AC Power Adapter Type Cannot Be Determined

This is all very interesting...  I just bought a used dell latitude d610 laptop and it was working just fine.  Then along came this error message and my kids told me that their dell laptops did the same thing and they are not the same year or model as mine.  Interesting that this seems to happen on so many of the dell laptops!  I guess this will be my last dell purchase!

After experiencing the dreaded "AC power adapter type cannot be determined" 3 or 4 months ago, and having my battery not charge even while I was connected to my power supply, the problem gradually went away over a period of a month or so.  I've not had the message for around two months, my battery charges when I am connected,and all is well.

I think the "motherboard" issue is wrong. There is something else going on which Dell can't figure out (and apparently neither can HP/Compaq).  Buying a new motherboard will solve a lot of problems that aren't caused by the motherboard - it is more of a "we don't know what is going on so we'll suggest replacing the motherboard" type of response.

As of now, with my old motherboard and old ac power adapter, everything works fine. I hope I haven't jinxed my laptop!

Am having exact same problem. Started happening right after warranty expired.

I don't know why any computer manufacturer would ship such computers and not stand up to obvious defects like this one.

Short Term solution: get a new computer.

Long Term solution : never buy a dell computers and you will never have this problem again.

The second statement is patently false - there are plenty of other brands that have the same issue. Those that don't detect the adapter will simply fail and not produce any error message;  net effect is identical.

Anything with a power jack is susceptible to the same problem.  If you want to avoid it completely, buy Macintosh - the magnetic catch on the power cord is less susceptible to damage than any other design.

I have the exact same problem with an Inspiron 1545 I bought 6 months ago. The message appeared on my screen while booting up three days ago and I have had to plug the laptop directly into the mains ever since. I have been as careful as anything with this machine, rarely moved it and handle the adaptor with care. There is no way this problem is caused by anything other than an inherent design flaw in the machines. I am going to phone support and will let you know how I get on.

Darragh

I had the same problem, My other Dell charger would work fine but the original one that came with this laptop would always throw an error message indicating that the adapter wasn't recognized. None of the suggestions on any of the forums worked.

So I held the chord by the circular flex thing at the end, and pushed in the power pin with force into the laptop, held it on for a few seconds - And now the laptop recognizes the adapter, charges and works fine! If you push the power pin slow and gently into the laptop, it doesnt recognize the adapter. I think the problem is either with the wires near the pin of the power chord, or with the adapter inside the laptop.

Try it, worked for me! 

Yes I too have this problem.

My issue seems to be with the power chord AC Adapter. The battery is fine.

I have a vostro 1000 which is 2 years old. The 'AC Adapter type cannot be determined' message appeared a couple of months ago. The plastic black end to the power chord seems very slighlty bent. The issue seems to be that the chord is not strong enough. This needs to be made more robust especially when laptops are being lugged around airports and trains etc etc. 

FEEDBACK TO DELL: Please make the power chords AC Adapters more robust.

Danny

I had a studio 1737 for 1 week and got the message AC power adapter type cannot be determined. Phoned support and they will be replacing the motherboard and power adapter. As other people have mentioned, sure is dumb that there is no setting that allows you to charge the battery or tell the pc the power adapter you have. I received this message 1 week after I bought my studio 1737 laptop and it hasn't gone away for 1 week. Since it is only 1 week old, Dell will have to deal with fixing it. But, for the 2 weeks I have to send it back and they have to send it back to me, I am without a computer.

You have another option:  you can return the system for replacement or a refund within 21 days of the date of shipment.

Our church purchased a new Studio 1737 around September 16, 2009...we needed it for a special event on September 20, 2009.  I installed all our software and it worked fine for that event.  The following Sunday, it wigged out!  I attempted to reformat the machine and got a message that it detected bad sectors and to run check disk but it wouldn't let me run check disk (after reboot, it just booted up as normal).  I reinstalled all my apps (took about 8 hours) and was on the last round of Windows updates when I attempted to reboot and it locked up, as it originally did that second Sunday I attempted to use it (among other things, the display selectively showed in 8 or 16 bit color, it told me I did not have permissions to display properties) but the original motherboard never gave me the "unable to determine ac adapter type" message.  After the first incident, I received a new hard drive, power supply (because it had gotten burn-your-fingers-hot during one use) and sent the laptop in for a new motherboard.

Received the unit back and it works much better than before, but now I do get this error message, but only at the church and only at specific power outlets.  The laptop works fine.  I suspect it's the manufacturer/model of the motherboard, with a slim chance of some issue with the electrical source (reverse polarized outlets, etc.), but given the issues we've already had with this laptop and it's only a month old.

It was repaired. Dell sent me a box and I sent it back. They fixed it and returned it in about 1 week. pretty fast. Seems to work fine now.

Read this AC adapter not recognized.

No, there are no board level schematics, and yes, this is a multilayer board - all notebook mainboards are.

The replacement/repair is best left to a pro with the right tools and expertise.

Add me to the legions of people having trouble with the adapter -- after the warranty expired. I MAY try a new adaptor and, if that doesn't work, I'm saving up and getting a new machine that's NOT a Dell. While I'm sure that the plug socket is the most vulnerable part of the machine, manufacturers should also be aware of this and DO something about it.

It's one thing if this problem starts after a two or three years but ONE YEAR?! Come, ON people. That is just unacceptable.  I'm lucky, and thankful, that I have a desktop but the reason I have two machines is so that I can take my laptop with me. If I can't use it on battery power, for fear of not being able to charge it, then it's almost completely useless.

I've had other problems with this machine so I have other reasons to avoid Dell, next time around. But this power adaptor thing is the icing on the cake.