About 2 weeks ago, the ground prong on my laptop power adapter broke off. The laptop seemed to work fine without itso I went on with my usual business for a week plugging it in with only two prongs.

However, three days ago, my laptop died and hasn't woken up since. It doesn't power up at all.

At first I thought it was a static discharge problem, so I went through the usual power drain procedure. No luck.

Did I fry my laptop?

Not having a grounding prong on the cord is no reason for the laptop to blow. I will speculate however that if you had it plugged in and your laptop experienced a rather nice power surge, it could be fried. Does the battery recharge? Try using a different power cord. Remove the battery for a few hours.

The battery seems to have a charge (there is a little indicator on the battery itself... but when I plug it in, the indicator light doesnt say it's charging... also, I tried using another power cord from someone else's laptop, but it didn't work either...

I'll try leaving the battery out for awhile... but it looks like it might have to go into the shop...

well this definately isn't what I thought the topic was about..

I was going to say, "sure. just don't burn your legs; put a towel in between to keep the heat off your nards."

But I guess that's not the topic, afterall.

Oh well.

Hello,

First - Is this laptop under warranty? If so - stop fiddling, purchase a new power cord from manufacturer, claim ignorance and get it swapped out -

If not......

Is this an IBM PC or Apple Mac laptop? (world of difference with regards to trouble shooting this particular issue).
If Mac is it an older or newer Powerbook - have you already tried the "PRAM" reset, etc?

Some common issues that can be gone through though

Are you sure battery is getting a charge?(is there a little button to push on battery to check level or do you have a multimeter to slap on that puppy and check voltage?)

Could be a bad memory module, cold solder joint on board where power connector is, etc - You may be able to hit manufacturer web site and find a troubleshooting flowchart for just this issue.

Take Care,

Glenn

after not touching the laptop in days, I tried powering it up today...

and it worked... upon which I promptly turned it off to conserve the battery charge. (there is a small button and the battery still has a full charge).

I can only assume that there was a major amount of static discharge, possibly on the motherboard itself... I am in the process of getting myself a new power cord...

That is great news. Glad to hear all is well so far. Now, if only I could get my connection to work.

dude, you gotta stop rubbing it that way...