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cybergod909
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February 16th, 2006 19:00
Inspiron 5160 ac adapter issue
Just recieved a used adapter , pa-13, for my inspiron 5160. The light on the brick comes on indicating its getting power. In the power and in windows tho it does not recognize it, and the battery is not getting charged. I notice that when the laptop is off, and I plug it in all the lights in front blink for 1 second. I also get a message at startup indicating that the AC power adapter type cannot be determined. and it will prevent optimal system performance. My question is that its pretty much the ac adapter is dead right? I remember reading about how the eeprom on the brick can short out and go bad etc. Just wanna make sure.
cybergod909
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Posted February 16th, 2006 19:00
well its a brand new mainboard, thats why I think its the power adapterhhsredhead
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Posted February 20th, 2006 20:00
just had the same problem with my 5150, a new adaptor did not solve the problem, i have talked to many people on this forum and the problem seems to be in the solder attaching the adaptor port to the MB, there are several local tecks who can take it apart and resolder the joints and for aa couple of humdred dollars you will be back in service again. Dont let anyone talk you into any new parts until they try this patching fix.
katehollowdawn
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Posted February 21st, 2006 18:00
I am having this exact same problem with my Inspiron 5150, and I am looking into a solution.I am currently asking around about getting a new system board from Dell.Anyone know exactly how to do this?hhsredhead
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Posted February 21st, 2006 20:00
Update: Patching the solder did not work for long, about two charges, now they want to order a new charging port and try that, say the MB is still good.
Lots of luck getting anything from Dell I am one of many not happy customers. I am trying to get mine fixed and just keep it for a spare, and have another one for business. or sell my Dell, they are going on ebay for about $600. that is quite a loss for a one year old piece of equipment that went new for about 1500. good luck and keep us posted
katehhsredhead
35 Posts
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Posted February 21st, 2006 20:00
My God do you think that anyone from Dell ever reads what is going on here?
some product they have?hollowdawn
2 Posts
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Posted February 21st, 2006 21:00
My machine is almost the same: 1 1/2 years old, about $1500.hhsredhead
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Posted February 21st, 2006 22:00
MB from De4lla bout $300 + tx and ship.
I am looking at an HP and get mine fixed and resell on ebayrobbiegregg
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Posted August 3rd, 2006 14:00
Hi
I too have a Dell 5160 laptop and had exactly the same problems you described. The power sometimes worked but more often than not (maybe 4 out of every 5 attempts) I would get the "AC power supply cannot be determined" message at boot-up and the laptop would only run from battery. By repeatedly re-connecting the supply I would sometimes reconnect the power supply and start running the laptop from AC.
Rather than doing something drastic like re-soldering or giving a lot of money for Dell to fix their problem, I decided to buy a new power supply from Ebay for about £30.
And now everything is working as it should - I don't get the message anymore and the laptop works on AC power every time!
I did alot of travelling with my laptop and consequently I used to wrap the cord around the power supply and did not care too much for the supply - the cord on the old supply (from supply to computer) was kinked in many places and I probably stood on the power supply once in a while!
I would suggest anyone with this problem to buy a new power supply before doing anything too drastic. Power supplies are not than expensive. I brought my power supply from an Ebay user "ukgemstar" and had no problems with the supply or the transaction.
ejn63
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Posted February 16th, 2006 19:00