XPS M1330 AC Adapter

hi evry1;
i have xps m1330 laptop....sry if there a thread exist with the same title as im new to this site.....as much as it sounds idiotic i have lost my ac adapter and im trying to buy a new one i need some clearification and advice if i should buy universal ac adapter like the once that are found on ebay ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=1049)

i really need some help with this cz i really dont want to spend abt $80 to get it from dell please msg back thanks in advance

 

Just get it off e-bay.

It's a lot cheaper than Dell.

 

I would think very carefully before I did this. I hate to be the bearrer of bad news but apparently Dell has played a dirty trick with their power supplies. It appears that they have a digital signature being generated by the power supply, and the system reads this signal through BIOS and concludes that it's 'Genuine Dell'.

Now obviously this is proprietary and Dell isn't about to tell the other power supply manufacturers how to generate this code. So a possible result could be that you buy a third party adapter, the BIOS does not get the code it expects, the you get the dreaded warning screen talking about how the system doesn't recognize the power adapter. And of course after that you will realize that your battery won't charge.

I'm fairly certain that all of Dell's newer systems do the checksum with the PSU. But I could always be wrong if their was any problem with the sources that I read.

If anyone knows information contrary to this, please post it.


I will try to find some of the stuff that I read, but I think I Googled 'Dell dirty power supply'.

Edit: of course mystery905 is right if you can get a genuine Dell PSU on Ebay.

 

I've used a few third party power supplies with my Dells in the past... they're generally chunkier and cheaper-feeling than the genuine thing, but they've all worked fine. BIOS recognizes them and everything.

That being said, I've only used two or three different models of these generic devices (albeit multiples of those two or three) so there may be others that actually have recognition problems, etc.

That being said, the smartest, most hassle-free move is indeed to spend a couple extra bucks on the real deal, but I'm just going to throw it out there that not all the OEM stuff flat out doesn't work.

 

Alright, someone brave with an M1330 or M1530 needs to try one of those Best Buy adapters and see if it works or not. I would do it but I've already designated myself as the guy who's going to get the M1730 130w power adapter and use it with his M1530.

Commander Wolf, can you confirm that behavior on an M1330? If not, what models can you confirm positive results with? It will be good to get some specific models that we know generic PSU's work with. I would like to see several more models mentioned before I conclude that all Dell notebooks will work with generic power adapters.

 

i can use my i 600d, 700m and 1505 adapter with my 1330 just fine, don't get a non dell adapter though

 

and the pa13 (m1710, m170) adapter works also, it is just overkill. the m1730 adapter is much larger and doesn't work with anything else i have and I'm sure it wont work with the 1530

 

i've used an m1330 with an aftermarket adapter before but that was a year ago. like someone said before, it must be the newer dell systems that have the digital sig with the power supply.

 

I've tried the OEM stuff on a bunch of D-Series Latitudes up through the D620. Something like 500M, D500, D600, D610, D620. All no problems. I'll try one on my E6400 when I get the chance.

If we're talking about compatibility between Dell adapters, every Dell adapter made in the past four or five years should work with every Dell computer that shipped with an adapter of the same wattage for the past four or five years. I'm using a downright ancient PA-10 with my E6400 and it works fine.

I don't know about the M1730 adapter in particular (and I'm actually surprised this doesn't work on the M1530 - what kind of error message do you get, Wodstock?), but in my experience, Dell adapters with a higher wattage usually work with machines rated for lower wattage. I've been able to use the PA-10 (90W) with the 500M, D500, D600, etc, and these all shipped with the PA-12 (65W) adapter.

Sometimes, you can even use a lower wattage power supply with a higher-wattage machine. I know my E6400 accepts a PA-12 just fine, although my old D830 complained about the weaker adapter.

 

Very nice info on the power adapters guys.

Be sure to know however that if you use, let's say a 60w adapter with an M1530 instead of the 90w one, your machine will choke if you hit it with a hard load. It will work just fine as long as the load is not so huge.

I'm going to go look at that M1710 power adapter.

Edit: wodstock, that PA-13 is exactly what I'm looking for. Unless I'm wrong, I'm looking at one here:

http://www.notebookrepairmart.com/xps-m1710-c937/dell-130watt-ac-adapter-p26531.html

 

no error, it is just a physically larger input jack, it cant fit in anything but a 1730 (as far as i know). you wouldn't want an adapter the size of the 1730 adapter, it is gigantic!!