DELL Laptop AC not Working with Dead Battery

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

I have a "DELL Inspiron 8100" that for the past 8 years has been working A-OK. Everything is Original.

This morning I turned on the laptop but since I was in a hurry I forgot to plug in the AC power. So, when I came back after half hour the laptop was shutdown ... which is OK ... since I know my battery has been degraded over years and it can hold it's power for only about 40 minutes.

I took the battery out and tried using it directly with AC power adapter and the darn laptop will not even run.

Q1: Why does my laptop can not run on AC Charger only?

Q2: Is the dead Battery the only problem?

Q3: Or is my problem something else ... bad RAM or bad Motherboard ... or ...?

Any thoughts to steer me in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks,

G!

[Abuilder]

laptop can not run on AC Charger only

I think you answered your own question gonwk.

[ipaulo]

Was the battery in when you tried the charger? I wonder if it needs to have the battery in when using the charger.

[doctorhardware]

It should not matter whether the battery is in or not. The computer should power up. It sound like the dc power connector on the system board could be bad. I had to replace the connector on my Acer laptop. The battery would stop charging. When the ac adapter is plugged in do you get any of the led on.

[dazuk1972]

I've heard a lot of bad new about Dell computers.

[Wombler]

I've heard a lot of bad new about Dell computers.

Their laptops are superb, their desktop machines leave more than a lot to be desired.


Wombler

[gonwk]

Hi Guys,

Problem Solved ... but you won't believe the cause ... well at least I did not expect that to be the problem ...

I posted this last night thinking I better get some input from some of you guys ... so I started playing around with it this morning ... and had my Battery slipped in another DELL laptop to get it charged up ... and my local computer gurus thought for sure the Connection on the motherboard was loose ... that is why can't recognize the AC Charger.

My buddy happen to have an additional AC Charger ... so I reluctantly decided what the heck let's try this AC Charger ... I plugged into my laptop (without the Battery) ... and viola the darn laptop turned on ... so the culprit was the AC Charger ... either the Connection or possibly the Wire from Charger to Outlet was fried since I was getting Green Light from AC Outlet to the AC Charger.

Well my laptop is on now and the battery is charging fine and I got my Important Data out so even if the laptop crashes this time I am in good shape.

THANKS for all of your feedbacks!

G!

[atifsh]

Their laptops are superb, their desktop machines leave more than a lot to be desired.
Wombler

perhaps XPS 1330 is their desktop design or thats what dell thinks when they put nvidia card in them...

morethen half of those machines have display problems.

[Wombler]

perhaps XPS 1330 is their desktop design or thats what dell thinks when they put nvidia card in them...

morethen half of those machines have display problems.

It's most definitely a laptop in my book.

The problem's caused by graphics chip overheating and I think that's a one off design issue/glitch as their laptops prior to this have been very well received.

Dell desktops are renowned for being difficult to upgrade and I've had numerous problems with other peoples machines over the years due to non-standard components.

Needless to say that's less of an issue when it comes to laptops.


Wombler