Torner

Does anyone know how to replace a power supply in an HP Pavilion ZT3380
laptop please?

The power plug seems to be exceptionally loose and if the computer shuts
down, you can occasionally get it turned on again by turning the plug around
in the socket 180 degrees so that something makes contact with something
again. But I don't think this is the whole story.

The computer does work as a desktop but once it did shut down overnight for
no apparent reason and once during use while I was trying to soak-test it
for this very problem. When it shut down overnight, by the morning, when I
turned it on, the orange charge light having presumably been on all night,
it showed 0% charge. Suspicious.

More importantly it shuts down completely if you accidentally jiggle the
plug, not going to battery power at all. In addition, when you start it with
a largely dead battery and then try to plug it in to charge the battery, the
battery doesn't charge at all. It CAN also show an orange charge light
overnight when off and by the morning, show no increase in charge: This
doesn't just seem to be a loose plug!

I upgraded the BIOS and this seemed to improve things for a very short
while, with the new BIOS having a battery calibration utility which worked
once. However, now it wont even charge the System Battery except
excruciatingly slowly. Isn't the system battery something like a
rechargeable CR2025? Which should discharge/charge in a few minutes. When
the battery utility did discharge/recharge the main battery, it did do it in
around a half an hour.

We HAVE tried changing the AC adapter in case the problem was with the
internal wiring of the plug itself and isolated that as not being the issue.

Someone once referred me to a service manual for my Pavilion 5415 which had
a similar problem but I cant now find the reference to it (and replacing the
power supply for the 5415 involved a completely uneconomical taking apart of
the whole computer down virtually to the last screw!). These internal power
supplies do occasionally come up on ebay and sell for a few bucks. possibly
for this reason?

Hopefully the situation wont be the same for the 3880? Though an alarming
number of them seem to come up very cheaply at places like Fry's, -
reconditioned .

(Incidentally it refers to itself on its screen panel as a ZT3000, on its
underside as a ZT3300 and on it serial number plate as a ZT3380US)

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brandname2007

I am going to speak from the perspective as an HP Certified APS, and a carPC enthusiast.

First, often when there are issues with the ac input being "loose" mainly indicates the replacement of the motherboard, as it is the only way to fix the problem, ***UNLESS*** that particular model contains a daughter board that contains the AC input jack. Note that most HP laptops boards listed online are often times a DC DC voltage conversion board, but that will do you absolutely no good, as it has nothing to do with the jack. This is not what you need. It will most likely be a sub board, that, depending upon the model, also will contain the ethernet jack or USB ports, but not always, again, depending upon the model. I would not be able to tell for sure, because the only real way to get detailed info, would be if you told me what the Serial number and Product number of the laptop was. It is possible for me to get you the service manual for it, however, you may be surprised to know that most of the times, even we have to totally take the laptop apart in order to replace something as small as a daughter board. Granted, it is a pain in the *** but, when doing it as often as I do, you get resectively quick at it.

Now to address the BIOS system battery, or CMOS battery - these are NOT rechargable. They are a simple watch battery that sits in a specially designed location of the laptop, either straight on motherboard or in a sealed package with two power leads that plug into a spot on the motherboard. CMOS uses so little battery power merely to hold the systems date and time, as well as a few flashed BIOS settings, and the often times last for a few years before needing replacement.

Likewise, as aforementioned, I can see if I can get the HP service manual for you, since I have access to all that spiffy good stuff that the average joe does not, but no guarantees, since it is a home/home office class notebook. I typically work on business class notebooks and desktops, but I could definitely try to get it for you. The only things I will require are the serial number and product number. Feel free to let me know or ask me anything else, if you wish.

Brandon.