Hello DrRitch,

As you have said that you generally keep the AC Adapter connected to the computer, it is advised to use the Desktop Mode. In Desktop Mode, battery charge helps extend a laptop’s battery pack life cycle. When enabled, desktop mode monitors the charge status of the laptop battery, and if it spends most of the time at 100% charge while connected to the power adapter, desktop mode will automatically adjust the charge levels of the battery. The adjustments include regularly allowing the battery to discharge, even while plugged in. The benefits help slow the reduction of charge capacity over time and may even decrease the need to purchase a replacement battery during the life of your laptop.

NOTE: If desktop mode is enabled, users will see battery charge vary between 50%–100% while the power adapter is connected. To ensure batteries are charged to 100%, disconnect and reconnect the power adapter and the battery will charge to 100%.

For more details, see http://bit.ly/ZOFCCX

Hope this helps!

This is great - THANK YOU!

I only have a couple, hopefully quick, questions:

1) Under Dell Expanded Battery Life (under the battery icon) it says, "Battery Charging Disabled"  - I'm not sure how to enable it, or if I need to.

2) How long should it take to recharge a battery on average for the Inspiron 17?

Thanks again,

DrDritch

Hello DrRitch,

In few systems Under Dell Extended Battery Life, enabling battery charging would be grayed out. Hence you give you clear picture I would request you to help me with the exact system model.

Regarding the average time required to charge the battery of a system depends upon certain factors:

• Type of Battery.
• Type of AC Adapter.
• Age of the Battery.
• Status of the computer while charging the battery. That is, if a video is going on or playing games while charging the battery. It would take a lot of time. However, if the system is shut down or just browsing the web, it would charge the battery much faster.

Please write back for further queries.

Oh - and nothing else is running, no games or even the internet.

Hello,

The only greyed out option was under "Enable Dell Intelligent Display in Battery Mode". That is no longer the issue.

In my first post I said that under "Dell Extended Battery Life" (which you can get to by right clicking the battery icon on the taskbar), which is enabled, there is text that says, "Battery Charging Disabled" under the picture of the battery. It's simply a message, not a command line.

I enabled everything you mentioned in your first post, btw, as well as what was indicated on the link you sent. That went fine.

It's a Dell Inspiron 17 3721. You would have much quicker access to the type of battery and adapter than I would. I would prefer not to unseat the battery if I don't have to. The battery is at about 77% and is about three months old.

Hello DrRitch,

Inspiron 3721/17 (Value) is offered with the following battery options:

• 4 Cell, 40 WHR Lithium-ion
• 6 Cell, 65 WHR Lithium-ion

It is also offered with  with 65 W / 90 W AC adapters. Hence it is tough to say how much times it would take to charge the battery to 100%. 

Regarding the Extended Battery Life, I would request you to share the screen shot of the window for battery meter. 

Awaiting your response! 

It looks like I have a 4 cell battery, and 90 W adapter. So I just need an estimate of how long it would take to charge it about 25% or so without any programs running. I'm curious because, as I mentioned earlier, I shut down my computer when not in use, so it probably wouldn't charge then. Does it charge when it's asleep? For instance, I don't want to keep it on all night to charge it if I don't have to (though asleep is ok). Just a round number would work. I'll try and get you the screenshot of that message soon. Thanks!

If you look under the battery icon, you can see the message - this is what I was referring to. Thanks.

Hello DrRitch,

Thank you for replying and providing the screenshot. In order to troubleshoot further, I would request you to place the mouse pointer on the battery icon on the system tray at the right hand bottom corner and check if you get any message as "plugged in not charging" or "plugged in charging". If you get the message as Plugged in charging, your computer is good to go. I would also request you share the screen shots of following tabs in Battery Meter: Battery Health, Desktop Mode and Longetivty Mode.

Regarding the charging of the battery, I would like to says that it might take approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. Even if you shut down the computer and keep the AC Adapter connected, it would still charge the battery.

I can answer the first question right away: it says "plugged in, not charging" (note: I think it almost has to charge to some extent because it pretty much stays around 75% or so - I'm just not sure why I can't get it to recharge to 100%).

Also, you've given me a good approximation of how long the re-charge should take, so that part is taken care of. I'll send those screen shots this evening.

Thanks!

DrRitch

Here are the screenshots you requested, along with a screen shot of the Battery Power Meter. As I mentioned earlier, the battery is reading, "Plugged in, not charging".

Hello DrRitch,

In order to check if the AC Adapter is working fine, I would request you to disable Dell Extended Battery Life and check if the AC Adapter is charging the battery. This would help us isolate the issue further.

In case you still get the error message as plugged in not charging, please try the suggestions mentioned in the article on AC Adpater not powring the computer. 

Hope this helps! 

Results: Battery is charging, using all of the recommendations given, BUT WILL NOT CHARGE ABOVE IT'S CURRENT AVAILABLE STATUS (75%). I followed all instructions both in your email and through the links you provided and the dell community site. The power cord is not a problem. I finally determined the power cord is not a problem by trying it on a colleague's exact same computer. His battery charged almost immediately with the exact same settings I have on my computer. We didn't swap batteries, but compared specs and battery power settings. Everything matched, except on his battery it said it was made by "light on technology", mine does not say this. The batteries are both 40W, 19.8v, type xCMRD.

This issue is still unresolved, and the unit is still under my one year warranty. I wish to have an on-site visit per the warranty. I would like other options in terms of the warranty for what else I can do. I've made every effort to not have to replace it. This computer is showing signs of a hardware defect. Please advise - I await your (or preferably) your supervisor's answer.

Thank you,

DrRitch

p.s. please note my colleague is an IT professional, and I am a librarian for technical services.

It's a 65W adaptor. I said 90 earlier. Not sure that really matters, but I want you to have all of the info.