Daughter at College very UPSET! Dell sold her a 9 cell battery for her Vostro - now her notebook is DEAD!

Well...the notebook was working fine BEFORE the replacement battery was installed. The only reason my daughter replaced the battery was because she could no longer take the notebook to class...it had to be plugged in all the time. But it worked fine then.... My gut feeling is that the power supply was affected after the battery was installed. But we will see what the computer store diagnostics show.  They were telling my daughter that it is likely the motherboard. They sell computers there.

Replacing the battery is not a panacea.   There is likely ZERO correlation between USB ports not working and inability to access the network.   There is USB Malware and Virus and other problems that CAN cause this issue.  Either or issue is not a dell issue nor a Hardware issue.

Understanding USB Malware - Trend Micro

Using Trend Micro's SysClean Virus Scanner (USB disk option) | OIT ...

Maybe it's just a co-incidence. I feel it is the power supply maybe damaged because of electrical surge? I had a C800 which had the same symptoms years ago. I was able to replace the power supply because it was separate from the mother board. I don't think this is the case with the newer notebooks.

There appears to be fishing for something that's not there.  A conclusion seems to have been made as to what is wrong and who's fault it is.

I'll get back once I find out more....

There is a power supply regulator inside the laptop. It is commonly called a "Power Supply" (looks like a little circuit board). This is what I think is causing the problem. I am pretty sure that on the newer notebooks this is part of the mother board.

There is no correlation to equating replacing a battery with killing the laptop.  This is a non starter.  Genuine batteries do not break the laptop nor do they kill the power supply.  Its like saying you purchased new tires on a car and the new tires killed the engine.

Every laptop I can think of works fine without the battery being installed because the power supply is not inside the laptop.  Most all are designed this way so that they can be UL approved.  If the issue is Just the AC adapter that can be replaced.

Count me among those who is curious as to the official diagnosis. While it quite possibly may be a motherboard, I am like SpeedStep and doubt the new battery has any fault in the problem.

Unfortunately, no matter how strongly you may feel that the new battery caused the issues she is having, that would be VERY hard to prove.....

Just tried to get info on a new mother board for this system by calling Dell. I got someone in India who doesn't speak English very well.

Microbytes in Montreal confirms that the mother board is toast. Trying now to find a new mother board for this Vostro 1520, purchased just 18 months ago for $ 1658.15. If the new battery was not the cause - the only comment I can make at this point is that a cheap mother board should go into a cheap system. So if they will only last 18 months I might as well go to the corner store and get a discount laptop for her.

Buy her next laptop through the school. They usually have good discounts for students.

They can be purchased here:

www.parts-people.com/index.php

U654J - System Board for Dell Vostro 1520

www.impactcomputers.com/u654j.html

Got an extended warranty so the board will be covered and a technician is coming next week. I will ask the technician if the battery had anything to do with the failure. I have this Vostro here now and I gave my daughter my Latitude to use in the meantime. Thanks for all your help.