Aging XPS1530 issues, help wanted...

Hi, All

I have an XPS M1530 that has served me well for almost three years, and I'd like to get another six months out of it before I sink the $$ into a replacement. However, I've got two issues that are making it hard to wait, and I'd like to ask for some help or hope if there's a measure of repair available:

1. LCD has >=2 vertical green lines about 1/6th from left edge of screen. If you flex the screen slightly, they appear/disappear. Obviously some connections have loosened, but is this even remotely repairable, or is a new screen the only fix?

2. System will spontaneously power off with absolutely no warning when on battery - usually when battery is in lower-half of current discharge cycle. Always comes back if put on AC first. Is this a power system problem in the mobo or a battery problem? Don't really want to spend $$ on new battery right now. (System runs fine when on AC).

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
David

 

1. You may want to take apart the computer and reconnect the cable at the bottom of the LCD screen. If you are flexing the screen and the lines are disappearing, then that may be a bad connection. Just follow the service manual on Dell's website, it's not too hard to do if you like to take stuff apart.

2. Sounds like your battery is just done. How old is it? If its like over 2 years old, then it is just degraded, get a new one.

 

The battery on these laptops died awfully fast, it seems to be a general issue, not a rare specific one... My friend has an XPS m1730 that the battery up and quit after less than a year, the replacement did little better. If the AC cable comes unplugged for even a millisecond, insta-shutdown...

 

Many thanks for the reply, and apologies for the delay in answering.

The battery is only a few months old. The first time I saw the spontaneous shutdown behavior was at the tail end of the life of the previous battery. I assumed it was due to the age of the battery, but it has persisted into the new battery. That said, the charge indicator lights have never worked properly with the new battery, so perhaps it has issues on its own. I'm hesitant to drop any more money on batteries on this unit, alas.

 

Could be the motherboard too. The aforementioned friend had the infamous "the AC adapter type could not be determined" issue and Dell wanted to replace the mobo to fix that, as they felt that was the issue. Ultimately he had the adapter only changed out which got rid of that error, but with a new battery dying as fast as it did, I have a feeling the mobo in fact could have had an issue.

 

1) Be careful when removing M1330/M1530 screen bezel. It is paper thin and is held together by double sided tape. If you aren't careful, you will crack the bezel and have to order a new one. Have you tried piping out the display externally and seeing if it appears on the external monitor?

2) Are you using a genuine Dell battery? Your battery could have a short. I would test out your AC adapter with a multimeter and see if it is outputting the correct voltage. Did you try testing your laptop with a known good Dell 90 watt AC adapter and a known working M1530 battery?