Inspiron 9100 AC Adapter Error Message.

Recently, I've been running into some problems with either the BIOS or OS not being able to "Determine the adapter type" usually when I turn on the system.  I noticed that if I unplug the AC adapter from the back of the computer then plug it back in, the OS gave me a nice message saying pretty much the same thing.  After fiddling with it for a few weeks, I finally decided to contact Dell.  Well, before they even answered the phone, I thought I would try something.  I bought a Western Digital external hard (for backups) and plugged it in the same "strip" that my laptop was hooked to.  Well, seems as though the external hard drive was pulling just a few watts that the laptop was wanting all for itself.  This system is VERY picky about how much power it's getting.  After turning off the external hard drive, NO ERROR MESSAGE AT ALL.  The system happily started charging my battery and went to optimal performance.  I also noticed that using an AC inverter in my vehicle was causing some problems as well.  Well, come to find out that I had a 125 watt "continuous" power adapter (300 watt peak).  Wasn't quite enough, which was causing the error there.  Bought a 150 watt inverter, viola!  no more error message.  This laptop rocks, I love it, but boy is it ever picky about the "juice" it recieves.  Just thought I would give everyone a heads-up about this trouble considering how easy it was to make the error appear.

 

Good luck and God Bless!