Stabilizing my power cord/socket

redlotus

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Hi folks - brand new to the forum, and hoping someone can help me out. I recently bought a brand new Acer Aspire Timeline X 5830TG-6402. It's been great so far - 6 gigs of RAM, lots of HD space, Core i5 processors, no problems. It replaced a Lenovo Thinkpad that I'd had for several years. The Lenovo was great, but the last year I had it the DC socket started getting more and more loose. I tried to open it up to fix it but found the Lenovo almost impossible to get open. I had a more tech-savvy friend re-solder the DC socket to the motherboard, but it quickly loosened again. It was to the point where if I so much as BREATHED wrong while holding the laptop, the power cord would lose its connection. It was a huge pain, especially since the batter was going and wouldn't hold a charge. I would have about 30 seconds to wiggle the cord around and find a connection again before it would shut down.

But now I've got this great new laptop, and all is well in the world. EXCEPT - I noticed that there is just the slightest bit of wiggle to the DC socket. I'm being paranoid about babying that connection, but I tend to use the laptop on my sofa a lot because I'm recovering from multiple surgeries and laid up - every once and a while something happens to tug on the power cord a little, like the laptop slips or the power cord gets snagged on something and I don't realize it until I move the laptop.

What all this (longwinded) explaination is leading up to is this: Is there any sort of product out there that I can buy that will stabilize/reinforce the powercord/socket connection so that it's not so vulnerable to being loosened? Like some sort of strap or attachment that would hold the power cord in place and prevent undo stress on the socket? When my Lenovo was having its issues, I used elastic cord wrapped around the base of the monitor that sort of held the cord in the right position - is there anything a little less white-trash I can try? :rolleyes: I just REALLY don't want to end up with another loose DC socket, but I can't seem to find any products by searching on my own. I'd like to prevent loosening rather than trying to deal with it after the fact. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!
 
Sad to say, I am not aware of any such products. The best solutions I can think of are as follows:

Use a dock, if one is available.
Perhaps in conjunction with the aforementioned dock, or by itself (to reduce cord movement), try using a tilting over-bed table.
Install some other form of connector that would make for a more robust connection. This, of course, would require disassembling your laptop and voiding any warranty.

Apple actually came up with an awesome power connector system called magsafe, which used magnets to hold the power connector to the laptop, allowing for a problem-free quick disconnect if someone tripped over the cord, for instance. Unfortunately, it is proprietary technology and no one can make a similar product (not commercially).
 
See I don't get that though...because other companies have used that tech. Jawbone uses that exact technology on their chargers. Damn Apple. They came up with one very cool physical feature that everyone should use and they hoard it like dragons. Anywho...short of getting an Apple, there's very little you can do. Talk to Lenovo about it. Theyd be glad to help
 
Hi folks - brand new to the forum, and hoping someone can help me out. I recently bought a brand new Acer Aspire Timeline X 5830TG-6402. It's been great so far - 6 gigs of RAM, lots of HD space, Core i5 processors, no problems. It replaced a Lenovo Thinkpad that I'd had for several years. The Lenovo was great, but the last year I had it the DC socket started getting more and more loose. I tried to open it up to fix it but found the Lenovo almost impossible to get open. I had a more tech-savvy friend re-solder the DC socket to the motherboard, but it quickly loosened again. It was to the point where if I so much as BREATHED wrong while holding the laptop, the power cord would lose its connection. It was a huge pain, especially since the batter was going and wouldn't hold a charge. I would have about 30 seconds to wiggle the cord around and find a connection again before it would shut down.

But now I've got this great new laptop, and all is well in the world. EXCEPT - I noticed that there is just the slightest bit of wiggle to the DC socket. I'm being paranoid about babying that connection, but I tend to use the laptop on my sofa a lot because I'm recovering from multiple surgeries and laid up - every once and a while something happens to tug on the power cord a little, like the laptop slips or the power cord gets snagged on something and I don't realize it until I move the laptop.

What all this (longwinded) explaination is leading up to is this: Is there any sort of product out there that I can buy that will stabilize/reinforce the powercord/socket connection so that it's not so vulnerable to being loosened? Like some sort of strap or attachment that would hold the power cord in place and prevent undo stress on the socket? When my Lenovo was having its issues, I used elastic cord wrapped around the base of the monitor that sort of held the cord in the right position - is there anything a little less white-trash I can try? :rolleyes: I just REALLY don't want to end up with another loose DC socket, but I can't seem to find any products by searching on my own. I'd like to prevent loosening rather than trying to deal with it after the fact. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!
Just be careful with your power cord, make sure it's got plenty of slack in it and it is in an area where it won't get snagged or caught on something.
 
^ +1

I've owned several laptops. never had the issue, but I also don't treat my systems like they're backpacks and throw them around. I'm not suggesting you do, but if my personal experience says otherwise, and I still have to fix friend's systems that are similar to mine, I have to question their usage habits. It never hurts to look at your usage and see if there's even a possibility that you've carried it wrong, or been too rough, etc.
 
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