Dell charging issues

[stevo1210]

I've seen a rash of these recently, usually on Inspiron 1100, 5150 models and I think I also saw one on a Latitude D430. The laptops would function properly off the battery (when the battery still had power) but plugging the AC adaptor did nothing, no charge and no power whatsoever.
Now this sounds stupid but I want to buy these "dead" Dells with the charging issue and try to fix them for myself, so would this be an easy fix? or should I forget about it? I did search on the net and this does seem to be a common issue with these units, but specifically why and how to fix them, I don't know.

Thanks.

[severach]

Re: Dell charging issues

I've fixed some of these by resoldering the chip that gets damaged by the memory cover.

[stevo1210]

Re: Dell charging issues

So which chip is this? Oh, and I'm planning to buy an Inspiron 1150 with these issues, but the owner has a spare Inspiron 1100 motherboard lying around, will this board fit in a 1150 chassis? I believe the PSU required is different though? But If I can get the 1150 board running again that would be nice as I'm not very fond of chaninging boards, especially in this case I haven't even got a decent PSU required the 1100 motherboard.

Thanks.

[Wizard]

Re: Dell charging issues

The socket. Fix is replace it or replace mainboard.

Also check fuses.

Cheers, Wizard

[severach]

Re: Dell charging issues

Dell inspiron 1150 Power problems

[stevo1210]

Re: Dell charging issues

Sounds like a big job.... I think I should just forget about it and buy a decent working Dell.

Anyway, thanks everyone.

[370forlife]

Re: Dell charging issues

My HP pavilion zd7020us had the same problem where you plug in the charger and it dosen't charge.

The center pin in the charging port is the problem. It gets pushed back a little every time you plug in the charger, eventually the piece of metal that connects it to the mainboard snaps. I did a cheap fix and just pushed the piece of metal back in with a screw driver, and it found a piece of plastic to wedge up against so it is connected pretty good for not even being soldered. Been working for about 6 months now.

[lmcancu]

Re: Dell charging issues

would this fix a DELL Inspiron 6000 as well? Did you push the pin in the motherboard socket or on the Charger itself? Do you have a picture of what you did?

"I've fixed some of these by resoldering the chip that gets damaged by the memory cover."

Can you show a picture of this. I changed the memory on the 6000. Could I have damaged this chip in the process?

[yyonline]

Re: Dell charging issues

My bet is on the DC jack. Its very common for these to break, especially in older dells. I usually fix a few of these a month in Dells and other brands of PCs. They're a pain to desolder, so make sure your iron is up to the task.

For Dell, there are two styles of jack - the round barrel ones, and the older square-ish ones. A few Dells have been known to use different jacks, however, but those are the two main ones. New jacks of both styles are readily available new on eBay and are fairly cheap. I've found the Foxconn jacks to be more reliable than the Tyco jacks, so keep that in mind when sourcing replacements. I've never found another source for them aside from eBay as they seem to be proprietary to Dell.

If its not the jack, it's something in the charging circuitry. However, the fact that it won't even run on power at all strongly points to the DC jack as the culprit. If the charging circuitry is busted, it will usually run on AC power, but won't charge the battery.

As for the 5150 - there is a small chip under the bottom cover labeled "C". The C-cover has two plastic tabs on either side. If you push on the C-cover, the plastic tab puts pressure on a chip. This breaks the solder connections, or the chip. Sometimes resoldering brings them back to life, sometimes not. If it comes back to life, break off the plastic tab that puts pressure on the chip to prevent this from recurring. The cover is screwed in place, so the missing tab should not affect the sturdiness of the laptop in any meaningful way.

[lmcancu]

Re: Dell charging issues

In my case the laptop (Dell Inspiron 6000) runs off the charger ok, but does not charge the battery properly. The battery is brand new and the laptop is able to run off of it. (It currently has a charge of 45%). In the BIOS, I see the message: "Adaptor unknown" or something like that but the battery doesn't charge although the laptop runs fine off of the charger. Researching this, it could be the DC jack (center pin disconnected from motherboard) or the chip ID in the charger has gone bad.

[yyonline]

Re: Dell charging issues

In my case the laptop (Dell Inspiron 6000) runs off the charger ok, but does not charge the battery properly. The battery is brand new and the laptop is able to run off of it. (It currently has a charge of 45%). In the BIOS, I see the message: "Adaptor unknown" or something like that but the battery doesn't charge although the laptop runs fine off of the charger. Researching this, it could be the DC jack (center pin disconnected from motherboard) or the chip ID in the charger has gone bad.

Yep. You have the two primary causes down.

I have also seen cases of a bent center pin in the power supply cord, or a disconnected center pin in the cord as a result of repeated flexing. So, the only ways to know for sure if its the jack or power supply is to try another power supply or open the laptop and visually inspect the jack. The visual inspection will catch obvious problems, but it's not a conclusive test. I suppose you can multimeter it too if you can find a leak small enough to fit where the center pin would go.

There was one case where I fixed it by cleaning the jack with some isopropyl alcohol.

As far as the other cases, it's about 50/50 jack/power supply, so I can't even say one is more likely than the other to be your issue.

[smason]

Re: Dell charging issues

I have done power connectors on 2 D800s and an Inspiron 5somethingerother
Replacing the part is really easy. Getting to it can be "interesting".
The D800 was the worst. Finally got down to the motherboard, and there was an assembly (I forget what) blocking the solder pads of the connector.

[Wizard]

Re: Dell charging issues

Round fat plug is 3 contacts. Center pin is for telling notebook what kind of power brick is.

Cheers, Wizard

[lmcancu]

Re: Dell charging issues

Was the AC adapator, got a new one off e-bay and battery is now charging

[yyonline]

Re: Dell charging issues

Was the AC adapator, got a new one off e-bay and battery is now charging

Beware of the cheap generic adapters that are all over the place on eBay. If it's a real Dell adapter, great. If it's one of the generic "For Dell" adapters - I've seen those overheat to the point of causing burns when handled, stop working, and in one case melt to a smoky plastic blob. I can't find it now, but someone on here had a link to a site where they opened up one of the generic adapters to look at its internals - which included metal plates to make it feel heavier - and scoped its outputs. It wasn't pretty.

[kc8adu]

Re: Dell charging issues

ebay and replacement laptop psu=shit.
get an original!you may get lucky and score a used original for about the same as a crappy "replacement".

[yyonline]

Re: Dell charging issues

ebay and replacement laptop psu=shit.
get an original!you may get lucky and score a used original for about the same as a crappy "replacement".

Even new old stock genuine adapters can usually be found for under $30

[ratdude747]

Re: Dell charging issues

or in my rare case, free + shipping. ask in the for sale forum... i got 2 dell chargers free that way.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dell charging issues

Beware of the cheap generic adapters that are all over the place on eBay. If it's a real Dell adapter, great. If it's one of the generic "For Dell" adapters - I've seen those overheat to the point of causing burns when handled, stop working, and in one case melt to a smoky plastic blob. I can't find it now, but someone on here had a link to a site where they opened up one of the generic adapters to look at its internals - which included metal plates to make it feel heavier - and scoped its outputs. It wasn't pretty.

that was in my ebay laptop rant forum (which became my d400 steal thread). the link:

http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/acadapter.html

LOL

[lmcancu]

Re: Dell charging issues

Well I suspected it was the ID chip in the adaptor that went bad, and did not want to take a chance on a generic model which may have not included the chip so I made sure to get a genuine DELL adaptor off of ebay (I'm assuming its old stock). It looks pretty authentic (looks exactly the same as the old one I have) and I paid a little more ($19.00) for it so high probability it is an original one from old stock.