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Would intermittent contact with the service voltage and capacitors in a power supply (inrush current) damage a computer?

Tags:
  • Hardware
  • Power Supplies
  • Computers
  • Laptop Battery
  • Laptops
  • Software
  • Surge Protector
Last response: in Systems
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July 17, 2014 9:10:31 PM

This is sort of a repeat of a question I've asked other places, but I can only seem to get vague, general answers; what I'm looking for is very specific answers to two particular questions. (If you'd like to take a look at my previous questions in the same general vein, they can be seen here: http://superuser.com/questions/784643/would-intermitten... and here: http://superuser.com/questions/784306/agghhh-ups-back-u... )

So, If I plugged my laptop AC Adapter power cable into a UPS, causing sparks to blast out (and being unable to insert it due to the UPS being seemingly not designed for this type of plug, for whatever reason), and possibly I thought I might have heard like a little bit of a popping sound coming from the computer or the wire when I was trying to plug it in, but I think that sometimes happens anyway when I first plug it in if it's been off or in sleep mode for awhile, but if, as I was told by someone else previously, the cause of this was intermittent contact with the service voltage and capacitors in the power supply charging up (inrush current) then, my two questions are:

1. Would this be likely to have caused component damage and/or failure within the computer itself?

2. What means (software, hardware, or anything else) might I be able to use to determine conclusively whether or not damage had occurred and what steps would need to be taken to replace or repair any damaged hardware, software, or other within my notebook computer?

More about : intermittent contact service voltage capacitors power supply inrush current damage computer

a b ) Power supply
a b D Laptop
August 16, 2014 2:22:13 PM

thefinalson said:
This is sort of a repeat of a question I've asked other places, but I can only seem to get vague, general answers; what I'm looking for is very specific answers to two particular questions. (If you'd like to take a look at my previous questions in the same general vein, they can be seen here: http://superuser.com/questions/784643/would-intermitten... and here: http://superuser.com/questions/784306/agghhh-ups-back-u... )

So, If I plugged my laptop AC Adapter power cable into a UPS, causing sparks to blast out (and being unable to insert it due to the UPS being seemingly not designed for this type of plug, for whatever reason), and possibly I thought I might have heard like a little bit of a popping sound coming from the computer or the wire when I was trying to plug it in, but I think that sometimes happens anyway when I first plug it in if it's been off or in sleep mode for awhile, but if, as I was told by someone else previously, the cause of this was intermittent contact with the service voltage and capacitors in the power supply charging up (inrush current) then, my two questions are:

1. Would this be likely to have caused component damage and/or failure within the computer itself?

YES.

2. What means (software, hardware, or anything else) might I be able to use to determine conclusively whether or not damage had occurred and what steps would need to be taken to replace or repair any damaged hardware, software, or other within my notebook computer?

If you haven't already, I'd unplug the A/C adapter and attempt to power up on battery power. If all goes well there you can try it with the A/C adapter plugged in to the wall rather than your welder. Smile. Just kidding on that part. As far as testing goes, even an electronics repair facility is going to attempt to power on prior to doing testing with a dvom so you might as well try that first.


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