Member Avatar for evangelionM

hi,

Im new to the board, have a dell inspiron 4150, been running for a couple years with no problems. lately, been having problems powering up the computer with my ac adapter. I figured that it was becuase of the crimped ac cord as it had no probems starting with my batt (as long as it was charged).

Here comes the problem.

My original ac adapter no longer can power up the computer (no matter how i try to reposition the plug) and my battery has run out of juice. ive already ordered a new ac adapter plug, but it STILL doesnt work.

Am i looking at a loose connection between mother board and ac adapter inlet? or is it something worse than that? since i have no juice on my battery i dont know if it will still boot regardless of the ac adapter.

any help or input would be appreciated, Thanx!

Mike

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Member Avatar for JANINE

it might be just that the power adapter is knackered. just cos it might be new doesn't mean to say that it'll work.

on the other hand though you could have a connection problem inside the machine or possibly the power invertor is on its way out. without that the battery wont be able to charge as batteries run on DC (direct current) flow whereas normal household power is AC (alternating current). the job of the invertor is to change the current from AC to DC to charge the battery. laptops arent designed to be shackled to a desk and mains adaptor all the time.

i would seriously pay a particular attention to the power invertor and charging circuit on this occasion. if you dont know what to do take it in to your local computer repairs centre.

hope i've helped you here:cool:

Member Avatar for evangelionM

Thanx for the input. I ordered 2 new chargers from Dell and both of them dont work, so i guess i can rule out the charger as the problem itself.

Should i be looking for a loose connection between the charger and the computer itself (ie on the board)? I heard you can resolder that to solve that problem.

Thanx!

Member Avatar for rkahn144

Dell had a recall a few months ago on certain laptop adapters...check out their site or call them

Member Avatar for JANINE

yeas look for that but also do as rkahn has said. you can resolder but as long as you knwo what you're doing. its best left to a pro.

Member Avatar for antioed

Thanx for the input. I ordered 2 new chargers from Dell and both of them dont work, so i guess i can rule out the charger as the problem itself.

Should i be looking for a loose connection between the charger and the computer itself (ie on the board)? I heard you can resolder that to solve that problem.

Thanx!

Yep - you got it...I've seen this happen many times and it usually means a problem with the system board where the a/c adapter plugs in...good luck soldering, usually the break in continuity is so minute that you'll have trouble identifying it to solder, but it's worth a try. I used to do Dell hardware support and we had service contracts so that I would just replace the system board instead of trying to solder - doesn't mean that you won't be able to, though.

Another thing to check before going after the system board; I have seen where the battery, believe it or not, will cause this problem...only seen this on Dells. Try taking the battery out and then try to power up with the AC adapter. If that works you should call Dell, if you battery is less than a year old they should replace it for free...if older than a year you'll have to buy a new battery. If I remember correctly it was a flaw in some batteries that came with particular c series and Inspiron notebooks.

Member Avatar for JANINE

i think i read something about it not that long ago antioed. wasnt the flaw something to do with the connectors on the battery

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