Weatherlawyer wrote:

I have a Dell notebook and am trying to get a multi settings charger
to power it up.

Model?

The connections with the charger reverse to allow for different
polarities but the signs on the back of the box differ. The Dell is
marked with a broken line under a continuous line while the charger
is either negative on the outer setting or inner setting and I have
to reverse two pins according to which I need.

If anyone knows what I am talking about, I would appreciate a good
telling. Like this C- Or like this C+ With this: ____ ----

The horizontal lines only indicate that it's DC rather than AC, they
don't say anything about polarity.

Is it one of the Dells with three connections to the 19V PSU?
Rather than supplying power over the outer surface of the barrel and a
centre pin, they supply power over the outer and inner surfaces of the
barrel connection, with a slim data pin in the centre.

Without any connection on the data pin the laptop is likely to complain
about incompatible charger and work in "limp" mode where it will run at
slowest speed and may not charge the battery at all.