URGENT- M14x Pugged in not charging. Need help!

hello everyone,
i bought an alienware m!4x about a year ago and recently it stopped charging "plugged in not charging". i have tried power draining countless times and even replaced the battery. in the bios settings it says the battery is functioning normally but the Ac adapter is unknown. weird enough, the laptop functions fine when i remove the battery and use the AC adapter only.

My questions are
1. is this problem from the AC adapter or the motherboard?
2. Where can i get it fixed/replaced? (preferably online)

All help appreciated.

 

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Its the adapter 99% of the time. If it says unknown, try to find a good 150w Dell adaptor, this should fix the issue right up.

Odd that you replaced the battery before the adapter. The adapter is 80 bucks max, and the battery is almost 100 last time I checked.

 

Indeed sounds like adapter has gone, if its identifying itself as 'unknown' the computer automatically tries to consume the minimum of power to not overdraw the power supply. The PSU and computer need to 'handshake' before it will draw the full 150W. A new adapter would be easiest fix. Cost is cheap too.

 

Have you tried flashing the BIOS, power drain or CMOS clear?

 

I power drained countless times, BIOS is A10. not sure how to clear the CMOS though.

 

well that was according to a specialist in the warranty company, he diagnosed it as a battery failure and the warranty company provided me with a new battery. However; now my warranty is over and i still have the problem. contacting the Warranty company soon is not a choice as i have traveled and their customer service is terrible so i thought i would just solve it myself.

 

Hello to all
I just wanted to ring in on this topic. I work on computers on the side and have done some research on this problem, dell has incorporated a system to ensure that you use genuine dell products. the motherboard looks to see if the battery and charger are genuine, by it reading resistors in each.
what I have found, more than not. is that the A/C adapter goes bad from the D/C plug being bend sharply and pulling the center wire from the center pin which is what the motherboard is looking for. so when that connection is lost the motherboard no longer see the resistors and tells you that it's "unknown". (And "Plugged in not charging")
For a cheep alternative look for a "Used" genuine dell charger on eBay (Be sure to look for your model type) Proper wattage, volts and amps
with a little bit of hunting you should be able to find one for around $15-30 dollars. A far cry from $150 and the time away from your machine...