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    Dells and Universal AC Adapter

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by pillowshot, Jan 4, 2012.

  1. pillowshot

    pillowshot Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guy,

    I'm just wondering if anyone has had any experience with Universal AC Adaptors and their laptops.

    My girlfriend has an M301z, and the charger for it broke about a month ago.. We picked up a cheap replacement on eBay which worked fine for about a fortnight but then started having errors about not being recognized and also intermittently working/not being detected at all.

    It seems something has gone wrong in the tip as moving it around often makes the laptop pick it up again.

    In any case, I was considering getting her the following adapter:

    OcUK Universal 120W Notebook AC Adaptor - With 9 Tips [PSUPCACU120S]

    I'm just wondering whether this will throw up the "AC Adapter not recognized etc." error (bear in mind that the cheap replacement we bought worked PERFECTLY fine for those first 2 weeks)

    Thanks guys!
     
  2. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    I would avoid all universal adapters as you cannot tell the quality of 3rd party adapters. Secondly Dell's BIOS is very picky about having genuine adapters, if it is not a Dell adapter it will not charge the laptop. I would look at getting a cheap PA-3E
     
  3. mariussx

    mariussx Notebook Evangelist

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    Do not buy 3rd party adapters for Dell computers. You can get a genuine Dell PSU for under £20.00. If you no longer have your original PSU, you can check the part number for the exact PSU required here (enter your service tag, submit, system configuration, components). Then find the same Dell part number on ebay from a reputable seller. 3rd party PSU will not charge your battery and give your every time you turn the laptop on.