# Dell Inspiron 5100 power problem



## calebj (Feb 24, 2008)

Hey all--

hope one of you can help me. I have a Dell inspiron 5100 and the power supply is broken. here are some things that i know are NOT wrong:
-the AC adapter works fine. when i plug it in, the LED glows green, and it works to charge up my other Dells and my friends dells.
-the battery works fine. it doesn't last very long, but it can charge up and hold that charge. figured this out by putting it in other comps.
-there is no dirt, dust, rust, etc, blocking any of the connection points. and no broken pins or anything.

here's what happens:
when i plug in the computer, the Power and Battery LED's flash for just a sec, then when i plug it in fully, nothing happens. the battery is totally dead right now, but when i plug in the computer, it does not charge. last time that i did have the computer on, the screen would flash bright for a split second every now and then, and the battery LED would flash too.

i was thinking the issue has to be with whatever parts are between the power cord and the battery/computer itself...... but i don't know $#it about computers or electronics. and anyway, how would i replace this? Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.


----------



## smz (Mar 12, 2007)

One of the most common repairs I see done on a notebook (hopefully this happens durring warranty period) is the Powerjack (barrel connector) on the motherboard ajacent to the back or side of the laptop lose contact with the motherboard. Could be one solder joint, could be both.

You mentioned no broken pins but you can't be talking about the internal parts of the laptop without taking it completely apart. A couple of symptoms you describe don't necessarily link this to a DC Jack problem, but 4 out of 5 times people talk about a laptop working just fine on battery but refuse to work on the a/c adapter this turns out to be the issue.

I am going to note a rare case from about 3 months ago. My gateway laptop goes in for service because the battery is no longer taking a charge (no problem keeping the notebook powered up)

When I got it back, I had a brand new factory battery but they lost my factory power supply. they didn't stock them, so best buy corporate sent me out an OEM power supply with the same specs to work on this gateway. The butt connector on this adapter was slightly shorter or longer then the factory one so it had limited usability. More or less it was useless and then ended up not working at all with the gateway. But the power supply LED came on and I tried it on another laptop I had made by Asus that accepted the same power input. Worked like a charm! Then get this. I got on the horn with customer relations and they want no part of a non happy large purchasing customer. They immediately give me all the information I need in order to get the exact factory adapter that came with the unit directly from gateway. No OEM. It was set for me to order it and Best Buy to pay the bill. So it arrives and the gateway is running like new again.

So the above example doesn't prove anything or should I say rule anything out.

But I'll stick with 4/5 laptop powering up issues that are only associated with A/C and still work fine with the battery are Power Jack Related

Good Luck. Anyone else feel free to chime in with your input. 

SMZ



calebj said:


> Hey all--
> 
> hope one of you can help me. I have a Dell inspiron 5100 and the power supply is broken. here are some things that i know are NOT wrong:
> -the AC adapter works fine. when i plug it in, the LED glows green, and it works to charge up my other Dells and my friends dells.
> ...


----------

