Power management...

[akuira]

I own a SonyVAIO PCG-FXA36 laptop, it has an AMD Athlon 4 processor and 512MB RAM, it appears to have been built for Windows, but what isn't? Anyway, to get down to it I have always (yes, even on windows) had trouble with the power management or whatnot. My problem is when my power cord jiggles the slightest bit, it disconnects from the computer and within like 30-45 seconds of being like that it just automaticly shuts down.

I have a bus powered PCMCIA card that provides me with two USB 2.0 ports considering my P.O.S.'s USB ports caved in through the back and are unusable. But that shouldn't be the problem.

I have a feeling it may be related to my CPU Fan or whatever it is called, it cuts on and off constantly and I am sure that is a big contributor to power usage.

Anyway, if anyone has any idea what I'm talking about let me know, I've been searching for a solution to this for over a year now, thanks.

[andycrofts]

Hi.
Couple of things. One: if your laptop only holds up for about a minute, then your battery's seriously knackered. Should last hours.
Second, that power lead. Most times, the power cable (the low-voltage one to the PC, not the 110/220V to the wall)) gets damaged because people insist in wrapping the cord tight around the PSU. This damages the cable as it goes into the PSU case. If you're adept with a soldering iron, or know someone who can, just take the PSU apart, unsolder the low-voltage cable, cut about 5" off the end, and resolder. Try and preserve the strain relief bit of plastic, if you can.

-Hope it helps
-Andy
(MOD - Think this is for the "Hardware" part.)

[akuira]

Couple of things. One: if your laptop only holds up for about a minute, then your battery's seriously knackered. Should last hours.

Yea, tell me about it... The stupid peice of crap came with it like that... Only difference from then was the battery only kept it alive for about 30-35 minutes. That's only if I didn't run any software. If anything was running, like Internet Explorer or something like that, it lasted 10-15 minutes tops.

Second, that power lead. Most times, the power cable (the low-voltage one to the PC, not the 110/220V to the wall)) gets damaged because people insist in wrapping the cord tight around the PSU. This damages the cable as it goes into the PSU case.

Take a look at my attached picture and tell me if that is what you are talking about... And by PSU case are you talking about the Adapter that is in the middle of the power cord, or is the PSU for a laptop inside the case like a desktop pc? I'm familiar with a desktops PSU box, not a laptops. Although I have poped the lid on this one :).

If you're adept with a soldering iron, or know someone who can, just take the PSU apart, unsolder the low-voltage cable, cut about 5" off the end, and resolder. Try and preserve the strain relief bit of plastic, if you can.

I do have a soldering iron and I am a little bit good with it, I mainly use it for PC modding and things like that. I haven't completely gotten down the voltage laws/rules or whatever but somewhat. Maybe you know of a tutorial similar to this that your talking about, close enough anyways; It doesn't need to be exact, I just need more of a jist of things to be done here... :/ Thanks a lot though, I feel this is getting somewhere :)

[andycrofts]

Power cord...
First is to find out the break. Actually, most often the problem is at the other end of the cable you show in the piccie. Just need a bit of well-targeted 'wiggling' to find out where the break is.
If it's at the power supply (AKA Adapter) end, then it's easy - just what I said in previous post - cut away the 'dead' bit.
Other end isn't so straightforward. You can easily get the plug from any electronics shop (e.g. Radio Shack) - but first you need to find out what the cable polarity is. At the PSU end (the scenario referred to above) it's a doddle, because just replace like colour for like. But, the plug in your piccie is sealed.
Best way is to find a mate with a multimeter, and determine polarity that way.
Failing that, smash the thing to bits and look at the wreckage! :D
Do try to keep that interference supressor if you can - it'll still work fine without, but it adds to the World Electrical Noise Pollution if you remove it...
I admit it's damn close!

Battery...I've had some joy with the following method on an IBM Laptop...
The problem is with an old battery is that the battery voltage rises too quick, and 'fools' the charger into thinking it's had enough...
I put my batteries in a plastic bag, and cooled them to about -10 (easy for me, it was -10 outside when I did this - in fact, I stuck the whole laptop outside, while on charge!)
Your freezer's a bit vicious for this, but so long as you don't forget it, ½ an hour should be OK.
Freeze it, charge it, discharge it fully.
Do this about 3 times, you might be lucky. Nothing to lose, I guess...I got a couple back to 'acceptable' performance that way (from 1-2 minutes to about 30)
If you have a go, post how it went!

-Cheers
-Andyu

[akuira]

First is to find out the break. Actually, most often the problem is at the other end of the cable you show in the piccie. Just need a bit of well-targeted 'wiggling' to find out where the break is.

The break seems to be in the cylinder shell type thing that come right before the end peice that plugs into the back of my laptop.

Best way is to find a mate with a multimeter, and determine polarity that way.

Not sure what that means but if it comes to it I can write that down and say it to the guy at RadioShack and maybe get results?

As for the part about the freezer... Well let's just say that I don't have anything else except an old 366mhz desktop with no monitor, so I will hold off on that... Thanks for the sudjestion though.

[andycrofts]

The 'cylinder shell thing' - do you mean the black fat tube about 3" from the end? I'd be very surprised, because there's (usually) nothing in this. It's just a ferrite (metal) tube that the cable passes through. Could be wrong - I've only got the photograph to go by.

If you have a Radio Shack local, then I'd take the whole Power Supply in with you, and ask him which way round the connector is wired. He should be able to get a meter off the shelf and determine polarity.

Alternatively, maybe your local one-man TV repair shop can do the whole thing for a couple of bucks?

As to freezing, if you don't overdo it, there's no harm. Anyway, the battery's no good, and the laptop isn't really using it. I'd give it a try. Might save you an unwanted reboot if you accidentally knock the power lead out...
-Andy

[akuira]

Originally posted by andycrofts
[B]The 'cylinder shell thing' - do you mean the black fat tube about 3" from the end? I'd be very surprised, because there's (usually) nothing in this. It's just a ferrite (metal) tube that the cable passes through. Could be wrong - I've only got the photograph to go by.

Yes, that's what I meant. If it that weren't my break, is there a greater chance that it is in the actual connector. The peice that is right about (1-2") away from the fat black tube thing?

[akuira]

Do I need to wait for the battery to 'thaw out' before I charge it or would I just take it straight from the freezer to the computer?

It's in the freezer as we speak, hopefully this will work. :)

Thanks for all of your help andycrofts, I appreciate it.