I know exactly what your problem is. The 65 watt power supply is designed for use when you have your 8600 working on it's own (not connected to the docking station). The docking station itself requires a little more power. It also makes provision for having to power additional USB devices plugged into the dock.
When I ordered a spare power supply for my 8600 (so I didn't have to keep carting the power supply from work to home), Dell sent me a 65W power supply. Technically it CAN work when you aren't using the docking station, and it's cheaper than the 90W power supply. However, I would give the 65W power supply to someone with a less powerhungry Dell, like the D400. Order a 90W supply instead. For low-intensity computing, the 65W would be just fine. When you do major simulations, rendering, or gaming, you'll need the extra wattage. If you plug into the 65W supply or work off of batteries, Speedstep will slow your processor down to conserve power. Sometimes it slows the processor down to as little as 20% of maximum.
The Dell power supplies have a small chip in them which notifies whatever they are plugged into how many watts they deliver. That chip tells your 8600 it is only 65W. Your 8600 sees it is also plugged into the docking station and screams it doesn't have enough power. This only happens at boot. If you want to demonstrate that this is only a boot effect, boot up with the 90W power supply and then unplug it and put the 65W in. It doesn't complain. If you're just typing a document in Word, you wouldn't notice anything different. If you try to do something that uses a lot of processor power, you'll see it's noticeably slower on the 65W supply.
The problem is on the motherboard, which will need to be replaced. I've had this happen twice already, and each time it needed a new motherboard. It's just happened to me again (3rd time), so I'll be calling Dell in the morning for another new motherboard.
Funny enough - Windows XP's System Restore does not solve hardware issues, despite being told it does by Dell Tech Support.
I did ring Dell and after talking me through a couple of things over the phone, agreed to send someone out to replace the m/board. Fortunately we have the 3yr on-site warranty, as the 8600 is about 18m old.
An update.....the motherboard was replaced and corrected the problem. However, now, 17 months on the problem has reoccurred.
Yesterday I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone to Dell support (in Bangalore) trying to resolve it. I am now waiting for them to ring me back (they're 3 hours late so far,it's not looking promising)...so much for the next day on-site warranty.
I have yet to find any case of this being resolved other than by replacing the motherboard, though dell support insist on going through various tests & procedures....
Just to add to the thread - I've had this happen to me twice in less than two years (more likely it was 18 months). The second time it happened, rather than going through the Dell Script ("Have you tried System Restore?"), I just told them to look at the previous solution, and do the same again! You really do have to say no to their silly tests and checks, and just insist that you've done them already!
It would appear that the ONLY solution to this one is a replacement motherboard.
Interestingly, on both occasions that this happened to me, I was working within the Electrical Engineering department of a University, and quite close (though, the other side of a wall) to quite intensive electrical experiments, involving simulating lightning strikes (believe it or not!). When I moved to a completely office based environment, it's never happened again.....
Coincidence? Maybe so, maybe not, but just a thought....... Anyone else with this problem using their laptop in an environment where there are high voltages close by?"
captiveshark
11 Posts
0
March 14th, 2005 22:00
bobcro
24 Posts
0
March 15th, 2005 07:00
I leave the 90W attached to the docking station at work.I use the 65W away from the
d/station.
The problem I have is when I've undocked the laptop and try to reboot, come
out of hibernation or standby, away from the d/sttn, using either the battery or the
65W adapter. That is when I get the errors stated in my first post,implying that
the 8600 is still docked, which of course it is not
Any thoughts??
DaveAsp
12 Posts
0
April 7th, 2005 19:00
bobcro
24 Posts
0
April 8th, 2005 06:00
I thought I had posted this earlier.
I did ring Dell and after talking me through a couple of things over the phone, agreed to send someone out to replace the m/board. Fortunately we have the 3yr on-site warranty, as the 8600 is about 18m old.
Bob
bobcro
24 Posts
0
September 26th, 2006 13:00
Yesterday I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone to Dell support (in Bangalore) trying to resolve it. I am now waiting for them to ring me back (they're 3 hours late so far,it's not looking promising)...so much for the next day on-site warranty.
I have yet to find any case of this being resolved other than by replacing the motherboard, though dell support insist on going through various tests & procedures....
DaveAsp
12 Posts
0
September 28th, 2006 20:00
Hi all!
Just to add to the thread - I've had this happen to me twice in less than two years (more likely it was 18 months). The second time it happened, rather than going through the Dell Script ("Have you tried System Restore?"), I just told them to look at the previous solution, and do the same again! You really do have to say no to their silly tests and checks, and just insist that you've done them already!
It would appear that the ONLY solution to this one is a replacement motherboard.
Interestingly, on both occasions that this happened to me, I was working within the Electrical Engineering department of a University, and quite close (though, the other side of a wall) to quite intensive electrical experiments, involving simulating lightning strikes (believe it or not!). When I moved to a completely office based environment, it's never happened again.....
Coincidence? Maybe so, maybe not, but just a thought....... Anyone else with this problem using their laptop in an environment where there are high voltages close by?"
David.