Is there some visual cue to assess if a Dell 240W power supply is genuine? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2023, 03:01:00 am
content: I bought a used Dell Precision M6800 [testing threadhere] from a... peculiar seller (brick and mortar store, no refund for change of mind) that so far has shown to have a different vocabulary from the rest of the people I know. [see footnote]In particular the 240W power supply came as a 180W power supply, which might as well be original (stays cool, seems reasonable good quality) but I have to swap it with the real 240W one. So, I am asking, since my gut feeling tell me this 'peculiar' guy will try to give an 'alternatively original' product, what should I be looking for to assess that the product is genuine? Or, what are the tale-telling signs of a fake one?It would help if someone had an M6800 with the real thing, so that I could see the label, the stickers and the hologram if present (the one 180W one has an hologram that says "original", is this what Dell does?). The weight can be a sign?I am looking for other signs that could be spotted in the store and then later at home (can I scope the output to try see some sign of the switching frequency? Sniff the position of inside components with some field probe?)This laptop was guaranteed to have aback-lit keyboard, and came with stickers on the international keysShould have had a new battery, it was the original2015 batterywith 60% capacity; thereplacementis allegedly manufactured in 2023 but has 40% capacity leftShould have had two new SSD butone of them has 12 thousand hours(and the peculiar guy tried to deny they were supposed to be both new, until I showed him his own webpage...)And then thepower supply, which is a potential fire starter...Yes, I know what you are thinking. But this was supposed to be an ex-leasing dealer and a friend of mine bought one and, apart from the nonexistent battery life, his was not such a nightmare.(Yes, I do look like a sucker - I could be the love child of Mr. Bean - the character, not the actor - and Steve Bannon 15 days short of a shower)

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2023, 12:32:07 pm
content: I guess you bought it used? If so the guy may not want to cheat you but he just find a charger that works and package it that way. A lot of time people lost their charger or broke it. As far as battery I have 2 Dell batteries went bad on me in less than 2 years.

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2023, 03:18:28 pm
content: If you take a look at the list of difformities I have found in this notebook, you would reconsider the "maybe he doesn't want to" part. 😁He has, how to say... applied a different meaning to words on basically all the characteristics of the product.Backlit keyboard -> keyboard with opaque labels240w ps -> 180w psNew SSD -> 12 thousand hour SSDNew battery --> 2015 battery that dies at 30%New new battery ->"2023" battery that dies at 60% (which means it even lasts way less than the 2015 battery)No, I don't think I can rely on his word. Since he insisted all his parts are original Dell parts, I will try to get an original part right there in the shop. If it isn't I will skip the consumer association step and will report him directly to the authority for selling counterfeit parts. I wonder if Dell would care to take out distributors of fake parts, but he's probably too small a fish for them.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2023, 03:52:40 pm
content: I don't think Dell would care and besides I don't think he is a Dell distributor either.

author: Gerhard_dk4xp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2023, 12:56:04 am
content: The larger Dell laptops talk with their power supplies. Thereis a third wire for the communication. A third party ps didnot work with my Dell Precision, the smaller Dell ps of acolleague did work (from a Latitude or so), but it did cut downCPU speed to make up for the smaller wattage.My Precision laptop died in a really hot environment this summerafter maybe 10 years of heavy service. I bought it new from Dell.

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2023, 01:15:09 am
content: Thank you very much for your kindness, Gerhard.Yes, there are chips inside the AC adapter, but they can be spoofed. And from what I've seen so far, I wouldn't be surprised to receive another fake.The picture is at least helping in getting something with a slightly higher chance of being genuine.EDIT: I downloaded and opened it but... is this a Dell adapter???For example, the battery that has been replaced, looks exactly like a Dell one, seems to be recognized by the Dell power manager as original 97Wh, comes out as 72Wh in hwmonitor, and does not even register as installed bypowercfg /batteryreportas launched from an admin cmd window. (I am posting the picture in the test thread).May I abuse of your kindness a little bit more for a side question (non related to fakes and defects)? I noticed that the dedicate graphics card is seen but does not seem to do nothing (presumably until it's needed, as I would like it to be), but it sucks some 20W by just being idle. See picture (not the highlighted part, the part at the top)Do you know if this can be reduced by some setting/configuration? (I don't feel like starting yet another thread)

author: Gerhard_dk4xp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2023, 01:45:45 am
content: The ps I got directly from Dell in .de was made by Delta Electronics.I know of no way to force the graphics dissipation to shrink. In fact,my laptop died from a "molten" Quadro graphics card, so it seemsto be impossible even as a thermal self defense.But then I ran Linux on it with Windows only in a virtual machine,so my driver configuration might be different.Cheers, Gerhard