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Just wanted to let everyone know that I did receive another power supply and I am no longer receiving the message as indicated above. Thanks Bill. – John W, on September 06, 2008 12:43

Just wanted to let everyone know that I did receive another power supply and I am no longer receiving the message as indicated above. Thanks Bill. – John W, on September 06, 2008 12:42

Emailed you Bill

Bill, I realize that you say I am sorry for the frustration, but I am 100% confident there is no conspiracy afoot to sell ac adapters by designing them to fail, but I see no other reason this prevalent dilemma I and hundreds that I know of are having with these laptops. I am on my second battery and 2nd adapter and this time it has only been 6 weeks and it's not recognizing my charger??? This is very frustrating and I will not in good conscience buy another dell unless I get some resolve from dell. Maybe that's why people are buying Macs now a days. – dseeljr, on September 05, 2008 12:47

Hi,

What is the problem if the message AC power adaptor is not determined comes up, but you can still have AC power. The battery is not getting charged only. It not the battery cause I have two. And why would the AC power be ON, if there was something wrong with the adaptor? Help, what is the problem?

Thanks

Dear Hoplebus's problem. Good luck. I have been having this problems for the past year with my Dell computers. The best I can get is new power adapters.

I can't believe Dell quality has gone downhill so much. If you look at the blogs their customer service sucks also and it is not getting better.

Regards,
I can't believe this.

Hej,

I got the same problem with my XPS M1710, the whors part i'm from denmark, but hope to finde somby who can helpe as Dell Bill_B here in europe.

Called dell service but the refuce to help as my worrenty expired in may, even thou my power adapter was replace last year ( the wire on the olde one broked ), so now i can only count the days for how long I can use the system, as there is no overwrite in the BIOS and the system refuse to power up on the adapter.

So, this has begun to happen right after my warranty expired (go figure, Dell!) and now about two weeks later, my laptop won't charge at all. Suspicious? Not at all! I've been a Dell customer for ten years, and my last power supply for my Inspiron 1050 lasted somewhere around four years before kicking the bucket. Just over a year for the lifespan of a power adapter with newer technology (Vostro 1500) is just ridiculous. And, of course, this happens just as the next school semester occurs and I've decided to take two of my classes online.

Earlier you said you would personallly ship a replacement regardless of your warranty status. Now you say "if your warranty is current or recently expired". – c-gator81, on September 02, 2008 01:07

Oh my gosh I thought it was only me with the 1501 inspiron adapter problem! I am sad to see someone say " adapters are designed to fail" there is definetly a flaw somewhere . I thought it was because it fell out or I am not very computer knowledgable but now I see I it is the same as many of you others and also the time frame of when mine happened. I am definetly keeping my fingers crossed that you Bill can get me a replacement. It would definetly renew my faith in Dell! I am from Canada but will sure give you an American adress where I can pick it up if you can help me.

I started having the same problem after missing by about an inch when attempting to plug the adapter into the back of my computer. The adapter hit a metal prong on a nearby port, which created a spark and damaged the chip inside the adapter which identifies it as a Dell adapter. The adapter itself is fine, but my computer refuses to run at full speed or to recharge the battery.

The excuse Dell gives for disabling the computer in this way, that the computer has to "adjust the performance to match the power available", is a joke. How does the computer know how much power is available if it can't identify the adapter? Why does running my computer at half speed somehow ensure that I will have enough power available, regardless of what adapter I might be using? If Dell really did have the customers' interests in mind when creating this "functionality", they would have provided a way to override it in the BIOS for those who know they have a powerful enough adapter. Clearly, this is simply a way to force people to replace lost or worn adapters (which typically are not under warranty) only from Dell.

Dell is notorious for these types of games. While researching this problem, I came across one case in which their desktop computers came with power supplies that looked identical to industry-standard ATX power supplies. However, if you attempted to use the power supply with a replacement motherboard that was not from Dell, it would destroy your computer. (see the wikipedia article on the ATX standard, where there is a section devoted to Dell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atx .)

I was shocked to read one post in this forum in which someone describes having the same problem on their brand new XPS1530. I had this issue on my inspiron 8500 about four years ago. It's one thing for Dell to try to lock people into using only Dell adapters, but continuing to do it after so many years of knowing all the unintended grief it causes for customers makes me never want to buy a Dell again. I just canceled my order for an XPS1530 after reading Matias's post. (no joke. customer 95034710).

I have this problem too on my Inspiron 1501 laptop. If you have a laptop, you can remove the battery and run it plugged in. Which leads me to believe it's not a problem with the AC adapter, but with the battery...

I am having the same problem. The green light on charger which used to come up doesn't come up any more. Does someone know if the problem is the charger specifically or the laptop E1505.

Dell 1521 here. My error message says, "The AC power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined. The battery may not charge. The system will adjust the performance to match the power available. Please connect to a Dell 65W AC adapter."

How does one contact the mods from this site? – AKA, on August 29, 2008 00:23

No problem. Glad to help. Should arrive tomorrow with an enclosed return airbill to send the old one back. – Dell-Bill_B, on August 28, 2008 18:52

Wow...thanks. Do you know when it should arrive? Again, thanks!!

Sorry for the frustration. I sent an ac adapter to the Skyline address. – Dell-Bill_B, on August 28, 2008 17:35

its 5765196853

Thanks

Same problem for me. I'm running a 2 year old XPS 600m. – ahill2, on August 28, 2008 16:30