Dell Inspiron 5150 Overheats - Now also no AC power

Okay. So...I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop that started overheating
on occasion probably around 6 months ago. I bought a cooling pad for
it, and all has been fine unless it's very hot outside, etc. Usually it
would just overheat, shut down, and be fine after that. I apparently
should have had the computer cleaned a long time ago...but
procrastinated.

About a week or so ago we had a lightning storm, and the following
morning I noticed that my computer was having a hard time staying on AC
power. If I jiggled the power cord at the point where it connect to the
computer, the AC power would return, but would come and go
occasionally. I assumed it was the power cord and thought maybe
something happened during the storm despite being plugged into a surge
protector. I bought a replacement adapter, but no luck. The AC power
still comes and goes. If it goes off and switches to battery power, and
I can't get it to come back by jiggling the cord, it usually overheats
and shuts down.

Any ideas what might part(s) might be damaged? Will cleaning the
computer do any good at this point? Help!!!

Amber.Camio@gmail.com wrote:
> Okay. So...I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop that started overheating
> on occasion probably around 6 months ago. I bought a cooling pad for
> it, and all has been fine unless it's very hot outside, etc. Usually
> it would just overheat, shut down, and be fine after that. I
> apparently should have had the computer cleaned a long time ago...but
> procrastinated.
>
> About a week or so ago we had a lightning storm, and the following
> morning I noticed that my computer was having a hard time staying on
> AC power. If I jiggled the power cord at the point where it connect
> to the computer, the AC power would return, but would come and go
> occasionally. I assumed it was the power cord and thought maybe
> something happened during the storm despite being plugged into a surge
> protector. I bought a replacement adapter, but no luck. The AC power
> still comes and goes. If it goes off and switches to battery power,
> and I can't get it to come back by jiggling the cord, it usually
> overheats and shuts down.

> Any ideas what might part(s) might be damaged?

Some of those Dells can end up flakey at the connector itself, the laptop end.

> Will cleaning the computer do any good at this point?

Nope.

> Help!!!

If the connector has gone flakey, its not hard for a competant tech to fix.

From memory Dell takes the easy way out and
swaps the entire card, at a pretty obscene price.

One of the laptop repair specialists may well make more sense price wise.