Greetings and sanitations! Several years ago I received some really awesome help on this forum for fixing my monitor (which is still working) so I figure maybe someone can help with this laptop issue.
I have a Dell E6540, motherboard 9411P, DP/N:VWNW8. A year ago it died a strange death where at first it wouldn't turn on all the time, but would turn on when it felt like it, then it got worse where it wouldn't turn on at all and I would just get a flashing light. So I replaced the motherboard with a matching part number board. (I still have the old motherboard) Now a year later this new motherboard is suddenly having a totally different problem. It won't charge the battery or run on AC power via the power port or through the dock. It starts and boots fine from the battery, though now the battery is dead. The day this happened the battery was at 70% and said it had roughly 4 hours left of battery time... 20 minutes later it was down to 10%, and I'm pretty sure the battery is in good health. It was replaced under warranty by Dell a few years ago.
Before this happened it was sitting on the dock and everything was fine. Now when I put it on the dock, the laptop recognizes the docks peripherals but does not recognize any power connection. The power light on the dock also doesn't light up as it normally does indicating that the laptop is docked and being supplied power. Plugging the power adapter directly into the power port yield the same results. The power adapter is good because it works other devices. I also tried a different power adapter on the laptop and got the same results.
Is this the type of problem where the motherboard could be repaired? Or should I spend another $100 on a new (used) motherboard again? Or should I cut my losses and look for a new laptop? My laptop is old, but it's still plenty fast and more than meets my needs with it's i7 CPU, 16gb ram, 2gb Radeon GPU, and extended battery. Any suggestions, advice or ideas are appreciated.
I have a Dell E6540, motherboard 9411P, DP/N:VWNW8. A year ago it died a strange death where at first it wouldn't turn on all the time, but would turn on when it felt like it, then it got worse where it wouldn't turn on at all and I would just get a flashing light. So I replaced the motherboard with a matching part number board. (I still have the old motherboard) Now a year later this new motherboard is suddenly having a totally different problem. It won't charge the battery or run on AC power via the power port or through the dock. It starts and boots fine from the battery, though now the battery is dead. The day this happened the battery was at 70% and said it had roughly 4 hours left of battery time... 20 minutes later it was down to 10%, and I'm pretty sure the battery is in good health. It was replaced under warranty by Dell a few years ago.
Before this happened it was sitting on the dock and everything was fine. Now when I put it on the dock, the laptop recognizes the docks peripherals but does not recognize any power connection. The power light on the dock also doesn't light up as it normally does indicating that the laptop is docked and being supplied power. Plugging the power adapter directly into the power port yield the same results. The power adapter is good because it works other devices. I also tried a different power adapter on the laptop and got the same results.
Is this the type of problem where the motherboard could be repaired? Or should I spend another $100 on a new (used) motherboard again? Or should I cut my losses and look for a new laptop? My laptop is old, but it's still plenty fast and more than meets my needs with it's i7 CPU, 16gb ram, 2gb Radeon GPU, and extended battery. Any suggestions, advice or ideas are appreciated.
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