Oh, and by the way, forgot an important point... and to be a little more complete... Updating is not a problem except for when the BIOS needs to be updated...such as with the Vista Service Pack, which HP includes a BIOS update in the process. To follow the usual precaution of non-interrupted power, the HP system requires/FORCES connection to AC...but only stops you after the lengthy download and along time into the update process...and will not proceed on battery power alone (stops at the BIOS flashing step); possibly some tech guru can tell you how to bypass this but I did not run across a method.. Hence my research into docking stations and the HP-Dock purchase with the hope that powering through the cardbus slot with the Dock would allow BIOS flashing and sp1 etc...but I never got a chance to try it as I was limited in the hand carry over-seas to a couple items and sent the new motherboard and external charger as more fail-safe... So, 1) the external battery charger is a cheap interim solution and handy...

Researched same problem for HP dv9543/9500 9000 series; Had similarly hoped it was the power jack feet with broken solder...unfortunately not. On dis-assembly I found that the socket is designed to preclude this by having its own mini-board and then a cable goes from there to the motherboard. It appears to be likely a charging chip or similar. You likely can run the laptop by charging the battery, which tells you that the laptop is otherwise functioning normally. As a stop-gap solution you can get an external battery charger that will connect to the battery directly (EBay); two batteries and you can alternate. And/or the HP-Dock which may power the laptop via the cardbus slot with a cable connecting them (as apposed to the direct docking); and the AC adapter you have, plugs into and powers the HP-Dock. Also saw on ebay a vendor that would fix the charging circuit section (or other issues) for $75 I believe. Unfortunately, my laptop was with the offspring overseas in the jungle, and had to send another...

Researched same problem for HP dv9543/9500 9000 series; Had similarly hoped it was the power jack feet with broken solder...unfortunately not. On dis-assembly I found that the socket is designed to preclude this by having its own mini-board and then a cable goes from there to the motherboard. It appears to be likely a charging chip or similar. You likely can run the laptop by charging the battery, which tells you that the laptop is otherwise functioning normally. As a stop-gap solution you can get an external battery charger that will connect to the battery directly (EBay); two batteries and you can alternate. And/or the HP-Dock which will power the laptop via the cardbus slot with a cable connecting them. Also saw on ebay a vendor that would fix the charging circuit section (or other issues) for $75 I believe. Unfortunately, my laptop was with the offspring overseas in the jungle, and had to send another motherboard to him via a friend. Further unfortunately, the replacement motherboard had the graphics...