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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:03 pm 
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A friend has been having performance issues with his Dell laptop in that it runs pretty slow and sluggish at times. After unplugging the laptop and running only on the internal battery, performance really improved. Does that indicate a failing power supply, or something else?

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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:13 pm 
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I've never heard of such behavior. I don't know what to suggest. I suppose that a bad a/c adapter could be the cause, but I wouldn't think so.

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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 4:31 pm 
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I've never seen this either but would have to guess that it is the power brick. Possibly it is going bad and putting out under voltage. If you can get hold of one try another adapter. Does not matter as to make/model as long as the plug fits and it has the same output voltage.

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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:48 pm 
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Steve & Jay - Thanks for your input. I talked more with my friend about his laptop problem, and here's what he said:

Occasionally during startup, I would get a message "dell ac power adapter wattage cannot be determined". It gave me the option to continue or cancel the message in BIOS setup. I always continued. Yesterday I noticed that when the laptop started on battery power I didn't get the message and the computer ran just fine. But when I started with the AC plugged in, I got this message and the computer ran very slow. After starting under only battery power I can then plug in the adapter and it continues to work fine. I have ordered a new power supply.

Hopefully his new power supply will solve the problem. I will keep you posted.

And since we are on the subject of laptops and power supplies, I will take this opportunity to wish you and other forum members a Happy New Year 2019.

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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:24 pm 
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Ya, I guess that low wattage would be more likely than low voltage. I hope that the new power brick does the job.

Actually there is another option than either voltage or wattage. Just as RAM has a spd (Serial presence detect) chip as does a hard drive, and a laptop battery it is quite likely that a power brick also has one. I don't know if the ones in a battery or hard drive are exactly the same as what is in a RAM (memory) module but they are, at least, close enough for this discussion. ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_presence_detect

In any case the other units have a chip that does much the same as does a SPD chip in RAM. If this chip has gone bad on the power brick it would confuse the BIOS on the laptop. Once Windows is loaded the BIOS is no longer a big factor so plugging in the power brick has no adverse effect. I have a hunch that, if you put a meter on the power brick output, all would be fine. This scenario would cover everything that you have said. Of course I cannot say for fact that a power brick has such a chip but it makes sense considering the error that comes up at boot. One might ask how such chip info could be sent through a power plug? My answer would be in the same way that you can buy devices that turn electrical wall outlets into network data channels. :mrgreen:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/d-link-tu ... l-network/

And...
Happy New Year 2019.
back at you! :)

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 Post Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:55 pm 
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Interesting additional information. Yes, it would seem that the power brick is faulty and the machine disables the battery when plugged in, so the clock speed drops with the lower power coming through.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 9:43 am 
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My friend installed his new power supply, and all appears to be well. No more error messages and no more sluggish performance, so he is a happy camper. Thanks to Steve & Jay for your interest and input on this issue.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 9:46 am 
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Glad to hear that BB. :)

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