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April 25th, 2009 11:00
Dell's proprietary power adapter has lost me as a customer for all time!
I purchased an Inspiron 1525 a year ago for my daughter to use in college. After only about 8 months of very gentle use, the power adapter cord began sparking. The cord is very weak next to the laptop end of the connector. We were out of town on a trip so we ran over to our local electronics store to buy a replacement. We purchased an adapter with the appropriate watts and amps and took it to our room. It would not charge the battery! After reading online I discovered that Dell has a proprietary adapter. I asked my daughter just to put up with it for a while and last week purchased what I thought was a Dell replacement. When it arrived, I discovered that it was just a "Dell OEM" adapter and also will not charge the battery.
I called Dell and asked for a replacement and was told my "special price" was $79 + freight. I am already out almost $100 for the 2 chargers I have purchased. I have had enough!!!!!!
I vow to never purchase another Dell product!!!! I have purchased 6 or 7 computers over the last 15 years and have made many recomendations to others to purchase a Dell. I just can't stand to get stuck like this any more.
Best of luck with your Dell product!
ejn63
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April 25th, 2009 11:00
Be careful what you DO buy, because MOST notebooks use proprietary adapters. Why is Dell at fault for your failure to verify what you were buying?
You can easily find a genuine Dell adapter for about $40.
http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=299
hrova
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April 25th, 2009 12:00
If it died at 8 months, I am assuming it was still under warranty.... Did you try that route?
If you did and they said they would not cover it under warranty, that is something to be upset about.
As ejn said above, buying the wrong replacement adapter is hardly Dell's fault.
ieee488
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April 25th, 2009 12:00
Very weak. Are you kidding? Have you looked at other laptops? They're the SAME.
As for proprietary charger, Motorola does the same with the mini-USB port on their phones. They require Motorola-brand charger too.
muto
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April 25th, 2009 14:00
.
kirkd
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April 25th, 2009 20:00
The DC power cord is not weak. If it fails, it'a almost always because it was abused by a variety of bad handling habits. This abuse is also the cause of the DC power socket becoming broken away from the system board.
hrova
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April 25th, 2009 20:00
KirkD....
Makes sense...
I guess that explains why warranty wouldn't cover it.....
Regarding the motherboard being bad... I guesss that is possible, I but I also know that some non Dell power supplies for laptops will work to power the machine, but not charge it... I am positive that Targus had a model that worked that way, and I seem to recall other non OEM adapters stating similar things....
ieee488
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April 26th, 2009 05:00
Well, since cherrytreebeads won't buy another Dell, her daughter can repeat her same bad handling habits on another brand of laptop, and have that laptop's power jack break and blame it on that laptop's manufacturer for "weak" DC power cord.
ejn63
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April 29th, 2009 19:00
Any 8600 adapter will work with a D510. Whatever happened - whether adapter failure or system board failure in the D510 that took out the adapter - or even a voltage surge from the wall outlet - was a coincidence.
drt1200
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April 29th, 2009 19:00
How about this situation: Last night I wanted to run my Latitude 510 but I couldnt find my adapter. So I plugged in my adapter from my Inspiron 8600 and it powered up for about 5 secs and shut down. Now I cant get the adapter to work in either machine. When I plugged it back into my 8600 I get an error about unknown adapter and the battery wont charge on either machine. Why wouldnt Dell explain this in detail? A tag on the PS would have been nice saying damage can occur if used on a different model. I check my docs and I cant find any reference for anything about the PS. A tag on the the charge port? Anything..................
I ordered a new PS and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the 8600 isnt damaged too.
ThomasM195
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July 11th, 2011 12:00
Don't blame Dell because you bought the wrong power supply. Yeah, they have Dell-branded power supplies, which provide electricity to your laptop the same way another brand will, as long as you get one with the right specs. And what do you mean by it was JUST a "Dell OEM" adapter? What model laptop was it for if it wasn't for your 1525?
If you, or your daughter, damaged the end next to the laptop end connector, then your original adapter was SEVERELY ABUSED, which is much different from "very gentle use". "Very gentle use" being hauled and bounced around at college? Yeah, right.
You're going to quit buying Dell products, the most reliable computer brand available, just because you and your daughter are IDIOTS? Go ahead.... buy a cheaper-made brand that also won't hold up to your abuse!