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How to determine if I have a faulty charger, or if the charging port on the laptop is faulty?
Hello. I have a 1.5 year old Dell Inspiron 8600. Replaced the battery about 6 months ago and it worked
fine for several months. Now the battery isn't charging and I can't run off AC power. For the past couple of months, there was only one outlet in my den that I could run off of AC power, or charge the battery in, (every other electronic device powers up fine on all outlets in the room). I unplugged from that one outlet last night, and when I plugged back in a few hours later, I couldn't get the laptop to run off ac power, or charge the battery in that outlet. If I fiddled with the plug in the wall outlet, I'd get a green light on the charger for about 10 seconds, and then it would go out. I finally found an outlet in the bathroom that would let me charge the battery and run off of AC power. That outlet is really tight, so I'm guessing it might be a bad charger. I don't know of anyone with the same charger that I could borrow to see if I have a bad charger. Is there a way to determine if I have a bad charger, or if the charging port on my motherboard is bad? Does the battery have to be in the the laptop to run off of straight AC?
Thanks, Pam
ejn63
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September 11th, 2008 11:00
The system will run without a battery unless something else is wrong.
Try a new adapter - if it doesn't fix the problem, the issue is with the mainboard. An 8600 system is far older than 1.5 years (more like four years or so).
pammym
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September 11th, 2008 12:00
Thanks ejn63. I bought the Dell Inspiron8600 directly through dell in December 07. It will be two years old this December. It wasn't a special closeout deal or anything. Was on their main page of laptops, about middle of the road laptop when I bought it. Paid about $1100.
Does anyone know if the universal adapters work well?
ejn63
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September 11th, 2008 14:00
They're not a good troubleshooting tool - even if some work, they may not charge the battery.
pammym
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September 15th, 2008 10:00
It was a bad charger. Works fine with a new charger. I ran a diagnostics test on the laptop and the old charger failed, and the test also said it was unrecognized. It was the original charger from when I bought the Laptop.
Thanks!
Pam