Pavilion ze4540ca power trouble

[Mahiwaal]

the ac power on my HP Pavilion ze4540ca notebook has been erratic for
the past couple of months. the battery works fine, but the power from
the ac adapter works only on and off; i.e., i'll plug it in and
perhaps it will work, but if then disconnect it and then plug it in
again, it often does not work. i tried running it on somebody's
universal ac adapter, and the same thing happened: sometimes it
worked, sometimes it didn't.

when i contacted HP, their rep told me that the problem might be a
loose ac connector, and that i should contact the nearest service
centre (my warranty has run out). when i got to the service centre,
they told me that after i handed over my notebook, it would take them
about 2 weeks to give me an estimate(!)

i'm new to NYC, starting school, and i have very little money to
spend. does this sound to anyone like a loose ac connector issue, or
is it at all possible that it's a problem with the adapter (which i
can replace at a reasonable price)? if it's a connector issue, can
anyone give me or direct me to a good self-fix?

thanks

[David Kinsell]

Mahiwaal wrote: the ac power on my HP Pavilion ze4540ca notebook has been erratic for the past couple of months. the battery works fine, but the power from the ac adapter works only on and off; i.e., i'll plug it in and perhaps it will work, but if then disconnect it and then plug it in again, it often does not work. i tried running it on somebody's universal ac adapter, and the same thing happened: sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. when i contacted HP, their rep told me that the problem might be a loose ac connector, and that i should contact the nearest service centre (my warranty has run out). when i got to the service centre, they told me that after i handed over my notebook, it would take them about 2 weeks to give me an estimate(!) i'm new to NYC, starting school, and i have very little money to spend. does this sound to anyone like a loose ac connector issue, or is it at all possible that it's a problem with the adapter (which i can replace at a reasonable price)? if it's a connector issue, can anyone give me or direct me to a good self-fix? thanks

See "HP Pavilion Laptop Owners with Bad Power Jacks...." in this very
newsgroup. Been dragging on for about nine months now . . .