universal power cord

[alekxz29]

I have a universal power cord that i just got from a friend of mine for my dell inspiron 1300. I went on tragus, who makes the power cord, website, and it said that tip s3 is for my laptop. so i put that tip in with the cord connected to power, but the laptop doesnt turn on. it was working fine a couple days ago when the cord that came with the laptop died on me. i'm pretty sure it was the old cord that didn't work and not the power dock thing (idk what its called) because my laptop started up just fine with it, but then once i moved the cord, it died. and then the light that goes on when there's power going to the computer would go on, but once i moved the cord, it shut off. my battery doesnt work btw. could this be why?

 

[Tommy Boy]

How long has your battery been bad? I don't think that has anything to do with it.

Seriously, I wouldn't recommend using any power cord on a laptop except the one that is designed to work with the computer. Buy a replacement power source for your laptop and then test to see if it works, if not, that universal power source may have screwed up your computer.

 

[alekxz29]

i would buy a new one from dell, but i dont have ANY money right now to get one. how could the universal one have screwed it up?

 

[Tommy Boy]

Universal Power Adapters for laptops / notebooks can actually do more harm than good. Almost everything in a laptop / notebook is proprietary and there are only a handful of standardized parts in laptops. AC Power Adapters not being one of them.

To reduce reduce inventory costs and save money big box retail stores only carry universal ac power adapters. While they are easier to sell they can often do more harm than good.

Universal power adapters have a floating voltage, meaning that there is a sensor in them that detects which voltage they ought to be outputting. If that sensor is damaged or for any reason miss-detects the correct setting, the universal power adapter can cause damage to your laptops / notebooks motherboard.

As a general rule you should keep an ac power adapter within one amp and one volt of its specified input, which is located on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop / notebook....

Found this on a quick google search.

 

[alekxz29]

great.... so if this thing did fry my laptop i pretty much have a $600 paper weight?

 

[Tommy Boy]

great.... so if this thing did fry my laptop i pretty much have a $600 paper weight?

It's very possible. Nothing happens when you plug it in or try to turn on the laptop?

 

[alekxz29]

nothing... the green LED for the power doesnt come on and nothing happens when i press power.