0

I lost my Dell's laptop power brick/charger recently. I purchased a replacement from eBay said it was compatible. I plugged it in and turned on the laptop and it works. But the laptop gives a warning the charger is not a genuine dell charger. The laptop works fine, but is it? How does it know its not compatible? Is it not just DC power coming through? Will I have problems later?

IMH
  • 1
  • Nominally chargers provide information to BIOS (UEFI) to help ordinary users get the correct charger. No it is not "just DC". Will you have problems ? Who knows? – John Feb 10 '24 at 17:44
  • it uses the third pin to communicate with the laptop – jsotola Feb 10 '24 at 19:37
  • 1
    Third pin is called a PSID [Power Supply IDentification] pin and has its own PSID circuit on the motherboard that communicates with an IC chip on the power supply's PCB. It used to be possible to desolder the IC chip from the brick and connect it to two pins of the DC jack a decade ago, however the PSID circuit in the motherboard (you can often purchase motherboard schematics from companies that do motherboard repairs) is no longer accessible on many motherboards (I have an Alienware 18 and its motherboard schematics, discovering it's no longer possible on AW's circa >2015) – JW0914 Feb 11 '24 at 15:01
  • 1
    (Cont'd...) PSID motherboard circuit example – JW0914 Feb 11 '24 at 15:08

0 Answers0