Latitude D430 power problems

[stevo1210]

A friend of mine has a Dell Latitude D430 laptop that has a power problem. Basically it will run off the battery, but not the AC adapter. Since the battery is now dead, it has become a paperweight. When the AC adapter is plugged in, no lights come up or anything... and also, the light on the AC adapter turns off. However, when the AC adapter is unplugged, the light on the AC adapter will come back on... indicating a short in the motherboard maybe?

Is this even merely fixable with a soldering iron and a few components? or will we need a whole new motherboard here?

Thanks.

[Scenic]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

if the light on the ac adapter goes out as soon as you plug it in, there's definitely a short somewhere..

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

where would the short be is another question i'd like to know...

[stj]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

start with the socket, they can break.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

I ordered a refurbished board for this laptop unit off ebay. It charges the battery now when plugged in. Except one problem. It won't boot. If you press the power button, it turns on for 3 seconds and turns off. Do it again... same thing.

What the hell?!

[digge]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

Try the laptop with minimal extras connected, meaning remove harddrive, cd/dvd player, if it has a removable wireless nic you can remove that to, only leave the monitor and board as is and see if it works. Ive had same symptoms with DVD drives that have died before.

Beware of ESD though, wouldnt want to zap anything

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

my friend told me he benchboarded the thing. Meaning he ran the bare board with only the CPU and power button installed. Still did the same thing. I will however try that tomorrow and see how it goes.

Looking at it now, this is one very sexy looking laptop. Build quality is great and the size is perfect... only catch. It doesn't work... even with a new motherboard grrr...

[ratdude747]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

that sucks... i love my d400... they are nice.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

The new board is now out on its own on my table. I apply power from the AC adaptor and switch it on... it lasts for about 2 seconds and switches off. Same thing for battery. What the hell is happening here? Help...?

Fan and battery also disconnected. No-go.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

....help?

[digge]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

Dont disconnect the fan, some boards have a safty mechanism that if the fan rpm signal is missing shuts down more or less instantly.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

Reconnected the fan, and also another one. No-go. Same problem.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

thats it. i give up. i'm returning this thing back to its owner.

[Wizard]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

Either the power brick is bad or the jack assembly is shorted.

Cheers, Wizard

[ratdude747]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

yeah, replace the jack and try with a new brick. now is not the time to give up.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

This is a new board and it's being retarded. Even on battery. So it's gonna go back to it's owner since I have better things to do.

[ratdude747]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

the battery had charge, right?

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

yes it did. It's been returned to its owner now.

[stevo1210]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

The owner managed to get hold of the eBay seller which sold him the faulty board. The seller will give a 100% refund after it's shipped back to the US of A.
The owner decided to buy a brand new base + board for $100USD so we just gotta wait till that comes so we can install the LCD screen and the keyboard.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Latitude D430 power problems

My Dell C640 start doing stupid stuff. It was working fine on the power brick as it always has. Did a normal shutdown. On the next power up it was a no-go. When the brick is unpluged from the lappy it shows a solid green light. When plugged into the lappy I get a blinking green and no lights or boot on the lappy. I looked it up and a blinking green means something is shorted. I may have killed my lappy running it on and out of spec generator.