I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and it will not power on with the battery
in by itself. Nor will it power on with the battery removed and the
ac adapter plugged in. If I have the ac adapter plugged in and the
battery in it it will on a rare occasion power up and boot and I can
see that the battery is not charging at all before it cuts off but I
don't understand why it won't power on consistently with the battery
removed and the laptop plugged in via the ac adapter. Shouldn't it be
pulling power from the wall if it is configured like this? I was
thinking maybe I just need to buy another laptop battery but I was
interested in seeing what you all think prior to me shelling out the
money. Thanks for the advice.

In
news:8d679a9c-98b0-435e-b8da-1335267ab6e8@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com,
Tino typed on Thu, 15 May 2008 10:19:30 -0700 (PDT):
> I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and it will not power on with the battery
> in by itself. Nor will it power on with the battery removed and the
> ac adapter plugged in. If I have the ac adapter plugged in and the
> battery in it it will on a rare occasion power up and boot and I can
> see that the battery is not charging at all before it cuts off but I
> don't understand why it won't power on consistently with the battery
> removed and the laptop plugged in via the ac adapter. Shouldn't it be
> pulling power from the wall if it is configured like this? I was
> thinking maybe I just need to buy another laptop battery but I was
> interested in seeing what you all think prior to me shelling out the
> money. Thanks for the advice.

Sounds like all of your problems will be solved with a new battery to
me. Yes, most laptops can run fine without the battery. Some I suspect
switch over to battery for a second during POST (happens just before
booting). Which is stupid because all it does is to force you to get a
new battery when that one dies.

Some laptops the AC adapter can't handle big surges. And that is okay
since the battery gives the extra boost during those occasions. Although
I don't care for that design too much. Some can still run without the
battery if they are like this. But they usually switch the CPU to a
slower speed as some have noted before.

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:

> In news:8d679a9c-98b0-435e-b8da-1335267ab6e8@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com,
> Tino typed on Thu, 15 May 2008 10:19:30 -0700 (PDT):
>
>> I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and it will not power on with the battery
>> in by itself. Nor will it power on with the battery removed and the
>> ac adapter plugged in.
<snip>

>
> Sounds like all of your problems will be solved with a new battery to
> me.

My 8100 powers-up fine without a battery installed; caveat emptor
in re purchasing a new battery expecting such to remedy your problem ;)

Michael

In news:G-Wdnc0g-vo4BrHVnZ2dnUVZ_j6dnZ2d@posted.cpinternet,
msg typed on Thu, 15 May 2008 15:23:01 -0500:
> BillW50 wrote:
>
>> In
>> news:8d679a9c-98b0-435e-b8da-1335267ab6e8@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com,
>> Tino typed on Thu, 15 May 2008 10:19:30 -0700 (PDT):
>>> I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and it will not power on with the
>>> battery in by itself. Nor will it power on with the battery removed
>>> and the ac adapter plugged in.
> <snip>
>
>> Sounds like all of your problems will be solved with a new battery to
>> me.
>
> My 8100 powers-up fine without a battery installed; caveat emptor
> in re purchasing a new battery expecting such to remedy your problem
> ;)

I stand corrected. Thanks Michael. :-)

--
Bill

"Tino" <mcuttino******.com> wrote in message
news:8d679a9c-98b0-435e-b8da-1335267ab6e8@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and it will not power on with the battery
> in by itself. Nor will it power on with the battery removed and the
> ac adapter plugged in. If I have the ac adapter plugged in and the
> battery in it it will on a rare occasion power up and boot and I can
> see that the battery is not charging at all before it cuts off but I
> don't understand why it won't power on consistently with the battery
> removed and the laptop plugged in via the ac adapter. Shouldn't it be
> pulling power from the wall if it is configured like this? I was
> thinking maybe I just need to buy another laptop battery but I was
> interested in seeing what you all think prior to me shelling out the
> money. Thanks for the advice.
Could this be the notorious power socket failure ?
What happens is that the socket on the system board fails, so power cannot
flow from the charger into the machine.
This can be checked by using a battery that has been charged on another
machine.
If it works OK, then a new socket should fix it.
I've repaired a few, by chipping plastic off the socket and adding short
wires soldered on. Cost is just a couple of hours of time (assuming you
have the service manual, downloaded from Dell).
Might be possible to get hold of an old (broken but charging) laptop with
compatible battery to act as a charging station ?
hth
Neil