November 20, 2004

6:07 PM

I recently replaced the battery in my old Dell Inspiron 4000. Today I noticed that the led on the power adapter goes off if the battery is in the machine and the machine says it is running on batteries. If I unplug the battery the computer turns off. I am able to boot on AC power but the moment I insert the battery the adapter stops working. I think this is new otherwise the battery would've drained days ago. Has anyone encountered this before? Any ideas? Also, if the computer is off and I plug the adapter into it while the battery is also present, the led on the adapter goes out. If I then remove the battery and attempt to boot the machine, nothing happens. This is very weird.
posted by Grod to (3 comments total)

also: I have two different adapters, the first was sent to me by dell a couple years ago to replace the original (a short developed near the head where it plugs into the computer) the second was bought by me recently after the dell provided one develped the same problem as the original one. The current adapter is more cheaply made and probably prone to catching fire but the old adapter also exhibts the same failure in the presence of the battery (of course it is harder to test this as I have to hold the cord just so...) I'm nearly certain this is a problem that just started today out of the blue or, like I said, I would have noticed it before either because of the green LED not being on or the battery draining completely. The battery is a 66Whr Dell branded Li-ion.

Thanks!
posted by Grod at 6:12 PM on November 20, 2004

I just had a somewhat similar issue with a Dell Latitude, the battery would not charge at all. i assumed it was due to a bad battery, however, it turned out to be a bad motherboard.

Dell replaced mine for free...well, under warranty I suppose..
posted by keep it tight at 8:18 PM on November 20, 2004

The battery will charge, sometimes, but once it has charged the power adapter (the brick) turns itself off. I can't get the machine to run on AC power when the battery is present.
posted by Grod at 11:00 PM on November 20, 2004