First generation Sentia on the blink

Yeah I know it is time for that much needed upgrade. But the Sentia has served me well over the years without problems. It had one visit to the mother ship last year when the power jack was damaged by the kids. The joy of knowing I bought the extended warranty. But now that I am going on my fourth year, I no longer have the protection of a warranty.


The symptoms.

Random shutdown

Random shutdown can occur while computer is idle and I am not touching the computer

Tried it without battery - still shuts down - random

The battery lasts less than 1 hour so unable to effectively test if shutdown occurs while on battery power. Which is to say that I have not seen random shutdown during battery power.

I have also observed the battery power status showing that it is charging, but I find that the level is going down instead. When it hits 0 it shuts down without prompts or beeps indicating low battery.

Bios is current

Three possible causes:

Bad power jack to mobo
If the jack is bad, would it shutdown like this when idle and not touched to cause movement to the power jack?

Bad AC adapter
The battery discharging when plugged in would give support to this theory.


Bad Battery
Maybe I just want a new battery - which is why I list this as one of the reasons.
It is after all an old battery with 70% wear as indicated by battery eater
However, I can't find the green anywhere online.

I'm going to post this in the support area to get more traffic. It seems to be the DC jack is loose.

First generation Alienware Sentia on the blink

I has almost been four years since I bought this computer. It has served me well. The 5500 is tempting, but the green is still not available.

I get random shutdowns which I have concluded to be a bad DC jack. I searched around here to see if anyone with the first generation Sentia has disassembled it. I tried taking it apart and unscrewed all obvious screws that I could find on the bottom, but the bottom of the case does not come out. I am missing something, I am not sure where it is. I removed the keyboard and it does not appear to be the route to get to the DC jack.

Anyone have pointers, or maybe the manual showing how to disassemble my Sentia.

The specs to my Sentia is in the SIG.

Thank you!