laptop. guess i'll have to be more careful.
 
i also lost that little cap that goes on the end of the plug, i don't know if carrying the power adapter in my bag like that could damage it... and there's alot of guys in my class that don't look after their power adapters, particularly the plugs very well and they haven't had problems yet. oh well, maybe their time will come.:D
 
Originally posted by cb911
i also lost that little cap that goes on the end of the plug, i don't know if carrying the power adapter in my bag like that could damage it... and there's alot of guys in my class that don't look after their power adapters, particularly the plugs very well and they haven't had problems yet. oh well, maybe their time will come.:D

I have had...

1. The power adapter that came with my iBook 500

2. 4 replacment adapters

3. The adapter that came with my iBook 800

So all in all I've had 6 power adapters. I guess I'm abusive in this area. Thank goodness for AppleCare. :D
 
cross your fingers guys, if my adaptor doesn't arrive today, i am going to kill myself, or someone else--i can't wait till monday.
 
Both my iBook and 12" pBook slowly go from 100% to 95%, while plugged in, then when it gets to 95% the light turns orange on the pSupply. I then unplug it and let the battery drain a little...plug it in and it charges to 100%...then the cycle starts again.
 
Originally posted by JSRockit
Both my iBook and 12" pBook slowly go from 100% to 95%, while plugged in, then when it gets to 95% the light turns orange on the pSupply. I then unplug it and let the battery drain a little...plug it in and it charges to 100%...then the cycle starts again.

they make them do that so the battery doesn't run out.

oh, f*** me. crap. they didn't even ship it yet, that rat bastard employee! now i have to go the weekend without my powerbook. grrrrrr, this is incredibly exasperating.
 
I've had the exact same problem with my 17" powerbook. I plug it in, thinking that it's powering my laptop at night, but when i wake up, the computer is down to 3% and sleeping.

The only way i could fix it was to unplug the power adapter from the wall (in my position disconnect the 3 prong wire from the adapter) then reconnecting. That always does the trick, as simply unplugging the DC end and plugging back in will not work.

Strange problem, but hasn't happened to me since those three times two weeks ago.
 
My icebook was first generation which had quite a few problems w/ the power port. It's very fussy with how the cord sits in the jack, so I spin the cord until it gets a good enough power supply. Which shorted out one power cord (the sparks were pretty). I should've gotten my mother board replaced, but returns were taking quite a while because so many people were having it repaired and I couldn't part with my beautiful book for even a short period (that was during the time when I slept with my iBook).:) Looking back, I wish I would have changed it. I still have to mess with it every so often.
 
i think my dell has the same problem it loses power like it never fill up and if it does it dont last long about 40 mins some days i think it was because i didnt drain it just like say a mobile phone.
 
Hey overachiever,

I have a 15" 1ghz and had the exact same problem. It seemed to arise after I moved back to ireland from the u.s. after christmas. Anyway, all of a sudden for no reason the light would go out on the power adapter and would start to use battery power. When I unplugged and replugged it went back on, but obviously as you've found you can't do that overnight. Also this happenned in the middle of burning dvd's on idvd a couple of times. When it switched to battery power it would stop the burn... luckily iDVD was robust enough to finish when i plugged back in. Anyway, I got on to applecare and they sent me a new power adapter and the problem is no more. What is happening to you sounds exactly the same and I would contact applecare and get them to send you a new one. I wonder if this problem has anything to do with switching voltages from 110-220? I never had the problem until I returned to Ireland with my new book I'd been using all christmas with no problems.
 
its a machine, things break. all we have to do it hope they dont break.

iJon
 
Originally posted by makkystyle
Hey overachiever,

I have a 15" 1ghz and had the exact same problem. It seemed to arise after I moved back to ireland from the u.s. after christmas. Anyway, all of a sudden for no reason the light would go out on the power adapter and would start to use battery power. When I unplugged and replugged it went back on, but obviously as you've found you can't do that overnight. Also this happenned in the middle of burning dvd's on idvd a couple of times. When it switched to battery power it would stop the burn... luckily iDVD was robust enough to finish when i plugged back in. Anyway, I got on to applecare and they sent me a new power adapter and the problem is no more. What is happening to you sounds exactly the same and I would contact applecare and get them to send you a new one. I wonder if this problem has anything to do with switching voltages from 110-220? I never had the problem until I returned to Ireland with my new book I'd been using all christmas with no problems.

mine did this over christmas months ago, maybe twice that i remember. and now it finally broke big time. maybe the two issues are related. good call getting it replaced while it still marginally worked.

what a terrible weekend stuck in the windows world. i read a lot of 1984.
 
happy :confused: ending...

monday night: no power supply; great anger.

so i call apple... out of stock, on back order, call us back if you don't have it by thursday. curses!

call Fry's, CompUSA, not a single power supply for sale in Austin. frantic.

tuesday night, nothing, still no one in austin has a power supply. bastards!

wednesday afternoon: score! it's finally here. after 6 days of evil maclessness and ugly PCs, i am back. ahhh my beautiful baby!

Pete Yorn, baby! "For Nancy ('Cos it Already Is)"
convince yourself that everything is alright
'cos it already is
'cos it already is
 
Here's one for you shadow...

I brought my brand new 1Ghz baby back to Ireland with me in January. By the third week I noticed the problem and phoned Applecare. None anywhere in Europe yet because they were only just getting shipments of the book in, and certainly none in Ireland. It wasn't until the third week in March that they FINALLY got me my new power adapter. It was a long two months of unplugging and replugging.
 
Originally posted by makkystyle
Here's one for you shadow...

I brought my brand new 1Ghz baby back to Ireland with me in January. By the third week I noticed the problem and phoned Applecare. None anywhere in Europe yet because they were only just getting shipments of the book in, and certainly none in Ireland. It wasn't until the third week in March that they FINALLY got me my new power adapter. It was a long two months of unplugging and replugging.

unplugging and replugging? ah, that's not so so bad though. you got to use it. mine was just flat dead. nothing, nowhere. i would be fine to wait a month if the one i had even sort of worked, but this thing was absolutely gone.
 
Hmmm...i'll call applecare in due time. :) Besides it hasn't acted up in a while...so I'm not going to worry right now.

Nice to know that others have had similar problems tho.

Congrats shadow in finally getting that power adapter...I remembered how I felt when my PC laptop power adapter died...a week w/o a computer sucks. :)
 
Y'all are making me glad that I have 3 of those. :) (One plugged in at my office, one plugged in at my desk at my house, and one in my laptop bag.) My baby never needs to worry about running out of power.

:D
 
Originally posted by Over Achiever
Hmmm...i'll call applecare in due time. :) Besides it hasn't acted up in a while...so I'm not going to worry right now.

Nice to know that others have had similar problems tho.

Congrats shadow in finally getting that power adapter...I remembered how I felt when my PC laptop power adapter died...a week w/o a computer sucks. :)

i cannot tell you how much i recommend either getting it dealt with ASAP or buying a spare. this was a terribly agonizing week, especially because i had stuff on my laptop i really needed for school.

i wouldn't wish it on anyone. except i have decided that if i ever got sent to "Room 101" from 1984, this would be the torture for me ;), so maybe i would wish it on someone else.
 
>i don't know if carrying the power adapter in my bag like that could damage it... (cb911)

I carry my Firewire iBook, it's $60 Power Adaptor, and the power cable with me almost every day with me to class and have done so for the past 6 solid months. Since then, my backpack (Jansport, of course) has been accidently colored by writing materials, soiled, cleaned, soiled again, and handled with care.

And I usually keep my iBook in room 101. :)

>if my adaptor doesn't arrive today, i am going to kill myself, or someone else--i can't wait till monday. (Shadowfax, before the newborn arrived late)

I hear that city cops are dragging the body of Bill Gates away from the scene of the crime. I'm not sure how his body ended up in a backstreet dumpster somewhere downtown, though. I'll have to figure that one out. :p
 
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