Hearing a "sparking" sounds from laptop power supply

Gonmun

So, last night I was about to sit down for some playing of the WoW when my fiancee and mother in law heard a sound in the living room. They thought it sounded like an electrical crackle or spark so I investigated and it would appear that one of my cats has chewed or clawed at the power cord for my laptop power supply a bit. Now there aren't any wires exposed or anything along those lines but certainly it is a bit disconcerting. Should I look at replacing this? Will electrical tape help and putting the cord out of their reach?

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Shoe-Eater

I would strongly advise replacing it.(this sounds like a fire hazard)

Even though no wires are exposed, there could still be wires that were forced together or insulation that was broken inside the cord, when the cat chewed it.

if you're on a budget, you could always cut the wire and remove the chewed section, and splice the wires back together, make sure to properly cover the wires though, the best solution would be to get some shrink tube to do this.

Be careful if this isnt done right, you could have a fire situation on your hands.

I still strongly suggest you replace the power supply.

Helloween

To be perfectly honest. Just replace the cable. I would be well worried of it become a hazard.

Gonmun

Yeah, I'm gonna check online to see what I can find so as to replace it. Hopefully I can find something relatively inexpensive and that wouldn't cost to much for shipping as I'm in Canada.

FightTest

I've got a Dell laptop with the power input in the back which means unless you use it on a desk it's always bent at a 90 degree angle (which for me is always). After about a year the little rubber retainer part that's supposed to prevent breakage broke, and soon after it started making sparking noises at that joint.

I wrapped it in tape and made sure it was unplugged if I wasn't around and it lasted a few more weeks before it simply stopped working.

So aside from being a fire hazard and super dangerous if your cat is chewing on it, when you do replace it go to eBay rather than the manufacturer. Dell wanted $70 for a new power unit and I got one on eBay for $20. It does seem a little flimsier (cord is thinner) but when I can buy 3 for the price of 1 who cares when the expensive one still doesn't even last a year.

Awk

Same thing happened to my laptop adapter.

Ebay to the rescue. It was like 10 bucks to get a new adapter

Praise ebay!!