> > Most of the Dell power supplies have a dallas 1-wire device
connected to
> > the 3rd pin. This gives the laptop information about the capability
of
> > the attached power supply. See
> >
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/forums/dell/dell-pa-10-ac-adapter-cente
r-pin-
> 108608.html
> > for details, including the ROM contents of one version
> > of the chip.
> 
> Interesting link - so it's a little one wire eeprom, and it contains
various
> bits of info for the computer to recognise. Like the battery issue in
that
> it prevents anyone using other products - I wonder if the OPs power
supply
> is similar? Would have to pop it open to find out I suppose..

No he says his connector is an earlier one. I had a 12V adapter that
plugs into a car cigarette lighter socket, to run my laptop in the car.
It doesn't have the centre pin, and if I fire up the laptop on 'car
power' then I get a message from the BIOS that it cannot identify the
power supply. Another adapter I have does have an ident chip in it, and
when using this with a newer laptop that comes with a higher wattage
supply, I get a message about how it will take longer to charge the
batteries etc, with this supply.
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