[lug] Opening laptops

[Chris Riddoch]

Quick question to those of you who have dealt with hardware
problems on laptops before.

My laptop has developed a problem in the AC jack. The plug
has two parts to it - one that plugs into the wall, and one
that plugs into the laptop. Plugging them together and testing
it with a voltmeter shows that power is being correctly
with the cord I have. Plugging that into my laptop, however,
has no effect. The laptop runs off the battery when it's plugged
in, the battery won't charge, and there's no indication that
current is actually getting into the laptop. This suggests that
there's a problem just inside the laptop where the power cord
connects. Major pain- I suspect that little plug is hardwired to
the motherboard.

But it's just a small connector. Maybe it's bent wrong or
something, but I can't even get the laptop open to look at
what's wrong.

I can bring it all to BLUG if someone's willing to help me look
at it after the meeting, but if the correct answer is "Don't try
to fix that yourself," where's a decent place in Boulder that
knows how to take care of Gateway laptops and won't charge me
a huge amount to do it?

Thanks,

--
Chris Riddoch       | epistemological
chris at oskitchen.com | humility