Charging Issue

Question

I have an Inspiron 1545 that I purchased approximately  two years ago. About six months after purchase I noticed that there would be times my battery wasn't charging so I would unplug the charger, plug it back in and that seemed to fix the problem until the next time. This probably happened biweekly until right after a year, and I'm  talking about a week after my warranty expired because I didn't have an extra $200 lying around for an extension, when the can not recognize the adapter message started coming up. I was told by my brother who is a tech whiz that this meant one of three things, my adapter itself was bad, my battery was bad or there was an internal problem. I tried replacing the adapter and received the same message. So I  took the battery in to a computer shop to be tested and was told it was fine but that this system has some internal issue because this was happening to ALOT of people. I came to the Dell site hoping that since it was a problem that a lot of people were having that there might be something about what the exact problem was and how it could be fixed. While searching I was directed to the forums where it was again stated that this is a widespread ongoing problem and that Dell was refusing to issue anything because there weren't enough complaints. So for the last 6 months my computer has sat on a shelf because it is a 50/50 shot whether the computer will recognize the adapter enough to power the computer so the battery is completely drained and the computer is likely as not to randomly shut off. I had hoped that by logging in today that someone might have figured out what the internal problem was so that I can order the part myself and try to fix it. I mean it's not like I can make things worse since I BASICALLY HAVE A PAPERWEIGHT AS IT IS!!!! But I didn't see anything just the usual replace your adapter or battery it's not our system. So I am asking flat out for those of you who may have figured out the real problem. what is the problematic component and how to I get a new one. I am assuming that this part is not going to be a cheap one and I don't have the $200 just to get someone to tell me you need this part.

Bay Wolf · Answer

Dell AC adapters have 3 pins.

The outer layer is negative, the inner round one is positive and the needle pin is a feed back, this pin is connected to an E2PROM inside the AC adapter to ensure the main board and AC adapter are match.

A possible reason that you received that message is that the connection between the AC adapter and the main board ( needle pin) is lost for some reason. This happens if the power cord has cut, or the the DC jack has a loose connection either inside the jack or on the main board. So you can inspect the AC adapter's cord for any cut or pinch, or check the main board and see if this pin is off or loose. If it is loose you can re-solder it and if the DC jack has a loose connection inside the the needle pin connection, add a piece of wire on it to make the contact.

Here is the end of the AC Adapter - the part that plugs into the computer.

It could also be the charging board - video on how to change it.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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