Hello everyone. I posted this topic earlier today, then edited it. Not sure if it's in the hands of the moderators again for checking, or if it vanished. So reposting just in case.
I replaced three things in the last year for my Dell Vostro 3550 laptop. Last July I bought a new slim style Dell AC Adapter and a new battery, both supposedly genuine. And in March this year I bought a replacement DC Jack power socket connector and installed it to the motherboard. All my parts were not bought from Dell, only other online sites like ebay. So I'll only buy from Dell direct now to assure genuinemparts.
The battery has been charging fine until now when I have to keep the adapter plugged in all the time. It says '8% available (plugged in not charging)' on the taskbar.
* I get the warning message saying that it can't determine the AC Adapter, that it may not charge the battery, and that I should connect a 90w or higher adapter even though my adapter says it's 90w.
* In my BIOS (I have the A12 bios update), next to 'ac adapter type' it says 'none'.
* There's no charging even with the laptop shutdown. I can remove the battery though and with the charger plugged in, the laptop is fine.
* The icon on the front panel illuminates red when I unplug the adapter, but there's no illumination at all when the adapter is reconnected.
* The centre pin inside the plug that is menat to be responsible for charging is still intact and seems centred.
So I'm trying to figure out which part I need to replace and I'm guessing probably the AC Adapter?
It looks genuine, but perhaps it's not and has started to fail by not charging the battery anymore. What do you think? Apparently the only way to tell is to weigh against a genuine one, and that fakes are always lighter.
I've looked on the Dell euro site as I'm in UK, and can buy an old style brick adapter for my Vostro 3550,
accessories.euro.dell.com/.../productdetail.aspx
But I'd prefer a slim type like the one I have with the white light around the plug, but don't see it on their site. Does anyone know if they sell
the slim type? They only seem to have it on the US site
accessories.us.dell.com/.../productdetail.aspx
Here is a link to photos of my ac adapter, battery, battery compartment and warning message.
postimg.org/.../
Perhaps someone can tell if anything is non genuine and if they think I need to replace the AC Adapter, or the battery, or both? Thanks.