Ok, I'm sure you're all aware of the problem with the power jack on the Inspiron 5150. My power jack came loose and I tried several times to resolder it on. It would work for about a week and then quit again. I was fed up with ripping my laptop apart every week to do this, so I decided to hard-wire a plug in. I was planning on buying a modular plug from Radio Shack or something, but for the time being I desided to use spade terminals and matching female ends to connect the three power leads. Bad idea. Anyhow, this is what I did: I soldered a set of 3 wires onto the motherboard and put terminals on the end. Then I pulled back some insulation on the DC side of the power adapter and spliced in another set of 3 wires. I matched up the two sets, connected them, plugged in the power adapter, and powered up the laptop. I was happy to see that my "cob-job" actually worked! However, upon moving the laptop, two of the bare terminals touched eachother, creating a spark, and shorting something out. 
I've tried everything, and I cannot get it to work again. I was worried I fried the motherboard, but that still works with the battery, it just doesn't charge. After fooling around with the motherboard and looking it over, I couldn't find anything that looked wrong, even after checking it with a multimeter. So then I looked to the power adapter. I thought they had a built-in circuit breaker so I figured nothing could be too wrong there. But, it has been acting weird. Most of the time the green light is on, and I checked the voltages, but was getting different readings. So, I opened it up. There were some burn marks on the inside circuit board. Now sometimes when I plug it in the green light comes on, and sometimes not. And it usually doesn't stay on for long. I wish I had a spare to test it on.
Sorry that was a lot of reading, but I wanted you to know what I've done so far. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong now? Is part of the power circuit on the motherboard burned out? Is the power adapter bad? Something else? I really do not want to have to buy a new motherboard. I just need a working computer, and mobility is not a issue. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks a lot!
I've tried everything, and I cannot get it to work again. I was worried I fried the motherboard, but that still works with the battery, it just doesn't charge. After fooling around with the motherboard and looking it over, I couldn't find anything that looked wrong, even after checking it with a multimeter. So then I looked to the power adapter. I thought they had a built-in circuit breaker so I figured nothing could be too wrong there. But, it has been acting weird. Most of the time the green light is on, and I checked the voltages, but was getting different readings. So, I opened it up. There were some burn marks on the inside circuit board. Now sometimes when I plug it in the green light comes on, and sometimes not. And it usually doesn't stay on for long. I wish I had a spare to test it on.Sorry that was a lot of reading, but I wanted you to know what I've done so far. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong now? Is part of the power circuit on the motherboard burned out? Is the power adapter bad? Something else? I really do not want to have to buy a new motherboard. I just need a working computer, and mobility is not a issue. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks a lot!
