[Rezert]

I own a Compaq CQ60-214DX laptop computer. I got it on sale at BestBuy and have had it for 6 months. I've had hardly any problems with it, and any that I did have were easy enough to fix. However, I've now run into a big problem.

About a week ago, my laptop charger broke. I figured it was odd for only 6 months, but hey, it wasn't a huge deal. We went to BestBuy and they said that it was still under the 1 year warranty with Compaq and we could call them and get a new one. In the meantime, we could buy a charger for $89.99 and return it to them within 30-days.

All great and fine, huh? Until last night. The charger was working fine, I went to the ice rink where my sister was having a hockey clinic. While she was playing, I was working on finishing up a Flash game. It was all fine. We went to pick up my aunt from the airport and I kept working on my game. We got home and my laptop died. I went out to get my charger and plugged it in. That's when it decided it wasn't going to work.

I was frantically trying all the three-prong plugs in our house and finally found one that was working. The session resumed, I logged in and then...it died. Actually died. It didn't go into saved session mode, it died.

The light started flickering a few times and then it went out.

My question is, what do I do? Obviously return the charger and call Compaq for a new charger, but what can I do for this one? It's not like I threw the charger around or anything. I do remember quite a few instances where my first charger started getting very hot, but not the second one, and I don't think the second one would break that quickly (about a week.)

Any ideas?

Oh, also, the person at BestBuy said that a reason they sometimes break is - not power surges - but power fluctuations. He said the solution was some type of battery pack (not sure of the name) that changes it from "Wall -> Charger -> Laptop" to "Wall -> Battery -> Charger -> Laptop." The thing about doing it this way is that if the wall battery runs out, it completely cuts off the power running to the charger, so it doesn't fluctuate.

Thanks for any help.

[no2pencil]

The solution is easy.

a.) Don't buy crap from Best Buy
b.) Only use OEM chargers that are designed specifically for your laptop.

Sure they are a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for in my opinion. Dell is also a major pain in the neck with this, as they use ICs in their power bricks so that the laptop can detect a third party adapter.

Hopefully you get this correct in a reasonable time frame. Best of luck!

[Rezert]

no2pencil, on 13 Aug, 2009 - 01:49 PM, said:

The solution is easy.

a.) Don't buy crap from Best Buy
b.) Only use OEM chargers that are designed specifically for your laptop.

Sure they are a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for in my opinion. Dell is also a major pain in the neck with this, as they use ICs in their power bricks so that the laptop can detect a third party adapter.

Hopefully you get this correct in a reasonable time frame. Best of luck!

Let's see...

a.) Two parts:
1. There are no longer any computer stores in my area besides them.
2. They are the best computer store I've found. Geek Squad is very cheesy / corny / fail, but they DO know (some of them) what they are talking about.
b.) What's an OEM charger? The charger I bought is the exact same charger my laptop came with.

I am actually using my brother's Dell charger (in a different outlet) right now, as I right this post.