Alternative Power supplies

My friend has an M11X r2, and the power supply is shot. He bought a third-party power supply with matching specs (that's all the info he gave me about it), but of course his computer is now complaining that it's not a genuine Alienware power supply. Apparently, it's resulting in cpu throttling.

Dellienware is giving him the telephone run around their CSR's are famous for. He's spent six hours on the phone with them trying to get them to send him a replacement power supply. Eventually, he'll probably get one. In the mean time, it would be nice if he could use a third party solution so he's not dead in the water. But I digress...

Questions...

1. Does anyone know what third party power supplies are compatible with this model?

2. Does anyone know how the Dellienware computers determine whether or not the power supply being used is "a genuine Alienware"? I am thinking it's nothing more than a proprietary jack stem that closes a microswitch in the laptop upon insertion, but that's just a guess at this point, as I've never opened my own machine up. However, I have gotten the "attach a genuine Alienware power supply" message before when my power supply was plugged in enough to power the computer, but not *completely* seated. Kinda supports the micro switch theory, but doesn't prove it.

Any help would be great. Thanks!