HP Pavilion dv7 power adapter cable

[nathanhjoh]

same computer, same problem.  HP is not selling me another computer, ever!

[okcyclist]

HP Pavilion DV7 1285dx. 

A few months after I got the HP, the laptop would abruptly shut off at 50% battery (when running on battery only), then 60%, then 75%, then it got to the point that it would shut off at 90%, so I had no choice but to exclusively use A/C power.  I wish I would have called in for warranty replacement, but I put it off.

And now it won't turn on at all (and the LED near the power port does not turn on either).

I replaced both the battery and A/C charger cord ($100+). The battery arrived from HP with a 55% charge. I plugged in the new A/C cord, and instead of charging the new battery, it was LOSING juice instead!  Then the computer shut off at 50%. It will not power back on at all. I didn't even have time to recover important documents off this $1,000 serving tray.  

It seems apparent that this series of laptop has a design defect.  With so many machines experiencing power failure, why hasn't an HP representative responded to this topic by now? We (once) loyal customers deserve an official response from HP. This is absolutely ridiculous.

[slglusac]

My dc7 notebook is a year and a half old and the AC adaptor has been replaced twice. I called 877-917-4380 ex93 spoke to Camille (she is in customer service not tec support) expressed my problems with the AC-adapter and she sent me a new one.  Then she said there is not a problem with them, so everyone that has a problem call her and express your problems!!!

[Oisina]

Very, very angry.  I'm in Ireland.  Bought my hp laptop in Currys in Derry (across the border in UK) and noticed a fast beeping noise coming from the ac adapter today.  Then realised that despite being plugged in, the laptop was not being charged!  I rang Currys to be told (after holding for 30mins) that I had in fact purchased the laptop 13 months ago and therefore it was just out of warranty.  They advised that I contact HP direct to see if they could send me a new AC adapter.

I duly did so and was passed from HP technical support to HP sales and finally onto the HP complaints department!!!  The total time for this call?  Almost 40 minutes!! The person in the complaints department was a jumped up jobsworth called Ms. Lam (a South African - seems like Europe is covered by a SA callcentre) who advised she was a "Case Manager" in the Complaints Department.  I explained that I had paid almost £1,000 for a top of the range HP laptop and I did not expect that a part would fail a mere year after purchase.  She was entirely unsympathetic and said that it wasn't her problem when it wasn't covered by warranty.  I asked if I could even purchase the part from HP direct and she said that her company "didn't cover my country"!!  I was really shocked to hear that considering that her company is selling laptops in MY COUNTRY!  I asked her where I could buy a replacement adapter and she said that I should "contact local shops" to see if they stocked them.  When I complained that this service wasn't good enough she simply said "tough".  I asked for her name and she gave it to me suggesting that if I complain about her then as a manager, the complaint would go to one of her colleagues who would simply give me the same answer.  I asked for her superior's name and she said that she was a manager and didn't have a superior.  Thoroughly shocked, I reminded her that she didn't own the company as far as I knew and that she hadn't heard the last of this.  She didn't seem to care.

I was spitting fire by the time I came off the phone and went back to Currys where I initially bought the laptop.  They advised that I should try www.partmaster.com for an adapter.  Long story short, this website is able to supply them at a cost of £102 for a HP part or £64.11 for a non-branded part.  It will arrive in 3-5 days.  Simply put I will NEVER EVER buy another HP product again (I already have three!) and will strongly advise anyone I know to avoid them like the plague also.  Not good enough for the money spent.  Atrocious customer service and high-handedness from an inferior company.

I think that we should all start using Twitter and Facebook in an attempt to shame HP into dealing what appears to be a common problem.  If enough of us complain, surely they would have to look at this. 

[RosaMaria]

I already bought a new power adapter cable... Total $86.59 and still hurts in my pocket.

No way, impossible to deal anymore with HP customer service, I always end up paying more. 

Could buy a Mac with all the money that I "invested".... HP Dv7 = Terrible product = Terrible service.

[RandyR]

I was having the same problem that everyone else reported here.  I purchased a second power supply but it did not correct the problem.  I then purchased a HP Notebook QuickDoc 2.0 KN744AA#ABA docking station which allows for powering and charging through the docking station using the "Port 3" connector on the laptop.  It didn't fix the problem with the main power system, it simply went around problem.  I can now power / charge my laptop through the "Port 3" connection.  The down side is that I do have to carry the docking station with me if I plan to power my laptop away from my desk.  The up side is that I still have a working laptop.

The QuickDock information seemed to indicate that I needed a 90W power supply.  Since I had just purchased a new 65W power supply, I decided to hold off on the 90W.  The 65W worked fine.

I highly recommend trying this solution instead of continuing to buy new power supplies.  I paid about $52 for the docking station.  I suspect it is available at a number of places.  I purchased mine at inandoutcomputer.com.  I have no connection to this company.  It arrived when they said it would and I am happy!

I wish you all the best of luck with this solution!

Randy

[russ1150]

Hi:

I am not sure that you will answer but here goes.. From what I read on your reply the inner barrel connector in the jack is the +19 Volts (goes to the red lead on the compter connector), the outer barrel is the ground (goes to the black lead on the computer connector). the center pin (goes to the white lead on the computer connector) or the blue wire in my  power adapter. Again from what I understood you said, If you make sure that the 19 volts and the ground are 19 volts and will carry 4 amps the computer will run. Does the battery charge? I measured the voltage under load at the red and black wires and all is good. The white lead is a different story it can vary with just my fingers resistance from 19 volts to 10 volts just by touching the white and black leads. From what I understand you are saying is that the white wire or center pin does nothing, is that correct?

 I am replacing the jack wiring and power adapter and will see if that works, it should.. Would you suggest connecting all the outer and inner ring contacts at the jack to insure a good contact?

Thanks in advance.

Russ

Ole Air Force Tech..

[analog]

russ - belay that PM, i found the forum.

Since that post #14  i read up in some design magazines.  Indeed it's now the rage among designers to make smart power supplies that communicate with their load.  That's what center pin does.

I'm trying to remember... post #14 has description of the wiring but may be not clear  what we did. And i cant access it while typing here to check..

To yor questions:

1.  DONT CONNECT INNER AND OUTER BARRELS (rings?) one is +18V other is ground.

2.  The center pin (white?) is real important, see a couple paragraphs down.

We replaced the cord inside computer, from power jack to CPU board and found we'd wasted that effort.  And twenty five bucks.

The trouble was entirely inside the power cord that's on the power supply and not in the computer.. it's a three conductor cord and the middle conductor we found broke on both supplies.

That cord from supply to computer has molded ends and the wires inside the molded strain relief at cord ends had broken. On two different supplies!   One broke right at the exit from power supply and the other broke right at the connector that goes into computer. Had to cut cords apart and repair.  We wouldn't have had to go into computer at all.

The teeny wires inside the cord will break if cord is yanked out of cpu instead of unplugged by gently grasping connector body with fingers,  or if the computer falls off a chair and yanks on the cord.  The connector inside the computer is more stout than the power cord.   

the  outside barrel(black wire inside cpu, outer shield in power supply cord)  is negative, and cpu ground, as you'd expect.

Inner barrel (red inside cpu, middle shield in power cord) is + supply, as i recall in the 18-20 volt range. 

That inner barrel on connector inside cpu is not a continuous ring but instead is four tabs around the inside and only two of them are used. Other two were unconnected.

I think i would like to hook them all four up for more secure contact.  But don't connect the inner-outer barrels together of course.

Center pin(white in cpu, blue in power cord) is some kind of communication between power supply and computer.

At first i thought it was simply analog remote sense but later realized it's a digital communication line. The supply and the computer communicate and i am clueless what they talk about.

It's a sure bet one pulls the line" high" and the other "asserts" data bits over the line by pulling it "low". 

That's why your finger can change the voltage.  It'll read real low volts with an analog meter that's only a few kohms/volt like the cheapie i was using, and higher volts with a good high impedance DMM like we used later.   That confused us for a good while.

SO  NO, IT"S NOT correct that center pin does nothing.

 Center pin is the heart of the system  for you have a smart power supply talking to a smart load.  I dont know what they talk about but i suspect that decisions are made whether to charge battery depending on temperatures inside both CPU and power supply. 

4th wire inside CPU (yellow) lights the LED to tell you CPU and power supply are happily communicating over center pin..

hope this makes sense - while typing here i cant access the old post 14 to look at what i typed. 

Bottom line is:

We had two dead suppplies. After flailing a few days we:

Hacksawed open the first one and resoldered the broken wires then epoxied it back together. 

Hacksawed open the second one but that end was okay, so we cut off the molded strain relief at CPU end, resoldered middle shield to plug, covered it with heatshrink from Ace Hardware. 

Both got ugly awards but are still working fine. Son says it's a  geeky Chick-magnet but price was right.

As i said, we woudn't have had to open computer at all had we known..

Sorry for the ramble  -  i'm getting really slow..

I am delighted that somebody got some good out of our post.  

.

a.

[analog]

Thank you ms Shirleylox, post #19,  for the kind words.  Means more than you know.

a.

[mr_bill_gates]

so what have you all done with the laptops cuz they can be fixed you just buy new plug socket and new end for the dc adapter and change it all together dont need the oem part and dont need the light its just for looks

its not just hp its all of the companies i have fixed sony with the same problem hp dell they just all off shore crap to make there costs on making low but if u hit http://www.circuitcity.com/ Or any place like that then it will cost u all for a few $ for the new better parts then u just need soldering iron and some solder and a small star screw driver its not had at all look at youtube to see how