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    Alienware m14x charging problem

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by insac, Feb 12, 2012.

  1. insac

    insac Newbie

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    Well if i plug in the charger while my laptop is on it will not start charging.
    I have to plug it in while its off so it would start charging. any help? :)
     
    insac, Feb 12, 2012
    #1
  2. bapski

    bapski Notebook Consultant

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    are you using an after market AC ADAPTER or are you using the one that came with your laptop?
     
    bapski, Feb 12, 2012
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  3. singkuy

    singkuy Notebook Consultant

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    Is it running on ac power when it's plugged in? if yes and it still doesn't charge go check the bios. better yet call dell.
     
    singkuy, Feb 12, 2012
    #3
  4. tommyxv

    tommyxv Notebook Evangelist

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    How long have you had the M14x? This just started happening?
     
    tommyxv, Feb 12, 2012
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  5. bapski

    bapski Notebook Consultant

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    reason i brought up the question whether its an AFTER MARKET AC ADAPTER is because the M14X AC ADAPTER is 150w. AFTER MARKET AC ADAPTER's ive seen are just 90W.

    ive tried this scenario, and yes, the AFTER MARKET AC ADAPTER will power the M14X, but will not charge the battery. in fact, when you boot while using an AFTER MARKET AC ADAPTER and its 90W, you will get a prompt telling you something about the laptop plugged to a 150w AC ADAPTER. YOU CAN disable this prompt on the BIOS.
     
    bapski, Feb 13, 2012
    #5
  6. singkuy

    singkuy Notebook Consultant

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    i broke my charger recently and what i have on hand is a 90w dell adapter. Were you able to play games on the 90w adapter and will there be any bad effects on using a charger with a lower watt rating?
     
    singkuy, May 19, 2012
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  7. nuaron

    nuaron Notebook Consultant

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    You computer will run fine on 90W. but it wont charge your battery.
     
    nuaron, May 20, 2012
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  8. singkuy

    singkuy Notebook Consultant

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    yeah it doesn't indeed. I have the 90w dell adapter and so far it's been fine for browsing and movies. anyways would it possible to game on this? even at least on the integrated card?
     
    singkuy, May 20, 2012
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  9. nuaron

    nuaron Notebook Consultant

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    Well, if you set nvidia settings to mid-low level, i am sure you can game on it too.it all comes to down to power requirement. If CPU takes 45W and GPU takes around 40W, you can still play. so you will need to adjust your laptop power requirement accordingly to find a sweet spot that lets you play game on nvidia and also fall under 90W capacity of charger
     
    nuaron, May 21, 2012
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  10. singkuy

    singkuy Notebook Consultant

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    yeah i tried doing this the problem is not that the charger can't take the power requirements at max tdp for gpu and cpu, it's that the bios downclocks the cpu. There is a msg when you turn on the computer that it has detected a 90watt adapter..... and it will regulate power settings. I'm trying to find out if I can workaround this limitation. I tried gaming on battery also with the intel hd 3000 with lowest settings and I am able to play games just fine. The game just looks ugly.
     
    singkuy, May 21, 2012
    #10
  11. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Highly unrecommended to use a 90 watt if your laptop ships with a 150 watt adapter, likely it'll throttle so bad, it won't be usable. Worst case your AC adapter could fry itself.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, May 21, 2012
    #11