Hi,

Without proper grounding, devices that attach to the machine will suffer the same fate...fix it man.

Oh dear Jeebus what a p*** poor attempt at spin. Do you understand what is meant by "electric shock"? Tingle.............Your c****y notebooks are developing a >100V potential to ground.

Plus it's not going to happen on any "notebook computer" using a two wire AC adaptor; many companies have been using them for years without problems. It's down to poor (i.e. cheap) design.

Fix it. 

No-one: To be clear, lots of customers running notebooks (Dell or not) with two-wire adapters may not ever experience the tingle that I'm talking about. It depends on a lot of different variables.

However, I encourage you to take a look at discussion threads about this like Slashdot and Gizmodo. What you'll see is that lots of customers mention that they've experienced the same tingle on their Apple, HP, or Sony notebooks.

Never when using any electrical device, especially a mains device should you feel a "tingle". There's clearly a problem with the design. The fact that the same issue arises with other manufacturers kit is neither here nor there.

Dell should be taking steps to fix this issue. 

Yes, what a poor attempt at spin.

Lionel Menchaca, what kind of degree do you have to sit there and make such irresponsible comments such as:

"It's not harmful to users or to any of the notebook's internal components."

You are obviously from the marketing side of the house, tasked with covering up cheap component design flaws from the technical side of the house, all to protect your precious bottom line, and to heck with the consumer.

This irresponsibility is outrageous.

"The tingle sensation is different than static electricity. " You are correct on this one, it is different because it is AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. A shock not high enough in voltage to cause pain, but a shock NONETHELESS.

Losmeme: You are correct in differentiating between a shock, a tingle and static electricity—that's what I tried to do in the post.

Like I mentioned, if you are experiencing something that is not the tingle or static electricity, then you should talk to Tech Support. I've asked someone from that team to contact you,

My wife's laptop suffers from this.  On the edges, some of the protective paint has chipped away.  When I put the laptop on my lap and my knees touch both sides, it will send a shock all the way through me.

 Her laptop is a 3 pronged adapter laptop AND I know for a fact that the grounding on the outlets is fine.  Also, I will get this when running off batteries.

DELL:  Stop passing the buck and fix the issue.  At the very least,  use a covering of the metal components that doesn't chip away over time.    

It may not be harmful to the user, but it isn't pleasant, and it isn't acceptable on an expensive electronic device like a notebook.

Had this on a Latitude D600, that is now over 4 years old.. so i would hardly say this a new issue.. Talking about 3-pin plugs is all well and good, but my home in france, only the kitchen, and bathroom (where there is water) have three-pin sockets...

A "tingle" is the result of the user being subjected to continuous AC or DC current.  A 2-wire AC to DC power supply will always include a transformer which isolates the DC circuit completely from the AC circuit.  This will allow the connected DC electronic device (in this case, a laptop) to "float" relative to ground.  There is zero net flow of electrons through the AC cable.  The laptop could develop a static charge as a result, which would be dissipated as soon as it is touched by a person connected to ground.

There is no mechanism that should allow it to continuously source current through a person touching the laptop to ground.  For that to happen, there must either be a connection through the power supply to the AC side (a very bad design or manufacturing problem) or the user must be exposed to two different voltage levels that are present within the laptop itself (another very bad design problem).

The 2-pin vs 3-pin comment is a red herring.  If the device is properly designed, the ground pin would only serve to dissipate staic charge.  Using it to short out a stray undesired voltage is a kludge and may eliminate the symptom but does not fix the problem.

A properly designed AC adapter fully isolates the AC side from the DC side and should not rely on a safety ground pin to "short out" stray voltages that appear due to leakage.  Such a device would trip off a GFCI protected outlet.

Leakage between the AC input wires and DC output wires is not normal, or people would experience this "tingling" with all sorts of devices with 2-prong AC power cords.  They don't.  The fact that some other laptop brands does not imply that this is normal behavior, but it could mean that Dell and the other brands share a common adapter design or supplier.  (Does the fact that other brands of laptops had exploding batteries mean that exploding batteries are normal?  No, it was because all those brands shared a common supplier that had made substandard quality batteries.)
 

I just called in like your post says and I was told that I opted for the cheap 2 prong plug when I ordered instead of the more expensive 3 prong so I need to go and buy a 3 prong out of my own pocket since the device is out of warranty. The rep I talked to told me that there is no problem with these at all, aside from 1 in 100 shocking people, and that there was nothing that could be done aside from a discount on paying Dell for a new one.

It's very interesting that the company line is that we care about shocking you but only under warranty. I guess I learned my lesson about buying from Dell. The rep took great pains to make sure I understood it - opt for something cheap and that is what happens.

This post is one of the most preposterous things I have ever read.

 "An electric shock is a far different than a tingling from touch currently associated with a two-wire notebook power adapter. That tingling has recently become the topic of conversation again."

No, it's not.  The thing you're discussing is the severity of the shock--clearly, what we're getting off our laptops isn't the same as grabbing a couple of mains leads. But it is STILL AN ELECTRIC SHOCK.

Let me repeat that--people are missing this.  If I can feel a current flowing through my body as the result of a voltage being applied to it, then it is indeed an electric shock.  That is what produces this "tingling" sensation. An electric shock. Not pixies, faeries and mystical, magical things.

This is not something for Dell to apply spin to, and palm off as "oh, everyone does it".  Do I care if Sony/Toshiba/Gandhi does it? No.  Am I particularly concerned about the cause of the problem? In fact, no, I am not.  The only thing I care about is that Dell is doing something to rectify this problem, and will solve it for me free of charge.  And yes, users getting electric shocks from a laptop is a serious problem, not an amusing design quirk.

Unfortunately, the only problem-solving that Dell is indulging in is appointing a rep who either doesn't know a thing about electronics and customer satisfaction, or is simply lying to us. That, Dell, is not good enough.

My final gripe is this: Mr Menchaca, you replied to Losmeme's accurate post, in which they stated that this tingling is an electric shock, by claiming they said it wasn't.  Are you failing to read what people are saying?  The only alternative is that you're deliberately applying spin and lies to cover up a problem with Dell doesn't want to admit.

From dell's response i understood that this electric shock or jolt comes with basic configuration and that too free of cost. How can they say that a 100 V is not harmful. I called up a dell executive in India and   asked him about this and what he replied me has surprised me.. he advised me that when you use the laptop, please unplug the adapter or if you want to connect to power supply, use a " stabilizer ". Wonderful ..... I think dell should let him undergo some basic training  before putting into customer support. Due to this jolt problem i dropped the plan to buy a XPS 1530. I prefer to live long rather than paying for my own death

I recommend that Dell should fix this problem by replacing the aluminum palm rest with a plastic one rather than defending this issue.

I've probably bought 60 Dell computers for my company in the past so I've never thought about switching brands.   I wanted to buy an xps m1530 for myself but now have reservations. 

Are you shipping a 3 prong with it now or not?

Add this to the screen issue (grainy)  when you launched this laptop and all I read are complaints.  You fixed the screen problems, what about this shocking one?

i was about to place an order of xps1530, but now i am having second thoughts about it. I am really surprised if Dell is "yet" to take any concrete action towards this...

My Latitude D430 has just started to "tingle". This sounds almost pleasant/magical.

Sadly its not, and it's painful enough to ensure I steer well clear of the edges of the lid while plugged in - although I sometimes get it off the keys if i hold them down too long.

Although avoiding touching my laptop is a fool proof solution, I have found that it impacts on my productivity - can Dell offer another solution??
 

I just bought a new Precision M4300 and get the same thing on the metallic lid but only when it's plugged in. I went for the Precision series because it was part of the business class. I never thought they would ship this expensive tool with the cheap 2 prong adapter. But I guess I was wrong. And I have better things to do than running around trying to find a good adapter. So I guess my purchase was useless, I have to go back to my old Acer and save my life