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AC Adaptor Power Supply Issues
Has anyone had issues with the 90W-AC Adaptor that ships with Lattitude D800 series computers. I bought a D820, and have gone through two power adaptors, they both have exactly the same problem, won't power up as something has fried inside. They both make exactly the same chirping sounds as they try to energize. If I bought another one from DELL would it fail as well?, I have already bought a new battery, just to be safe, but that has nothing to do with it, now I have two good batteries, but two bad adaptors. I went to Fry's and was able to find something that will power the computer, but the computer doesn't recognize the adaptor, and will not charge the battery... Is there anyway to defeat that?.. and as well, my computer won't go into high power mode even though I bought a 120W AC Adaptor because it doesn't recognize the thing? I don't want to buy another one from DELL, because I feel it will just fail as the others. Computers in general are worthless with no power !!!
kirkd
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Posted March 15th, 2010 17:00
You do need to buy a Dell power supply, but you can buy from any third party that handles. Non-Dell supplies may have the correct recognition circuity, but may not. Dell is one of the only manufacturers that uses this circuity. Seems to have been a lot of problems with Dell power supplies recently.
[ When the "can't recognize the supply" message occurs, it's usually the recognition signal that is not being sent/received. Reasons are: broken signal wire (small wire seen inside the DC plug), bad circuit in the power supply (the signal wire is not shielded, so stray EMF can fry the circuit), or a bad DC socket in the laptop)]
Best bet is to buy a genuine 130 watt unit and see what happens. Many feel the supplies are not good for the wattage listed; this may or not be true. In many cases, the higher wattage supplies work OK. Dell has been shipping larger than supposedly needed supplies with some units for years. They used to send a 65 watt supply when you have a 65 watt battery, but the newer laptops appear to draw much more power than older ones. My M1530 can draw 35 watts or more from the battery during moderate loading. With a 60 watt charger and a 65 watt battery, supplying 35 watts to run the laptop and another 35 watts or so to charge the battery will really stress the unit. Therefore, Dell supplied a 90 watt charger, which works fine.