inspiron 5160

Buy HP or Gateway Laptop, They stand behind there product a little better then Dell does!

In case anyone thought the problems have quietly gone away..

A friend of mine bought two of these for his kids way back when. He's been through the warranty replacements and when that dried up he's been buying your old (repaired) motherboards off ebay. They work for a while and then go again. In one small way he was lucky he had two 5160's, just for the simple fact you can troubleshoot and isolate the problems. I can't imagine the hassle otherwise. His machines have been taken apart numerous times. I keep telling him to cut his losses and move on. Last week he removed and installed the power jack with one he got from ebay. It worked for 3 days.

He has another new power jack ready to replace on an old ebay motherboard.

What I'm going to do this time is solder my own wires onto the motherboard and dangle the jack outside the laptop. Really, if the jack is bad then replacing it with the same thing isn't going to solve anything (as this thread has proven several times over). Stop using that jack. Cut the cord off the power adapter and use some other kind of connector. Molex connectors out of old pc's will do the trick and cost nothing. If the jack goes bad again I can check the connection without taking it all apart and switch to the molex connector.

Just beware that Dell didn't make the 5160 - Compal did - and they supply most other big name vendors as well.  And there are worse (think HP) vendors than Dell in the support/reliability department as well.

I am in the same boat with my 5160. Charging problems began years ago, and gradually got worse. In 2008, the problem deteriorated to the point where the notebook would not charge at all. I replaced the battery first, but that didn't help. Then I replaced the charger and soldered a new charge jack to the motherboard.

That got things running again for a few months, until one day when the notebook would not charge at all. No LED activity, no charging icon in the windows try, nada.

I measured the voltage coming out of the charger. It put out a solid 20 V DC. I disassembled the notebook and verified continuity all the way from the innards of the charger to the motherboard. Ground, power, and the data pin all have good contact. With the adapter plugged in, I can read 20 V on the motherboard. All this points to a failed component somewhere in the charging circuit on the motherboard.

I decided to call Dell support to see what they could do. I know my notebook is out of warranty. But I also know that this is a very common problem with Inspiron 5150 and 5160 models. So common that they are being sued over it. Dell was replacing Inspiron motherboards at no cost well into 2008 for some customers. My problems began in 2007, so maybe I would get lucky.

Plus, I was doing a little shopping to be honest. I have owned two Dell notebook computers. Both have died on me just out of warranty. My Inspiron 5160 is 5 years old. Even if it was fixed, I would be in the market for a new one. I decided to give Dell a call and see if they would put things right, fix a problem caused by a defect in their design, and possibly earn my business on my next purchase. I have been eyeing a linux based 15N.

Well, the result of my call, actually 5 calls by the time it was over, is that Dell would replace my motherboard for the low cost of $259. I thanked the last support person, as they have helped me with my future purchasing decisions. I just cant see getting another Dell, given that two have already failed me. My employer just priced a $1400 Dell Latitude E6400 for me. I am going to request a different manufacturer. I think they will listen. Furthermore, we are in the process of purchasing around ~30 servers for a project I am working on, with installation at various sites across North America. I am going to do what I can to make sure we choose a company that stands behind its products and rectifies its mistakes.

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ON FACEBOOK.AND IT SAY INTERNET EXPLOYER NOT WORKING.

Hi!
I'm new here. I recently posted a problem but nobody replied. Don't know if I posted it right. Can anyone please help!

Very SORRY for budging in like this. Your help would be much appreciated.

My laptop keeps on rebooting on its own. I can't seem to get the time to access the recovery point or any solutions from the web asking me to follow the resolved steps since it keeps on rebooting. Plus my laptop has slowed down too.

The only option is to take out the battery to keep the laptop turned off but  whenever I reconnect the battery, it automatically turns on again and after startup, about 5 mins, it reboots itself. This cycle keeps on going. 

Can anyone help please.