Intermittent Inspiron 8200 Power Supply when Docked

This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.

"John J. Burness" wrote in message
...
Patrick J. Chicas wrote:
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.


Hope this is not a silly question, but what Power Supplies did you buy??

Although the Inspiron is based on the earlier Inspiron 8000 & 8100, the
8200 has a higher rated Power Supply. The Power Supply is a 90W device
(giving out 20V @ 4.51A), whereas the earlier device was a 75W (or
possibly only 70W, I cannot recall) device.

Visually it is almost impossible to tell the 2 Power Supplies apart
except for one distinguising featu-
On the 90W device the "nose" of the plug (that physically plugs into the
8200) is grey (with the body being black), whereas the earlier device
had a totally black plug.

HTH

Regards,
John


This was my guess also. If you have the low power "brick" it's possibly
shutting down from overheating. Is there an imbedded thermal cutout in these
bricks?
BD

BD wrote:
"John J. Burness" wrote in message
...

Patrick J. Chicas wrote:

This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.


Hope this is not a silly question, but what Power Supplies did you buy??

Although the Inspiron is based on the earlier Inspiron 8000 & 8100, the
8200 has a higher rated Power Supply. The Power Supply is a 90W device
(giving out 20V @ 4.51A), whereas the earlier device was a 75W (or
possibly only 70W, I cannot recall) device.

Visually it is almost impossible to tell the 2 Power Supplies apart
except for one distinguising featu-
On the 90W device the "nose" of the plug (that physically plugs into the
8200) is grey (with the body being black), whereas the earlier device
had a totally black plug.

HTH

Regards,
John



This was my guess also. If you have the low power "brick" it's possibly
shutting down from overheating. Is there an imbedded thermal cutout in these
bricks?
BD



I don't know, but almost certainly there is!!

Can't recall where I saw it, but I seem to remember that these low Power
bricks _may_ hold up the supply for a period & then give up - precisely
the problem that Patrick is having!!

HTH

Regards,
John

and where did you purchase the docking stations and power supplies?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bush/Cheney'04: Over A Billion Whoppers Served
"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.

After reading the thread -- the power of the power supply sounds very plausible as the
chance of two supplies having the same problem is very low.

I'd like to also add that you should have politely asked to speak with a supervisor and ask
for someone you can understand. I have had to do this once and I did receive support from a
another verbally understandable technician.

Dave

"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
| This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
| called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
| 110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
| with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
| understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
| catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!
|
| I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
| between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
| intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
| time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
| batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
| for @90 seconds.
|
| BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.
|
| Any help with this is appreciated.

The 8200 requires more power than earlier models. Check the output of the
two power supplies (it will be printed on the bottom) and compare to the
power supply that came with the laptop. I'd bet they are lower and
inadequate.

What happens when you connect the power supply that came with the laptop to
the docking station?

If it is a model with an internal power supply, and it might be, where did
you get the docking station? If it is from Dell, then return them, as they
are not working. If not, then return them to the place of purchase.

I suspect they are for an earlier model Inspiron. The 8200 caused a lot of
problems, as the power requirements are higher than earlier models.

Tom
P.S. If you didn't buy them from Dell, you should be pleased they are even
helping you. They are, of course, under no obligation to do so.
"WSZsr" wrote in message
...
and where did you purchase the docking stations and power supplies?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bush/Cheney'04: Over A Billion Whoppers Served
"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.

Here we go again. Tom on the Dell Bandwagon
"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...
The 8200 requires more power than earlier models. Check the output of the
two power supplies (it will be printed on the bottom) and compare to the
power supply that came with the laptop. I'd bet they are lower and
inadequate.

What happens when you connect the power supply that came with the laptop
to
the docking station?

If it is a model with an internal power supply, and it might be, where did
you get the docking station? If it is from Dell, then return them, as they
are not working. If not, then return them to the place of purchase.

I suspect they are for an earlier model Inspiron. The 8200 caused a lot of
problems, as the power requirements are higher than earlier models.

Tom
P.S. If you didn't buy them from Dell, you should be pleased they are even
helping you. They are, of course, under no obligation to do so.
"WSZsr" wrote in message
...
and where did you purchase the docking stations and power supplies?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bush/Cheney'04: Over A Billion Whoppers Served
"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my 8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.

Thanks all,

I have the 90watt power supplies. Gray DC tips and all. The system
really freaked today hard. It took over 30 minutes to close apps to
releave resources in an effort to save a single file that I needed to
save. This state started just after one of the power failures. I had
to finally, cold start the machine by removing the battery. Since
then, both power supplies are working fine. This is very odd.


"John J. Burness" wrote in message ...
Just to add a bit of info on the 2 types of Power Brick:-

To look at they are TOTALLY identical (other than the "nose" of the plug)!!

The model No for the 90W Brick is PA-1900-05D & also indicates that it
is part of the "PA-9 Family". There does not appear to be an independant
part No.

The model No for the 70W Brick is AA20031 & also indicates that it is
part of the "PA-6 Family". It also has a Part No. of P/N 9364U.

HTH

Regards,
John

What the hell did I supposedly do wrong. I gave him good answers.

Did you?
"Turner" wrote in message
...
Here we go again. Tom on the Dell Bandwagon
"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...
The 8200 requires more power than earlier models. Check the output of
the
two power supplies (it will be printed on the bottom) and compare to the
power supply that came with the laptop. I'd bet they are lower and
inadequate.

What happens when you connect the power supply that came with the laptop
to
the docking station?

If it is a model with an internal power supply, and it might be, where
did
you get the docking station? If it is from Dell, then return them, as
they
are not working. If not, then return them to the place of purchase.

I suspect they are for an earlier model Inspiron. The 8200 caused a lot
of
problems, as the power requirements are higher than earlier models.

Tom
P.S. If you didn't buy them from Dell, you should be pleased they are
even
helping you. They are, of course, under no obligation to do so.
"WSZsr" wrote in message
...
and where did you purchase the docking stations and power supplies?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bush/Cheney'04: Over A Billion Whoppers Served
"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support (so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes
on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my
8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail
from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC
cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...
What the hell did I supposedly do wrong. I gave him good answers.


The answers were good, but he seemed to be saying that he got them from
Dell when he wrote that he would not make another Dell purchase again since
he couldn't get them to provide support. You and another person made
comments that he shouldn't be upset if Dell didn't support them if he didn't
buy them from Dell.

First, as I understand it, Dell warranties are transferable and second,
Dell should help someone with this sort of question. He was simply trying to
find out what was wrong. If he didn't actually pruchase them from Dell, as
was implied in his post, Dell should at least be able to tell him what the
problem is. That's simply good customer service, something that is lacking
these days.

These comments are tempered by gazing in irritation at the bezel marked
DUMMY that doesn't fit my I8200 on the replacement DVD/CD-RW drive that
still exhibits the same problem as the original, a problem documented by
other Dell users but that Dell claims doesn't exist. And, oh yeah, they
can't provide a bezel for the replacement drive that matches the computer.
Silly for me to expect good cosmetics on a $1,800 product, but what the hey.
They can't fix the problem with the DVD/CD-RW drives not recognizing disks
until you open and close them several times, so what are cosmetics.

The bottomline here is that Dell service has slipped very badly and they
are going to lose the loyalty of some of their customers. Whether or not
that matters remains to be seen.

Grumpily,
--
Thomas M. Goethe


Did you?
"Turner" wrote in message
...
Here we go again. Tom on the Dell Bandwagon
"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...
The 8200 requires more power than earlier models. Check the output of
the
two power supplies (it will be printed on the bottom) and compare to
the
power supply that came with the laptop. I'd bet they are lower and
inadequate.

What happens when you connect the power supply that came with the
laptop
to
the docking station?

If it is a model with an internal power supply, and it might be, where
did
you get the docking station? If it is from Dell, then return them, as
they
are not working. If not, then return them to the place of purchase.

I suspect they are for an earlier model Inspiron. The 8200 caused a
lot
of
problems, as the power requirements are higher than earlier models.

Tom
P.S. If you didn't buy them from Dell, you should be pleased they are
even
helping you. They are, of course, under no obligation to do so.
"WSZsr" wrote in message
...
and where did you purchase the docking stations and power supplies?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bush/Cheney'04: Over A Billion Whoppers Served
"Patrick J. Chicas" wrote in message
om...
This is driving me crazy and the imbeciles at Dell Tech Support
(so
called) almost put me over the edge. In the clueless scale they
rank
110 (100 being worst - 0 being best). I spent over 40 minutes
on-line
with a woman whom had such a heavy Indian accent I could barely
understand a word she said. A totally miserable experience and the
catalyst to make this my last Dell purchase EVER!

I just purchased 2 docking stations, power supplies etc to use my
8200
between my home and office. Both power supplies operate
intermittently. There is no noticeable pattern. They simply fail
from
time to time. The green LED goes out and the laptop then runs on
batteries. I can restore the power supply by disconnecting the AC
cord
for @90 seconds.

BTW, the system is running XPPro, Bios A10 and 1gb RAM.

Any help with this is appreciated.