Lawman82

A friend give me his old laptop after receiving one from work, and the told me the only thing worry was the AC power adapter had when bad.So I purchase a new one to find that when you plug it in the power and battery LED just flash anyone have idea what going on with this thing?

LeeJend

Try it with the battery removed and the new adapter. If the laptop comes up ok then the Battery is failed. If not follow the following:

-It could be the connector that the AC adapter plugs into.
-It could be the Laptop power supply.
-It could be something bad in the laptop itself overloading the power supply.
You need a voltmeter and partial disassembly to trouble shoot the problem.

First take the old power adapter and measure the output volatge with it disconnected from the laptop. Next measure the voltage with the new adapter not connected. If they are the same likely the old one is good and the problem is in the laptop or it's connector.

Next (disassembly probably necessary) you plug the adapter in and measure the internal voltage at the Connector and at the internal PSU intput to see if power is getting from the conector to the PSU. If it is the problems in the PSU. If the voltage is not making it find the open (wire or connector) and fix it and continue troubleshooting.

Measure the PSU outputs for +3.3V, +5V and +12V. See if one or all are low. If they are start disconnecting power to parts (CD, HD, Display, MB (if possible)) and see when the power recovers. That will tell you if a component is failed overloading the PSU. If disconnecting everything does not solve the problem then the PSU is probably defective.

Note the PSU is likely on the LAPTOP MB.

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Lawman82

Thanks for the answer, tried removing the battery, still did the same thing, I don't have the old adapter either, ordered this on the e-net from a company who sell dell replacements. I never learned to much about voltage meters so I guess I will go by the local computer shop, Thanks again