Hey all, my better half has the Dell Inspiron 1545, its about 2 yrs old, we have had problems with the Power Adapter regularly and have gone through about 4-5 of them. I think the issue is the Connector from the adaptor - laptop, the adaptor one being at fault. Is this a common issue with dell/this model laptop? Is there any alternatives to power the laptop as im fed up of the connectors failing.
This is not a common Dell issue. And I have not heard of this issue before. My guess is that the motherboard is busted, where it shorts the power adapter. If you pass through 4-5 of them.. that means you had the issue when the laptop was under warranty (as I imagine your better half didn't get a 3 year warranty with the system (something that you actually want to do, when we are talking about directly with the manufacture (I don't recommend it for in store warranty), and that it's a laptop. No mater the laptop, whether it's an HP 200$ laptop to a Mac Boo Pro, of a Panasonic Thought book. Get 3 year warranty. Anyway, why didn't your better half contacted Dell and see that passing through, at least 2 PSU, is a sign that the the motherboard might be busted?
Motherboard was replaced within 1yr, due to issue with powerlight on front, but this had no affect on the issue. Adaptor was replaced and it was fine. When we get a new adaptor it seems to fit into the power socket fine, then it slowly becomes looser and looser.
The power adapter plug is a round metal cylinder (well hexa or octagon for the Inspiron, I believe). I don't see how it can get looser, and be back stiff on a new one. I get that the plug spring on the laptop might get lose over time... but back stiff on a new power adapter?! I don't understand. :/ I think I am not understanding you properly :/
Its Hexa, well that seems to be the issue, the plug stops working we get a new one and it works again. When its in and 'wiggling' around it sometimes catches power, recently it has just happened almost suddenly. It was working fine all day then all of a sudden it stopped charging once plugged in. I left it plugged in and powered down (to charge) and it hasnt charged a bit. (the power light on the front has gone again....)
I have dig into your problem. It seams that it's a power adapter flaw. I have looked at the new Dell PSU with the Inspiron.. it's THAT power adapter.... What I mean... is that Dell dropped the really nice power adapter used before, and even drop (even for their high end models) the slim 65W and 90W power adapter, and opted for those ultra cheap ones, that are big and bulky, and no way to put the wire around the power adapter, as you used to be able to, for easy carry. This is Dell.. It's this up and down company. Dell releases crap everywhere, and cuts on quality control and everything... Now people go, Dell sucks, I'll never buy a Dell, and then sales are really down. At this point, Dell releases master peace products, that some of them put to shame Apple quality and design (example: Dell Latitude E 6400/6500/4200/4300/ XT/XT2/XFR series, Dell U2410, U2310, U2711, U3011 monitors), Then people are like "Wow Dell makes awesome stuff of good quality!". Sales are up. And now Dell refreshed it's design with crappier design.. but still OK, price dropped as well.. so ok. And then the refresh design after that, is just junk. Example, now the Dell Latitude E6420, looks like an Inspiron, and has the palm rest detaching itself from the base, when handles (fixed in newer revision.. but sill), uneven back light (bright at the center, really dark on the side (I don't know if it's fixed), and the 9-cell battery lift the laptop up (new battery redesign which does this strange contraption to going around the case design was made). I don't think sales are picking up. All you can do, is complain a lot on Dell forum, like here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19307501.aspx?PageIndex=3 And hope for a recall.. once day. My suggestion is to buy non-Dell power adapter, that support your laptop... they will be probably better built, or at least you don't spend as much. I knew that the Inspiron went all crappy with the glossy plastic everywhere (like all glossy laptops.. or should I say anything), but I didn't knew it went THAT bad. Good to know. Then again, the Inpiron uses a hexagone plug, like you said, while all teh other Dell laptop uses a rounded plug. The rounded are cross system compatible. You can put a 90W PSU for a 65W system.. no problem. You can do the reverse too (but it won't (well might not, depending on the system configuration) charge the battery while the computer is turn on... due to lack of power). The old Inspiron used to have the same rounded plug. I don't know why they changed to hexagone. Would you think it cost them more money, as they need to produce a special series for them.
