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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Absolute Nightmare

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I had a gig last night at my local venue and as we finished setting up i turned everything on to check sound etc. Switched on Laptop Xponent and External Hard Drive, no problems but noticed that laptop was running on Battery, So checked cables etc and noticed the green light was not on the power supply. I thought it was a fuse at first so changed the lead, still no power i thought to myself I'm in big trouble here :( I only had 3 cd's as I usally only bring if laptop fails and need to reboot. It turned out to be the power supply. So my driver had to go back home and borrow my bosses laptop and bring it to me later lucky. They were eating a dinner and my m8 turned up about 9.30pm with spare laptop. So plugged it in and everything was fine apart from using the onboard soundcard I managed to get through the rest of the night. I was glad when it was all over. I have to get a new power supply as i need to get it for next week.
 
Posted Sat 29 Nov 08 @ 2:24 pm
good info, i did'nt know that could fail. now one more thing to worry about :)
 
Two weeks ago I showed up with no power cord at all because I left it at home 45 minutes away. I had to look a for a best buy or circuit city and spend 80 more dollars. But now I keep both with me at all times and on the weekends I keep one plug up at location for the next night. I understand your panic.
 
I've seen where the jack where the power plugs into on a laptop and gets a back conection and the laptop will only run on batteries. i was able to take the laptop apart and resoder the conection and make it run again but it took the better part of the evening to get it to a point were I could test it before i put it back together, but it all worked out

so let this be a lesson learned do becareful with the power conection it is a bit fragile.

PS this laptop WAS NOT under warenty so i didnt void it
 
These are very common issues to being a digital dj. Someone who does regular venues will probaly come accross a problem like these.
I find the best way for this is to have some mixes already done and put them on a mp3 player as you can buy the cable converters from most music shops. This way saves you having to take a extra cd player and cds just incase you laptop goes down.
 
I had almost disaster tonight also, guy spilled drink on my mixer and my Iphone, lucky I was fast so I saved Iphone but mixer started to turn on led's, lucky the sound is still there. One of that nights ;) But all ok after all.
 
I usually purchase an extra backup on ebay for each laptop we buy for the company and keep it in its case. This way too we can keep one in the rack the laptop is assigned to.

I would hop on ebay and grab a replacement.. You most likely wont have the same problem again.

Hope next time will be better.

PS>>> Also I carry a nicely loaded IPOD ready with playlists just incase I have to drive back home "45 minutes" away.
 
Thanks for your replies & experiences guys. I have found a replacement on Ebay I will give the seller a ring on Monday to make sure that these power packs are no problem and if so will purchase 2 so this does not happen again.
 
I don't understand why these things are so expensive. You can buy a 50 ft extension cord for 1/3 of the price of a laptop power pack.

"Damn the man"
 
Hi i'm talking about the power pack that came with the laptop not some extension lead. If you mean something else then please tell me where you had seen such items. Many thanks
 
fatkatzdj wrote :
I don't understand why these things are so expensive. You can buy a 50 ft extension cord for 1/3 of the price of a laptop power pack.

"Damn the man"


totally agree with you fatz, another example of "market forces" where the consumer is shafted....
 
dgreene wrote :
I usually purchase an extra backup on ebay for each laptop we buy for the company and keep it in its case. This way too we can keep one in the rack the laptop is assigned to.

I would hop on ebay and grab a replacement.. You most likely wont have the same problem again.

Hope next time will be better.

PS>>> Also I carry a nicely loaded IPOD ready with playlists just incase I have to drive back home "45 minutes" away.


+1

Ebay is the way to go, i picked up a new replacement for $15.
 
This is one reason why I do not use a laptop. I use a 4U rackmount PC with a hot-swappable redundant power supply. If one burns out, the backup takes over seamlessly.
 
I always take a backup laptop with me. This way I don't have to prepare backup CD's or iPod playlists. (I hate ipod's!!!)
 
Make shure if you buy an adaptor that it's genuine as some after market ones are poor quality and dont fit real good.
 


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