[cag0331]

I have an Alienware Sentia M3450 which is about 2 years old now and for the past couple of months, I have been completely tethered to an outlet as my battery will not charge. I called the tech support and of course i was told that my battery was dead, but that is not the case as i have tried a brand new battery with the same results. When the computer is on, the taskbar icon shows that it is charging constantly, but when the ac cable is unplugged, it continues to tell me that its charging. The problem with this is that if the ac cable is somehow jarred loose but not to the point of falling out of the socket, it does not tell me and unless i notice it quickly, the very small amount of battery power left depletes quickly and the computer shuts off, with no low battery warning or anything of the sort. I was thinking perhaps the problem lies in charging circuitry, but if someone has a better theory, I'm all ears. If it is found that the circuit board is the issue, where might i find that part? Thanks in advance!

[Couriant]

is the battery connection clean (on the computer)?

[cag0331]

yes, it is clean. additionally, on occasion that area becomes so hot that it could very easily burn skin that it comes into contact with. because of this i am fairly certain that the circuitry is the problem. i have tried to open it up and see if there is any heat related damage, but i cannot seem to get the bottom cover completely off. am i missing something? i have removed all the screws i can see and i still cant get it off.. it seems like the only think thats really holding it on is the edge with the usb and audio ports. does anyone know how i could access the dc connector circuit board?