Are your AC adapters hot?

I've been using my M40 for about five happy months now, when suddenly my old companion AC adapter decided to call it a day. I guess I should have seen the warning signs. For the past two months or so, when i was doing work, it would switch to battery mode for no reason, then switch back in about a minute. Sometimes when i walk by my laptop, i would notice the battery light is yellow (charging), yet it is always AC connected. Today, it switched to battery mode again, and did not switch back... ever. The AC power box, which used to be hot to the touch, has now cooled down for good. RIP.

Now i am buying another adapter tomorrow, and i hope to hell it is not the laptop problem, i heard horror stories about a faulty AC connector pin.... but my AC cord has never been loose and i very rarely pull it out, unless im moving the laptop from my room to the living room.

And im curious to know if your AC power boxes are very hot as well? If the laptop itself is hot i can understand, and its an eas problem to solve... prop it up, blow a fan at it, notebook coolers etc. But if the AC overheats, im in big trouble, i cant have a fan blowing at it 16 hours a day!

 

It's very common for them to get very warm and even hot in some cases. Like you said, hopefully it was just a bad adaptor and not an issue with the machine.

 

yea i agree totally i had my m40 for about a month and whenever i use the adapter it does get quite hot after a while...

 

Sky,
Did the replacement of power adapter work out for you?
I am having similar problem but I have a feelings its the AC pin. The charging light would go out, do a little wiggle and the charging lights come back on.

You mentioned about the dreaded AC commentor pin - can you tell me more about them?

Thank you,

 

Hi, I find at times my Compaq's power brick gets hot too. It happens especially when I'm on 110V (ie. when I travel to north america, which I've inadvertently done alot in the past year), and it doesn't get as hot doing the the same duties in 240V countries.

I'm guessing it's because of its inefficiency differences coping with different voltage inputs. As most laptops are made in asia, they could be optimised for their AC voltage locally and the support for 100V is merely an afterthought.

Althought I never had switching to battery issues.

 

Sorry everyone, i was very busy the last few days. Anyways i bought this M40-JM3 off a guy who works at the Toshiba factory, and not a retailer, so when i told him of this problem he sent me a new adapter really fast. Great guy. It works 100% now, maybe its just me but the adapter doesnt get that hot anymore, just warm. Before it actually hurts to hold it in your palm.

Now, let me specify that i think this model has many builds.. for example, when it first came out, many people reported the faint screeching sound, i heard it some times too, but its mostly gone now. Some people had a wiggly AC pin, mine is very solid. My AC pin is about 0.5cm in diameter. I could be totally wrong but i *think* the problem could be a power surge, which is more common than you think. I used to just plug it into the wall, or use a crappy power board thingy where the on/off light is broken. Now after this happened, i bought a new powerboard with fuse protection and all, hopefully i dont have this problem anymore.

I will post again if i encounter any further problems, or if anyhone has something speicifc to ask me!