I bought an Inspiron 8100 a few months ago off of eBay..pretty good deal..

However, one night the AC just stopped powering the system. Thought the AC might have went bad...

Bought a new AC. Didn't work..hmm..maybe bad AC? Bought another AC Adapter...

Didn't work.

Well..it COULD be powered by the battery...so I bought a battery charger for Lattitude XPi..because the battery COULD fit into it..

Didn't work. Battery Charger? :(, nope, got another one Today, didn't work....

OK, so I have bought and re-bought, trying to solve this problem....

ANY SUGGESTIONS??

It's with the power thing on the back..I have taken it apart and looked at it..it looks fine, but that has to be it...

Dell won't do warranty work because its not under my name. And the guy that sold it to me doesn't have the records of the guy he bought it from (GRR!!).

Basically now I have an $950 paperweight...help??

Right now I'm thinking about buying a Latitude XPi Adapter for the charger to see if that does it.....

Thanks..

I recently went through a similar incident with an Inspiron 7000. Via warranty work, Dell replaced the system board and keyboard (I think that is standard procedure when the keys are faded) and had the machine back to me in less than three days (from date of the first call to Dell). If there is any way possible to get the warranty transfered I would REALY suggest it.

Since that doesn't seem likely...

The problem turned out to be the power connector which is directly connected to the system board. If you are good with electronics and scopes and the like or know of someone who is you might want to test that area and make sure it isn't just shorting out on you. Dell may be able to provide you with some basic troubleshooting diagrams for that board as well.

Good luck with this. The main reason I stick with Dell is because I've never experienced better customer service / tech support, but that generally requires a valid warranty...

I was getting really pissed off. I've managed to get a few clues about the previous owner from what a few reps just said when answering..like you are "Blah Blah", and I said "Sure :)"

...but yea, can't get that...

I called the computer shop, and they said that it does happen...I took it apart though, and it doesn't look to a problem...

Would the computer store be able to fix it? ...I'm pretty decent with computers..building my own, but really don't know anything about electronics...

I'm hesitant because it will cost $60 just to have them look at it

I think any good technician could figure it out and quite possibly fix it. Power problems are generally fairly easy to isolate, but since you have to test live circuits (I think!) you can very easily do further damage if you aren't extremely careful.

I'm no electronics guy either and if speak too much I may lead you down the path to total destruction of said machinery and we don't want to go there! Inspiron 8100's are REALLY nice machines (I have a 7000 and an 8000) so I think the $60 is worth it, or if you know someone who is really good then talk with them.

Good luck!

I had this problem. I found that if take a pen and tap where the ac plugs in it should work.

?