Dell laptop power problem

herman2811

I am finding that connecting up my AC adapter/power pack to my Dell laptop causes the light on the adapter to go out, and obviously it fails to supply power as normal. If I disconnect the adapter from the laptop and also from the mains, then reconnect the mains, the light will come back on, but will stop as soon as I reconnect to the laptop.

The same thing happens when I use a different (working) adapter on the same laptop, so I don't think it's the adapter, especially as when I connect the original adapter to a different laptop, everything works normally.

Not sure I explained that very well!

Anyway, looks like there's a problem with my laptop, but does anyone have any ideas what it is or what I could do about it? The issue exists regardless of whether or not a battery is installed into the laptop, which worked when there was enough power in the battery. Now the battery has been exhausted, it won't work, as it's obviously not getting charged by the adapter.

Any help would be much appreciated

Browntoa

try removing the battery and powering the laptop up on mains only

Strider590

Id say you've got a short circuit, either caused by a damaged power jack or the voltage regulation and battery charging circuit has exploded. This is why it still worked on battery power.

macman

Power jack has probably detached from the mobo, probably the most common failure on a laptop. You're looking at around £90-£120 to fix it if so.

herman2811

Browntoa wrote: »

try removing the battery and powering the laptop up on mains only

Same thing happens. No power goes into the laptop (light goes off on adapter)

herman2811

Strider590 wrote: »

Id say you've got a short circuit, either caused by a damaged power jack or the voltage regulation and battery charging circuit has exploded. This is why it still worked on battery power.

_macman wrote: »

Power jack has probably detached from the mobo, probably the most common failure on a laptop. You're looking at around £90-£120 to fix it if so.

So looks like I'm gonna have to take it a computer repair place?

macman

herman2811 wrote: »

So looks like I'm gonna have to take it a computer repair place?

Unless you are good with a soldering iron, yes. The part costs a few pence, the main cost is the dismantling and reassembly, as it has to be stripped right down to the mobo.
Take it to a laptop specialist, not a general computer shop (and please not PCW!)

herman2811

macman wrote: »

Unless you are good with a soldering iron, yes. The part costs a few pence, the main cost is the dismantling and reassembly, as it has to be stripped right down to the mobo.
Take it to a laptop specialist, not a general computer shop (and please not PCW!)

Am tempted to give it a go, but wouldn't really know what to look for once inside, so are they any websites with pictures etc?

macman

If you don't know what you are doing then you will just do further damage, don't even think about it.

herman2811

macman wrote: »

If you don't know what you are doing then you will just do further damage, don't even think about it.

Fair enough, although I'm erring towards buying a new one anyway. It only cost approx £400 a few years ago, and I'm not keen on spending £100 to repair it when it may only be worth that much now, and I can get a brand new one for bit more money.

So if I can fix it, great! If I do further damage... well it's not working anyway!

Strider590

Its closer to £60 if you take it directly to a specialist. Computer repair shops/guys charge more because they have to send it to a specialist because most wouldn't know how to use a soldering iron properly if their life depended on it.
In fact, most following a 17 week/hour college course, only know how to reinstall windows......

PCW will charge minimum of £200 (so say their techguys website).