Laptop questions (long read, sorry)

[dcandage]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple of questions about a laptop I have been given. It's an AMS Tech Travel Pro, Pentium 266, 32 MB Ram, Win95, 56k pcmcia modem, cd-rom, floppy, USB port, connections on back for a printer, monitor, joystick and mouse and keyboard. The company doesn't exist anymore. When I got it, the previous owner had abused it. The cooling fan was busted and the cutout in the case for the fan to pass air through had been cut out. The case had gotten hot enough to melt it against the fan. The power supply I had gotten with it doesn't work, and the battery is so dead it won't take a charge. picture of the battery . I have been in touch with a battery place online that can rebuild it for $120 (ouch!). I haven't run it much, because I had to borrow a power supply from work that was on another identical laptop (don't have access to it anymore). It did work when I ran it. No errors or anything. I didn't run it long, because I didn't want to burn it up. I searched online and found the company that made the fan, so, for about $23 I have a new fan installed. I used a paint removal gun to heat up the plastic to move it away from the fan so it wouldn't hit it. Well, it kind of worked. Except if you put any kind of downward pressure on the laptop, you can hear the fan buzz against the cover. I can rig something up to take care of that, so that's not much of a concern. My main concern is the power supply. picture of the power supply I have been checking around, and it seems that if I can even get something that might work with it, it's going to cost $100 or more. Can't the old one be fixed? All it does is take 110v and turn it into 19v 2.6a and I assume regulate it so there aren't any spikes or drops in power. I would think that any supply would work as long as it met these standards and the plug fit (I'm even willing to hardwire it into the machine). I doubt I'll keep this thing long, since it's so outdated, but I think it would be ok to use for a while to download images from our new Canon D30 digital camera when we're at a wedding as long as it's stable.

Any help will be appreciated. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about the inner workings. I do know enough to have built the desktop I have, but keeping it running well gives me fits.

[glc]

Radio Shack has 19 volt power supplies that are a lot cheaper than $100. They won't put out 2.6 amps, but if the battery is shot anyway, you don't need one that powerful - the 2.6 amp rating is determined by the need to be able to charge the battery AND run the machine simultaneously. I think theirs are 1.5 amps - this should be sufficient.

Good luck with the AMS - their LCD screens have a reputation for early failure, which is what I think put them out of business.

[PardeGT]

This may be a deal for you, its listed as 19v 2.2a but may work for you and there is a picture - plus cheap!

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1269857055

[dcandage]

Thanks for the help, folks. You can keep the ideas coming, too. About the Radio Shack power supply. Is it computer specific, or just a generic 19v supply? My power supply doesn't say AMS Tech on it. It's a Delta Electronics unit. Maybe the original was a 2.2ah unit.

[glc]

Hmm - I just checked radioshack.com - and the only adapters are $119.95 - they are adjustable 12 to 24 volt with about 6 socket adapters - but they are high power (one is 4.5 amps and the other is "up to" 8 amps). You might check with your local store because a friend of mine manages one - and he told me a while ago that he has travelers in all the time looking for them - and his "are not powerful enough to run the laptop and charge the battery simultaneously".

[dcandage]

I took the laptop to Radio Shack yesterday and they had a unit for $80. 6-24v. Don't remember amps (I think it was 3ish. I think it also said max 35watts). We plugged it in and it seemed to work fine. Outside diameter of the pin connector needed to be a little wider, but Radio Shack doesn't make one that wide. My guess is the computer's connector has been stretched out. While I had it on, I found out there are nice little yellow exclamation marks next to the IDE controllers. Something else to play with when I get some regular power to it. I have none of the disks that came with it (oh, joy). Might upgrade it to WIN98 SE. But maybe not with only 32 mb ram. Does a laptop use regular edo ram like in a desktop?

I'm also tempted to rebuild the battery myself. I know I can do it, but first I need to get the thing apart. It's been welded shut. What's the best way to cut it open and still retain roughly the same size and shape?

Thanks again, Keep it coming...
Dave

[glc]

Nope - most laptops use SODIMM chips - and they are going to be hard to find for that model. I would spend a bare minimum on that machine to keep it going - because honestly it's likely to die any time. Win 98 will run on 32 megs acceptably if you do not multitask with it. Good chance it's virus-ridden if the IDE controllers are flagged - that can be symptomatic of a boot sector virus.