Solved AC adapter problem

[Bro]

NOTE: This thread is concerning another PC in my household, and I'm looking for some advice as to what I should do.

Recently, my fiance's very aged DELL Inspiron 1501 has stopped charging the brand new battery I purchased for it. The battery doesn't seem to be the problem, though, since the laptop seems to be flashing a message right after the boot screen that says that the AC adapter cannot be identified, so it's not charging. Does this have anything to do with the fact that it's a generic charger? I've read around that that's an issue a lot of Inspiron 1501 owners seem to have with generic replacement AC adapters; they report that after buying the rather pricey DELL replacement AC adapter, it works fine again.

EDIT: I forgot to mention a vital piece of info here: both the charger AND battery are generic replacements for the original parts. They worked perfectly for the first month or so of purchase and the problem with the AC adapter only started up recently, with no sign of what may have caused it.

I've also heard from my tech-savvy pals that changing the voltage in the BIOS may help, too. Is this a possible solution as well? Do I have any other options that can be offered to me based upon my rather vague description of the laptop involved and the situation?

 

[pebbly]

Hi Bro, 90% of Dell AC adaptors have a third sensing wire in them this tells the bios if you are using a generic or oem battery ,A few of the Chinese manufactured adaptors omit this sensing wire albeit they work fine to begin with ,they develop faults later on
It is always wise to use the manfs dedicated hardware in laptops ,solves alot of issues

 

[Bro]

Hi Bro, 90% of Dell AC adaptors have a third sensing wire in them this tells the bios if you are using a generic or oem battery ,A few of the Chinese manufactured adaptors omit this sensing wire albeit they work fine to begin with ,they develop faults later on
It is always wise to use the manfs dedicated hardware in laptops ,solves alot of issues

Thank you very much, this helped a lot with my decision. I'll be sure to get my hands on DELL's AC adapter, then.

 

[pebbly]

Hi Bro, 90% of Dell AC adaptors have a third sensing wire in them this tells the bios if you are using a generic or oem battery ,A few of the Chinese manufactured adaptors omit this sensing wire albeit they work fine to begin with ,they develop faults later on
It is always wise to use the manfs dedicated hardware in laptops ,solves alot of issues

Thank you very much, this helped a lot with my decision. I'll be sure to get my hands on DELL's AC adapter, then.

You're welcome Bro, Glad we were able to help in some small way