Sager NP9170 will not start up

I bought this laptop in the middle of August 2012, and it has served me well for the past six months with very minimal problem. All of that changed about 8 days ago.

About last week during school, I noticed that the DC port had a loose ring (not sure what it's called) was loose and fell out. I put it back in and notice the plastic part that used to hold the metal ring was broken and split into two pieces. Quite weird, but okay, I'll just put it back in and superglue it later!

I didn't superglue it, but I've been placing the ring and plastic pieces in the computer after I unplug it, and plugging it back in was not a problem; the computer charged and everything was fine.

Yesterday the computer worked fine, then I went to various places throughout the day, but when I got home around 10 pm, the computer wouldn't start unplugged, so I figured the battery was drained (and it likely was), so I went to plug the laptop in. "[insert expletive here]! The plug won't fit!" I gave up after five minutes of attempting to fix it.

This morning I was able to get the plug in after the use of some tweezers, but the computer wouldn't start, although there are two yellow lights on at the edge of the laptop indicating that there is at least a charge going to the lights. This is extremely frustrating and I'm not sure what to do.


Also, is Sager pronounced with a soft or hard "g"?

 

It sounds like some of the plastic got wedged in the port and caused the pin misalignment which in turn may have caused damage to the DC board. It's making connection per those yellow lights, but possibly not enough to actually do something. I'm not an expert when it comes to DC port problems though so others feel free to chime in, but I'm pretty confident that this will require an RMA with your reseller. Shoot them a call or an email and see what it is that they suggest your next step is.

 

I bought it from XoticPC, so where can I get an RMA? (also what does that stand for?)

Also, a couple of sparks flew when I plugged it back in. It is unplugged now, but the lights are still blinking, but go away when I press the power button.

I am also noticing that the four pins seem to be bent slightly. I assume this extremely undesirable.

 

RMA stands for Return Merchandise Authorization. Your situation definitely isn't sounding like the best case scenario, sparks = bad. We have the form on our site underneath the support section on our site. I'll shoot you a PM with the URL.

Scratch that... You need 2 more posts before PM is allowed. Wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for this, but here is the link. RMA

 

The website recommends that I back up my HDD before sending it in for repairs, but I can't make a backup unless the computer is on. What do I do?

 

That's a little more tough but it's unlikely that you'll even need to send the HDD with it if you wanted to leave it out. Double check with your service rep when they respond to your form submitted but that shouldn't be a problem to keep with you for this kind of repair.

 

One last question: how long will it take for shipping each way and repairs? (I live in central Texas)

 

It's going to be shipping to California for this, so I'd estimate about 4 business days for ground and then maybe about a week or so at Sager. I'm not sure what their current turnaround is right now, but that service rep should have a pretty good idea for you.

 

From Texas to California is probably closer to a week (6 days, give or take a day). I'm going off FedEx Express Saver shipping estimations though - if you go UPS or USPS, it's going to be roughly the same but there may be a slight variance.

 

long 'a,' hard 'g.' [say-guhr]

 

holy smokes... sparks... sounds like somethnig is shorted.....

 

Whatever wound up being the problem? I have the same exact issue.

The outer plastic ring to the DC jack broke. The cage then twisted off of the grounding pin.
I soldered a piece of wire from the pin on the bottom of the board to the cage for the DC jack.

I have 18V to the battery. But no charging lights, no nothing. Which is what i had before i soldered the ground back together.