laptop adapters

've been having bad luck with adapters, and I was wondering if it had anything to do with my laptop, which is a 4 yo hp pavilion ze2000. My original adapter lasted for 2 years plus then died from physical tearing. My second one, from Ebay, lasted a year before it started overheating too much and making weird hissing noise. I then bought a solid looking Belkin adapter from Fry's, which I used for a few months in Australia before it mysteriously stopped working. My most recent one (Ebay) just died suddenly after a month of use, no overheating or physical damage, but there is something jingling around loose inside it. I try to buy the most reliable looking adapters from Ebay, and the Belkin one looked really solid and reliable. What is going on?

Hi, 4 Network adapters in 4 years….that's quite a record, and far beyond what would normally be expected…… Have you tested them all in different machines to make sure they really are US? If they are all USB type then maybe its time to consider a PCMCIA or similar type…? or vice versa? Try and get one with a good "provenance" and first class guarantee/warranty…….Netgear WG111 is a good example of a USB type with a strong reputation for reliability Regards paws

I'm not sure what you mean by adaptors, but I agree there is something not right to go through them like that whatever they are, more so if it's not restricted to a single brand\model as it does away with the probability of bad batches. My first instinct is to get the mains checked in your place, or at the least get a surge protector because if your place has bad wiring it could be power spikes taking these out, a surge protector helps stop this, a UPS device is even better, but not as affordable, heres hoping it's nothing to bad going on.

Sorry for being ambiguous. I meant ac adapters

I did wonder if thats what you meant, it definitely sounds like a power issue (hence my reply above), and as such there are 2 suspects, 1st is bad supply's, cheap and nasty ones cause no end of trouble, but the fact you've gone through a few varying makes rules that out, not unless every single one was a bargain basement job, then it's about as bad a luck you could get going through this, The 2nd is as I said above, the wiring in your place is probably bad, and your getting lots of power spikes, in which case you really need to get your wiring checked out, because something is very wrong, and it may be extremely dangerous (electrical fire, or worse), unless your in an area where they have a low standard and see this as normal, but if I faced that I'd be getting someone in to check things out, but in the mean time a surge protector should help, it certainly can't hurt, or a UPS would be the ideal, but this is what I suspect your situation is.