The Slash wrote:

Yeah, the barrel is bent. I tried to bend it back a little, and if i
wobble it around i can get the charging light to come on, but it never
stays on for more than a few seconds. I can't solder, and I have no
test equipment. I found an adapter on eBay for 40 cents, but I just
wanna make sure it'll work before I buy anything. Is there a way to
tell? Is the charging light coming on occasionally an indication of a
problem internally, or is it an indication that everything is find on
the outside and that the problem is the bent barrel? Because if it's
the former, a new adapter would obviously have no effect.

Laptop power connectors are utterly shockingly poor !

Graham