[The Work Desk] [1] [2] For the past few months the cord was getting more and more touchy and the slightest movement of the laptop would cause it to come loose and stop supplying power. Yesterday, it finally gave out. Wlofie [3] said that he would be happy to help fix the cord, so we went to Radio Shack [4] to pick up a new tip for the cord, as well as some shrink tubing and glue sticks.
We had the old end with us in the store and I picked what appeared to the correct power tip to use, but when we got home, the tip turned out to be too small to use. To today, I went back to Radio Shack, taking both the non-fitting tip and my laptop so I could try various tips to see which one would fit.
[The New Cord] [5] [6] Upon returning home with a tip that fits, Wlofie then spent the next half our or so soldering the new tip, and using the shrink tube and glue stick to make sure the new end would remain solid. The resulting job, I think, was quite well done; Wlofie, however, feels as if he could have done a much better job.
Now to get with my source of ThinkPad parts and see if I can't get a replacement power cord.
[1] /boston/2004/06/18/thumb.desk.jpg
[2] /boston/2004/06/18/desk.jpg
[4] http://www.radioshack.com/
[5] /boston/2004/06/18/thumb.new.cord.jpg