Power adaptor completely broken and no power at all.

I am still very alarmed at the amount of AC adaptors I have gone through and IT IS A DESIGN FAULT!! and I have noticed many people with this same problem. And Also I forgot to mention that I god the DC jack replaced by a dell certified technition and it is still not working.

I will not be paying that sort of money and the level of customer service dell have givern me is criminal and horriffic. I wish this to be taken higher!!

I am sorry for having a go at you because it is in no way your fault but dell are unnacceptable in this case and I know many people going onto uni buying new laptops now and I can assure you that they will not buy dell now.

If only the jack is damaged, it can be repaired.  That will cost about $150 and you'll need a true repair shop - one that can do board-level soldering. 

If the board is damaged, the mainboard will need to be replaced - figure on $300-350 for the board, plus $100 in labor if you don't replace it yourself.

If you decide to replace the system rather than repair it, no matter what you buy, get a 3-year warranty on it - no brand of notebook is more reliable than any other, so you're no more (or less) likely to have problems with an  HP than with a Dell.  If anything, I've seen more power-jack problems with HP/Compaq systems than with Dell systems.

If you want a recommendation and one to make, if you're worried about the jack, buy an Apple Macbook - the power plug is held in with a magnet, not by friction.  It's the only one out there not suscptible to breakage by rough handling.

As for the rest, no "dell certified" repair involves replacing the jack - Dell doesn't certify anyone to replace jacks.  They replace the entire mainboard, not the jack.

A frayed DC cord after inly a few months is not normal wear. Wearing out four is a sign of extreme carelssness. You need to treat these thing with a little more respect. Bad cords and loose DC jacks are not normal if you treat the equipment with a little respect.

ahh no my mistake he is a dell 'partner' probably meaning he can sell them.

As for getting a mac.   VERY VERY good idea, they are just clearly more intellegent than there american rivals DELL.

Actually kirkD  I beg to differ bacause my laptop is on a desk  (normal so far) and behind the desk is a wall  (still normal)  the cable has to run up the back of the desk and onto the laptop and causeing the wire to bend (normal use) and this has caused fraying through (rather light) use.   So befor eyou go and make statements like that I sugest you go and do your research because MANY MANY others have had this problem.  I can post likes to them if you wish.

PLease sombody just get my laptop working because this is affecting work!! 

Yes, I have seen this with others, and in each case the DC cable problem was due to too much strain on the cable, such as kids pulling on it.

My wife uses her 21/2 year old E1705 on her lap 100% of the time with the DC cord being snagged and pulled all the time, with zero problems. It is severe abuse that causes the problem.

The key is a broken DC socket. The solder connections break when the cord is pulled or snagged too much. It doesn't break without the abuse.

Just because you see some problems on these forums does not mean that the problem is universal. People with no problems don't post.