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PSA: booted a dying laptop off a $4 goodwill charger and it posted first try
Client brought in a 2013 Toshiba Satellite last Tuesday, said it was dead, no lights, nothing. I had it on the bench for 20 minutes swapping power bricks with no luck, then found a $4 universal charger at the Goodwill on 5th just to test the jack. Plugged it in, held the power button, and it fired right up, battery even held a 62 percent charge. Turned out the OEM brick was outputting 0 volts on the barrel. Anyone else keep a bin of cheap junk chargers just for jack testing?
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dylanwilliams1mo ago
Keeping a bin of mystery chargers is how you fry boards. That universal brick might say 19V on the label but plenty of them float way over that, and a 2013 Toshiba will not shrug off 24 volts to the barrel. You got lucky this time, but the next junk charger could cook the jack or the charge circuit and turn a $4 fix into a dead board. If you want to test a jack, meter the brick first or use a known good supply with the right tip. Cheap junk is fine for scrap piles, not for stuff you plan to hand back to a customer.
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