Member Avatar for il0postino

I have a problem with the startup of my laptop.
When the battery is in place and the AC connected the green battery light is on and flashes off/on every 5/6 seconds or so. No other lights are on. Both of my batteries are almost flat. But they do appear to get charged a bit just sufficient to start the boot process. When I press the power switch (battery in place, AC connected) the laptop powers-up until I get to the “low battery press F1” message (the AC still connected). If the batteries have sufficient power I get to XP but it then fails with an “un mountable boot sector ….something” blue screen of death error (can’t remember exact text of the message). During this start up the battery light is lit but it is orange rather then green. It also starts up like this if I disconnect the AC supply.
When I remove the battery and try to startup on the AC supply the 3 LED lights next to the power button light up and the power light goes green. This is just during the time that I hold my finger on the power button (1 second) and, occasionally, for a few seconds -when even the fans start momentarily. But then the system switches off altogether.

I may mention some other “maybe noteworthy” thing.
I have had some trouble with the power switch since the beginning (a few years). Often when I press it the laptop appears to boot but the screen does not turn on. I then have to hold down the power switch to turn the laptop of and try again. After a few goes the screen turns on and the system boots normally –although I sometimes get the screen to choose how to boot -normally, safe mode etc.
This also happened last week but when I got it to boot I got the BSOD message mentioned above. When I tried to solve that problem with the Dell XP and problem solving CD’s The system suddenly turned of in the middle of things. After this happened a second time I checked the output of the AC supply with a Volt meter and discovered it had no Voltage. I then bought an identical new Dell power supply that does work.
Does anybody know what the problem can be?

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Member Avatar for forumdude123

it may be a broken ac adapter, or in some cases, busted motherboard capacitors. check the ac adapter first, as it may have been scratched, cracked, broken, etc. Since you bought a new one that does work, use the new one and ditch the old on, as it is probably defective.

Member Avatar for il0postino

Thanks Dude:) ,
I checked the new AC adaptor with a volt meter and it gives the right voltage. The central pin in the connector looks fine also, so I suppose that this rather elaborate Dell-AC-verification-communication-business does not cause the problem.
It does seem rather an unlucky coincidence that :
1) my AC adaptor broke
2) my laptop does not recognize that it is plugged in
and 3) I get an unmountable boot volume error (twice) on the last battery power I had.
All at the same time.
So as far as I can figure the only remedy for strange power problems like this is to change the whole motherboard. A rather delicate and expensive shot in the dark adventure. Any better ideas are much appreciated!

Thanks again

Member Avatar for forumdude123

Thanks Dude:) ,
I checked the new AC adaptor with a volt meter and it gives the right voltage. The central pin in the connector looks fine also, so I suppose that this rather elaborate Dell-AC-verification-communication-business does not cause the problem.
It does seem rather an unlucky coincidence that :
1) my AC adaptor broke
2) my laptop does not recognize that it is plugged in
and 3) I get an unmountable boot volume error (twice) on the last battery power I had.
All at the same time.
So as far as I can figure the only remedy for strange power problems like this is to change the whole motherboard. A rather delicate and expensive shot in the dark adventure. Any better ideas are much appreciated!

Thanks again

Just use the new adaptor, and try it out. if it doesn't work, you'll have to replace the mobo :( since the whole mobo is soldered together.

Member Avatar for il0postino

Well yes but it doesn't look good so I'm just taking a few deep breaths before chucking the thing in to the bin...
thanks for your help

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