I just came across the below blog, and after reading the blog and browsing the commenters, i so much regret having bought the Dell.
Perhaps you're able to decipher all the heavily-technical comments on below blog, to cut to the core of what might prove to be a best resolution for me?
From the gist of the comments, it appears the Dell company has engineered their laptops so that both batteries and chargers are problematic. Though one post said they did so to avoid lawsuits over exploding batteries. I don't even need batteries, as i use it for home use only. This is the first i've heard of a charger requiring an installed battery for the laptop to function.
https://www.jodybruchon.com/2010/01/26/dell-laptops-reject-third-party-batteries-and-ac-adapterschargers-hardware-vendor-lock-in/
_Here's a paste from the blog's comments - can you decipher this?
Ok, got a Dell laptop from my son and after a month, finally got the bios warning, so I researched it a bit.
The problem arises from several poor design decisions.
The first one being Dell deciding to hold users hostage until they buy Dell’s overpriced AC adapters.
And if you don’t, we’re going to run your expensive equipment that you bought at a fraction of it’s potential speed.
The center pin comes directly from a chip in the power supply – directly as in no circuit protection for said chip.
That’s the chip that signals the MB “it’s OK, they spent a bunch of money with us, you can run normally”, and gives the secret knock and handshake.
The PS cable is unshielded – unshielded as in 5′ unshielded antenna leading directly into the PS chip.
The plug is often cavalierly soldered. Often the bare power wire being separated from the ‘signal’ line by only air. Since 19.5V @10.8A is over 210Watts (on my official Dell branded PA-7E PS which is built like it needs control rods) that’s an accident waiting to happen.
Don’t know if there is any protection on the MB side against static or accidental sudden 210Watt surge on the signal pin. I suspect that would be detrimental tho.
To recap, you have almost 11 amps of DC power poised in very close proximity to a line that leads directly into the output of the “spend more money at Dell” chip in the power supply. All it takes is once or a static charge on the ‘antenna’ and your Dell power supply is now only a regular power supply. Still puts out the same power but no longer has the chip sending the Pythonesque Wink, wink, nudge in the arm signal to the laptop.
Hostageware._
