Thats for fixing defogger traces. It has been used but it isn't nearly as strong as solder. The hard part isn't the soldering for traces, its scraping away at the silicon. You have to work very slowly and carefully and preferably under a magnifying glass. You are scraping paint thin silicon, then trying not to destroy the equally thin tiny copper trace. I used to mod xboxs on xbox-scene, I also got a lot of repair jobs from kids trying to install a chip and burnt up half the traces. So I got pretty good at it.

 

Well, I checked it again last night. All 3 prongs appear to be just fine. No matter which way i wiggled the cord....nothing. I am beginning to think it is exactly what JimBlake has said. it is a Dell Lattitude. I am not sure of the submodel though. I'll have to check that later and go look for the recall.
Thanks again to all.
JimBlake I wish I could help you, but computers have never been my expertise or passion.

 

If you can see the pins then it isn't the pins I am talking about. Those pins connect the power plug to to the socket. I am talking about the pins that connect the socket to the motherboard inside the laptop. Only way to see them is to take it apart, which laptops are a pain to do.

 

Oh I see. I kind of doubt I will be undertaking that anytime soon. I don't know though. i guess I could look at it like this: "What do I really have to lose?"

 

On my C640, the flakyness seems to be IN the end of the cable that plugs directly into the computer.



[IMG]local://upfiles/4158/46BA53027F744FA49F41DDFCE647D7D4.jpg[/IMG]