overheated Dell laptop not recognizing outlet power

richhull · 01-30-2008, 02:34 PM

I have a Dell 5500 laptop and an outlet jack power issue. The laptop became hot and may have loosened the outlet jack so that the laptop no longer recognizes that it is plugged in to the outlet - even though it is.

I changed the battery with another laptop but once the battery is dead the machine is dead until a charged battery in installed.

Is there a fuse, or so spot on the circuit board, where a little drop of solder would solve the issue?

Thanks for any help.

loudnproud59 · 01-30-2008, 04:32 PM

Are you sure it is a dell 5500 and not a 5100 if it is the 5100 there are known problems with the mainboard the reason it is not charging the battery is because the charging circuit on the mainboard has failed this is a common problem with many dell inspiron laptop including models 1100 1150 5100 5160 5150,if it is just the dc power jack then you can replace it you can find them on ebay,just soldering the power jack will not work i myself have repaired quite a few laptops with bad dc power jacks but i am sure it more than just the power jack,i hope this will help.One more thing if you want to spend the time and money you can find a mainboard on ebay.

richhull · 01-31-2008, 08:48 AM

You are correct it is a 5100. Thank you for the information - Your diagnosis seems correct. I took the laptop apart and the link from the DC Jack to the mother board seems fine.

Piece O’Junk Dell.

Hummm those Apple Airs’ seem pretty fancy.

01-30-2008, 02:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
richhull Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	overheated Dell laptop not recognizing outlet power I have a Dell 5500 laptop and an outlet jack power issue. The laptop became hot and may have loosened the outlet jack so that the laptop no longer recognizes that it is plugged in to the outlet - even though it is. I changed the battery with another laptop but once the battery is dead the machine is dead until a charged battery in installed. Is there a fuse, or so spot on the circuit board, where a little drop of solder would solve the issue? Thanks for any help.

01-30-2008, 04:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
loudnproud59 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 140 OS: win xp pro	Re: overheated Dell laptop not recognizing outlet power Are you sure it is a dell 5500 and not a 5100 if it is the 5100 there are known problems with the mainboard the reason it is not charging the battery is because the charging circuit on the mainboard has failed this is a common problem with many dell inspiron laptop including models 1100 1150 5100 5160 5150,if it is just the dc power jack then you can replace it you can find them on ebay,just soldering the power jack will not work i myself have repaired quite a few laptops with bad dc power jacks but i am sure it more than just the power jack,i hope this will help.One more thing if you want to spend the time and money you can find a mainboard on ebay.

01-31-2008, 08:48 AM	#3 (permalink)
richhull Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: overheated Dell laptop not recognizing outlet power You are correct it is a 5100. Thank you for the information - Your diagnosis seems correct. I took the laptop apart and the link from the DC Jack to the mother board seems fine. Piece O’Junk Dell. Hummm those Apple Airs’ seem pretty fancy.