D610 dead except when in docking station

[Sea_Eagle]

My daughter's D610 slowly died during a 10 week car holiday trip in Northen Australia. From the description of how it gradually happened I assumed it could be bad power connection and eventually the battery failed.

Completely dismantled very carefully and tested the power connector, whilst not perfect I believe the solder joints were acceptable.

When power supplies PA10 or PA12 plugged in directly to the laptop no lights of any kind, with or without battery. Checked with other battery too, same result. The power supplies do deliver right voltage and good under load.

Have a docking station and partly to my surprise with the 95W or PA10 power supply the D610 works fine. With the PA12 or 65W power supply the docking station refuses to work telling you to shut down and replace the power supply.

Ran into a problem when I tried to test with the car power converter, which delievered enough power but was not recognised so docking station again refused. The second D610 I later had to hand allowed the car power to be used but under "protest", warning that performance might be poor. Eventually I got the PA10 which was accepted.

I have a second D610 which works fine on all 3 power supplies. Now having option for swopping parts, I would like to know what I can try to figure out what is causing the power interruption?

[dave-p]

well the difference betweeen dock and non dock operation is the DC supply is routed via the dock connector Vs the DC jack on the laptop.

But I have to admit this is a strange one.

It seems to me you have an issue with the DC power circuit on the motherboard.

it is possible the DC jack is the problem, but the operation on battery (charged) should work all the time, and if I read your note above is right you have problems with that as well.

So IMO the issue is most likely the Motherboard.

Lets see what others have to say.

[Sea_Eagle]

The D610 is new to me so I am a bit cautious at this stage about dismantling and applying power flying lead wise but I am prepared to do this to make sure that power does get past the connector on the motherboard. I did however check very thoroughly with ohm meter and resoldered joints.

Unfortunately I am leaning towards the same conclusion as you. Just hoping there still are a few options to pursue.

Just found that I can obtain a D600 motherboard for a few cents plus transport any chance that is close enough to replace a D610 mobo.

I just think it is pity for good 'resources' going to the dump so I will push the reppair a bit, is not overly important (retired)

[Sea_Eagle]

I am starting to look for schematic diagram for the D610, found this crowd:

http://www.laptopschematic.com/dell-...matic-diagram/

Has anybody dealt with them.

If so, is the material good quality?

[qhn]

For less than $7 to try? Go for it.

cheers ...

[Sea_Eagle]

Very reluctantly I have purchased the schematic. It is very detailed and I have not yet had a chance to compare with the actual pc's yet. There are no component layouts, schematic only.

For the tech type this is great. The pdf format can be zoomed and the clarity is very very acceptable.

My initial scan through the 50 pages has familiarised me with the designations. In this case one has to be real careful as for example DC_IN+ is not the same as +DC_IN, well they look like supplying different sections etc.

Have not worked out why the difference in power up yet.

[qhn]

Have fun dissecting the info. Share with us, would ya?

cheers ...

[MrEvil]

It could definitely be something further down the line than the DC Jack itself. If you're getting contact inside the jack (however, they can break with no outward signs of damage).

If you were in the states I got a D610 motherboard a customer backed out on. So I'm stuck in the hole for this thing.