Power plug getting HOT

[osubuckeye]

Hi all. Over the years I've gotten great help from tom's hardware deep supply of knowledge all things tech. So when my laptop started acting up I though I'd ask the community about my issue. Thank you in advance.

Issue: the plug that goes into the side of my laptop is getting really hot. I can feel a heat when I grab the plug's thick plastic and I cannot touch the metal jacket around the plug as I take it off for more than a second.

details:
*This heat builds up in about 5 minutes. The nature of the plug is such that it quickly cools and I can plug it back in to continue charging.
*When it gets too hot, the laptop starts flashing on the screen "AC mode" - "Battery Mode"... repeat repeat repeat. In layman's terms... it freaks out.
*The amount of power consumption may have something to do with the rapidity of the heat building up. i.e., when I turn on and browse the web it takes 5 min, when I turn on and dive into photoshop to do some editing and make my CPU and GPU hit 50% load it takes half that time.
*The power cord itself (and brick) is nice and cool, just the plug that gets hot.
*The Power supply is OEM, 2 years old
*This happened at my friend's house too so that rules out the outlet feeding the brick too much power

ASUS G73JH i7240QM

could it be the internal plug? How would you diagnose the problem?

 

[raytseng]

you may have a short in the plug/cable.
Try a different cable and see if you get the same result (if your power supply breaks down into the brick+cable); or new Power supply.

If you get the same result, then you may have a problem with your internal power connection yes

However, if you have warranty, call asus instead (or wherever you bought the computer) and get them to fix it before you spend a dime.

while your computer is working, I'd take the opportunity to back up everything that is important

 

[ss202sl]

^+1 Sounds like a short. It needs to be replaced.

 

[maestro0428]

I would replace the power supply too.

 

[osubuckeye]

The brick and chord do not separate so I'm going to have to replace the power supply if the plug is broken.

If I take a multimeter and test the voltage and amperage coming out of the adapter would you say that clears the adapter as the issue?

I could buy a new power supply but that's like $40. A new AC jack is $5.

I'm guessing it's come down to one of those 2 things as the issue.

 

[raytseng]

see if you can borrow first or test at a store or something; cause if it doesn't change a thing, then you've wasted $40; and adds insult to the fact that something internal in your laptop is not working.

I would still call Asus up and ask.