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4544
August 6th, 2009 16:00
AC Adapter
When I turn this lap top on I receive in a black and white screen the following:
"The ac adapter type cannot be determined, this will prevent optimal system performance. Please check ac adapter connect properly. Remove ac adapter and plug it again .
press any key to continue."
So I press any key to continue and the pc boots fine and allows me to go to the desktop and I can do anything there. Issue is that the battery will not charge either,
Does this mean that the ac adapter is bad? If it's bad how does it allow me to use the laptop while plugged into the wall ?
Thank you
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ejn63
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August 6th, 2009 18:00
If the system is in warranty, call Dell - if it's not, try a new Dell adapter first. At $50 or less, it's the cheapest first attempt at repair. If a new adapter doesn't solve the problem, you're in for a much more expensive mainboard repair or replacement.
Cobra2000
7 Posts
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August 7th, 2009 15:00
ok so I had the adapter checked ant it read something like 19.6 V on output. I then removed the battery from the laptop and powered up the laptop and it has power. So I guess I can safely assume then that the ac adapter is good. Should I start looking into the battery being bad?
ejn63
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August 7th, 2009 16:00
I wouldn't assume that the adapter is OK - while it puts out the correct voltage, there's a center pin in it that must complete a circuit to the mainboard for the battery to charge and the adapter to be detected. Try a new Dell AC adapter first. If it doesn't solve the problem, the mainboard is the faulty part (a bad battery won't produce the "unrecognized AC adapter" error).
Since the adapter costs less than $50, while a mainboard will be $350-400+, try a new Dell adapter first.