200ARC dies when unplugged/plugged

So I just received this 200ARC that I bought off eBay for $225 shipped....a good price, and I don't ask too much of a laptop, other than surfing, and the occasional app. It's replacing my Gateway 450ROG w/ a dead mobo (also tried to work out a replacement for that first....long story).

Anyway, I received the laptop yesterday, and the CDRW/DVD drive has been acting a little funny, and v. slow at that, but that one I can deal with....the bigger problem is:

Whenever I unplug the AC power from it (or sometimes when I plug the ac power in), the laptop just dies immediately. Now obviously you would assume the battery is just dead....but that's not the case. The laptop will run fine off the battery (if started without AC Power plugged in) for almost 2 hours.

Any ideas? I've never really encountered this situation before....and for what it's worth, while I haven't done it to this laptop before, I feel very comfortable disassembling a laptop, as I've had to do it on countless different models.


Also on a minor side note....there doesn't seem to be any way to tighten the hinges on this model....am I mistaken? They seem to just be loose, and if I want to fix it, I'll have to replace them (around $50 on eBay, which is more than I care to spend to fix a minor-ish problem).

Thanks in advance.

 

28 views and nobody has even the foggiest?

 

I have the same problem. Even tough I have a fully charged battery, whenever the power cord gets unplugged, the whole computer turns off. I can't even put the computer in standby mode. If anybody knows of a solution to this problem i'd love to hear it.

As for the initial poster's other problems, there is no way to tighten the hinges without taking off the plastic covers at the base of the monitor... I don't recommend you do that. My computer screen got really loose once and I sent it in to get fixed, but that costs a fair bit of money if you don't have a warranty, so that's up to you. Can't help you with the messed up cd/dvd drive. Sorry.

 

I feel totally comfortable taking off the hinge covers...which I already did...but those were tight...I believe the problem to just be that the hinges are faulty at this point.

But yeah, some solution to this power problem would be nice....obviously some piece of hardware does the switching from ac to battery power, but I don't even know what it's called, how replaceable/repairable it is, etc. etc. Is this as simple as replacing the DC jack, or as complicated as finding a damaged trace on the mobo?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

bump....anybody?

 

Dude... you should call up Gateway and see what they have to say. I'm going to do that myself. If you find out anything, be sure to post about what you learn. Thanks!

 

still nobody has any idea what this might be?

 

final bump.....anyone? Please?