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Anyone with a Compaq Contura 4/25?

Z

zombienerd

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2017
Messages
558
Location
New Hampshire
Does anyone have one of these laptops and a caliper that can measure the OD and ID of the barrel plug? The documentation and "replacement" supplies I can find online all list 4mm x 1.7mm, but just eyeballing the jack tells me that's incorrect. The center pin on the laptop appears to be 2.5-4mm somewhere. I don't have a caliper here to measure the jack. It's definitely larger than any of the supplies I have, as none will seat the center pin.

I won the laptop for $10 off the Goodwill online auction, and am foaming to plug it in and see if it still lives.

Any assistance would be most appreciated!
 
I'd just buy a selection of jack plugs with various different internal dimensions. At some point the ones that don't fit are likely to come in handy someday. Tip (I wish I'd though of before I did something similar) Label them, then you can order more of the right size, instead of trying to measure the internal diameter with drill bits, and still order the wrong one:)
 
I found the service manual for the 4/25, 4/33C laptops, and looked up the factory P/N for the original brick. I found one on Amazon for 10 bucks. It came in, and the plug was the wrong size. For some reason, the 4/25C is different than the other Aeros.

So, I ballparked the size, then I ordered a few different size plugs from a site online. If any of them don't fit, I'm going to desolder the jack and install a standard 5.5x2.5 lol.. The jack is on a removable board in this laptop, which really surprised me. Wouldn't take me very long to swap it out. I'd rather keep it original though.
 
So, plug came in, wrong size... Of course.

So, I pulled out the power supply board, desoldered the jack, couldn't find a jack that met the pin spacing, so I soldered in a few wires with a temporary external 5.5x2.5 and tried to turn it on for the first time.

It works perfectly! Loaded right up into Windows 3.1, had "Taskmate" or something similar set to the default shell. I made a backup copy of it before deleting it, as I needed the HD space and prefer Windows Program Manager. Floppy and Hard Drive work 100%, screen is perfect!

I still need to replace the coin cell CMOS battery and order a proper 5.5x2.5 through hole jack, but it's alive and kicking! I'm quite happy with the little baby laptop.
 
Unknown_K said:
One of the pains about collecting laptops is finding a working power brick. A universal power brick comes in hand and even then I needed to buy adapters for the plug end (they fit over a standard end).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28in1-Univ...Adapter-Connector-Plug-for-Apple/302266751825

This way you can get the correct voltage and correct plug.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is I purchased what was supposed to be the original AC adapter, and it was relatively cheap. The problem is that the Service Manual didn't mention the 4/25C used a different adapter than the 4/25 or 4/33C. The adapter was 5.5x2.5, 17.5 volts. Works perfectly with the laptop now that I added the right jack :p
 
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