AC Adapter or Motherboard

odessat · 04-01-2008, 10:05 PM

Okay, I have a Dell Gen2 XPS. My puppy chewed into the power supply that came with the laptop. I found a replacement through E-Bay - please spare me the laughs, etc.

Anyway, replacement came in, I plug it in and get an error message that the AC adapter isn't giving me enough power, and to use a Dell 130w power adapter, which is what I bought. It said it could affect performance. I could still run on the AC adapter, but it wouldn't charge the battery. I could take the power jack out of the pc, blow on it, and plug it back in and it VIOLA - it would work fine, no error message, and it charged the battery. I contacted seller and asked for an exchange. Got the "new" one in 2 days ago. Worked fine - for a day! Then last night, start getting same message, again, blow on it a few times, and it works perfectly!!

Is it the AC adapter - possibly an old Dell casing with junk parts inside, or could it be my AC adapter on the motherboard? How do I tell???? And yes, I'm ready to shell out $100+ to dell for a GENUINE adapter!!! If it is the motherboard how expensive and labor intensive is it, and is it worth it?

Please help, this is urgent!!!

**TriggerFinger** · 04-01-2008, 10:17 PM

hi odessat,

i know this is too late but if you can try the genuine Dell 130w power supply and see if it behaves the same. if it works well, you can say that it might be the generic, after market adapter that seem to cause your problem.

personally i go with brand when it comes to power adapters and batteries.... just for safety reasons (have you heard of generic batteries or power supplies being recalled because they are found to be defective? yeah me too...

)

it may void your warranty too (if still under warranty) if it fried your motherboard because it is not genuine Dell.

odessat · 04-01-2008, 11:21 PM

Well this was supossed to be a brand new genuine Dell adapter - i know, i know!

would this "Baaaaaad" adapter fry my motherboard????
Is there any kind of test or diagnostic I can run that will tell me if the motherboard is bad?

This error message popped up the first time I plugged in the first "new" adapter I got! This one, worked, then coming out of hibernate, I got the error message that the system requires 130w, hit F1 to shutdown!!!

PLEASE GOD DON'T LET IT BE MY MOTHERBOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if it is my hubby's gonna kill me good!

04-01-2008, 10:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
odessat Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP	AC Adapter or Motherboard Okay, I have a Dell Gen2 XPS. My puppy chewed into the power supply that came with the laptop. I found a replacement through E-Bay - please spare me the laughs, etc. Anyway, replacement came in, I plug it in and get an error message that the AC adapter isn't giving me enough power, and to use a Dell 130w power adapter, which is what I bought. It said it could affect performance. I could still run on the AC adapter, but it wouldn't charge the battery. I could take the power jack out of the pc, blow on it, and plug it back in and it VIOLA - it would work fine, no error message, and it charged the battery. I contacted seller and asked for an exchange. Got the "new" one in 2 days ago. Worked fine - for a day! Then last night, start getting same message, again, blow on it a few times, and it works perfectly!! Is it the AC adapter - possibly an old Dell casing with junk parts inside, or could it be my AC adapter on the motherboard? How do I tell???? And yes, I'm ready to shell out $100+ to dell for a GENUINE adapter!!! If it is the motherboard how expensive and labor intensive is it, and is it worth it? Please help, this is urgent!!!

04-01-2008, 10:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,846 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: AC Adapter or Motherboard hi odessat, i know this is too late but if you can try the genuine Dell 130w power supply and see if it behaves the same. if it works well, you can say that it might be the generic, after market adapter that seem to cause your problem. personally i go with brand when it comes to power adapters and batteries.... just for safety reasons (have you heard of generic batteries or power supplies being recalled because they are found to be defective? yeah me too... ) it may void your warranty too (if still under warranty) if it fried your motherboard because it is not genuine Dell. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE Last edited by TriggerFinger; 04-01-2008 at 10:22 PM.

04-01-2008, 11:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
odessat Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows XP	Re: AC Adapter or Motherboard Well this was supossed to be a brand new genuine Dell adapter - i know, i know! would this "Baaaaaad" adapter fry my motherboard???? Is there any kind of test or diagnostic I can run that will tell me if the motherboard is bad? This error message popped up the first time I plugged in the first "new" adapter I got! This one, worked, then coming out of hibernate, I got the error message that the system requires 130w, hit F1 to shutdown!!! PLEASE GOD DON'T LET IT BE MY MOTHERBOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if it is my hubby's gonna kill me good!