T i m Inscribed thus:

Yesterday, thinking it /could/ be a socket and where the tiny inner /
3rd pin connects (thinking it might be a 'sense' wire and a socket was
cheap etc) I changed it for him but again, no improvement.

That third wire the centre pin, is a one wire data interface ! The idea
is to prevent you from using a charger that is/was not supplied by the
manufacturer. Its quite possible that since the laptop works happily
from the charger, that the communications inside the laptop charging
circuits has been damaged. The charger board and the mainboard come as
a pair. A salvaged charger board will not work with a different
mainboard.

HTH

Cheers, T i m

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Best Regards:
Baron.