Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
21 Posts
0
82064
every time i plug my power adapter in, it sparks at the wall
every time i plug the power adapter into the wall, the left prong sparks as its being inserted and you hear a nice little pop noise because of it. this is when the adapter is NOT plugged into the laptop, just by itself.
is this normal?
its a brand new inspiron 8500, p4 2.4ghz, 512mb RAM, one battery, geforce4 64mb
is this normal?
its a brand new inspiron 8500, p4 2.4ghz, 512mb RAM, one battery, geforce4 64mb
Message Edited by theanasazi on 11-19-2003 12:40 AM
bluetracker
369 Posts
0
November 19th, 2003 09:00
No it most definately is not a normal occurrance!
There are two possibilities that spring to mind...
#1. There is a loose connection in the plug of the power brick (hard to tell if it's moulded on) you will need to cut it off and replace it with a proprietry shop bought mains plug if (#2 doesn't apply)
#2. There is a loose wire in the electrical outlet to the live pin of the wall socket. If you are not confident in doing the following GET A CERTIFIED ELECTRICIAN IN TO DO IT!
Switch off ALL the power at the mains fuse board
remove the socket where the problem is, from the wall...... make a diagram of what wire goes to what connection
check the security of all the wires using a fused or insulated screwdriver , remake/tighten the connections if any are found loose/broken or tarnished as neccessary. Re-assemble all an refit back to the wall.
Switch on the mains at the fuse board.
As I said... if you don't feel confident have the house wiring inspected by a qualified electrician for faults
Quintastraphie
49 Posts
0
November 20th, 2003 19:00
Whenever it comes to electricity or fire, the "Do it yourself" does not apply :-)
My uncle got electricuted by TVs.... Just sharing his lesson
Jinan
19 Posts
0
November 21st, 2003 03:00
I have owned laptops since 1995 and currently have I8500 and I8000 and I7000. I generally have the pop/arcing issue when plugging in the AC adaptor if it is not connected to the laptop when being plugged in. This occurs with all three laptops as well as my company Latitude CPI laptop.
I have never experienced any problems and thus concluded that this was a normal power surge when initially plugging in the adaptor without the laptop connected. With the laptop connected, I do not get this pop/arcing.
My very first laptop was a Gateway Solo and it did the same thing. At first I though it was becasue I was overseas plugging into 220AC, but I notice the same thing when travelling to the US.
Jinan
bluetracker
369 Posts
0
November 21st, 2003 07:00
I've never had the dubious 'pleasure' of the 'pop/arcing' phenomenon. Perhaps it's because my UK power 240v supply is a more palatable one for laptop computer power bricks? Or perhaps electricity is more 'lumpy' in the US........ Dunno
Quintastraphie
49 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2003 17:00
LOL. I love UK slang
puentes
1 Message
0
March 31st, 2004 14:00
I'm having the same sparking problem with my new Latitude D505, less than 2 months old. And the problem has occurred in different places (home, office, other people's houses, etc.). The sparking also happened with a different laptop, a Latitude I had the past couple years. Sometimes the spark is worse than others, but in all cases, once the power plug is in the wall socket, the laptop works just fine. The problem is consistent enough to make me search this forum for suggestions, something I usually don't do.
Is this something to be alarmed about (could it damage my laptop), or should I just keep living with it?
Also, if I have the power adapter plugged into the laptop but the power adapter is NOT yet plugged into the wall socket, the green pilot light on the brick comes on. Is that normal?
One last thing... when I'm working on the laptop and am near a power source, I normally keep it plugged in all the time. Is there a problem with that? If so, could it be related to this sparking problem?
Thanks.