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Battery or charger that's gone?
Hello... first time here :)
With an XPS M1210 from late 2006:
I've been having a problem for quite a while now where often when I plug my laptop in I get the message "please use a Dell 65W adaptor, this will not charge your battery" even though I am of course using the real adaptor. Updated the BIOS to the latest (I think) version A08 but no difference.
I got a nasty virus a few days ago which I've got rid of successfully but for some reason it now won't hibernate (a seperate problem!)... so when I pressed hibernate and shut the lid it only went on standby, ran the battery empty and now won't work without being plugged in.
Looking on the Dell support site it's hard to work out whether the problem is with the charger or the battery, hopefully it's not both! The manual tells me that if I press the button on the battery it will light up to tell me the charge and if I hold the button it will light up if faulty, but nothing lights up either way. Does that mean it's empty but working properly, or completely dead?? And if I keep getting the "wrong power supply" message then that might be the charger, which won't charge my possibly faulty battery...
It works with only the charger because I took the battery out to have a proper look, in fact now the battery isn't even attached.
Any ideas? Could both be faulty? Sorry if this post is kinda confusing, heh.
Edit: More details, not sure what's relevant: Windows XP Pro, Centrino duo 2GHz, Nvidia 7400, um...
Mary G
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April 30th, 2010 14:00
Replace the battery. Four years is a very good life for the battery. If you don't need the mobility and don't want to spend $100+ on a battery, just keep using the adapter alone and recycle the battery. Save the money for a new laptop.
ejn63
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April 30th, 2010 16:00
If the system is failing to recognize the adapter, then it's not (or not just) a battery problem. Try another Dell adapter - if it doesn't fix the problem, then you've a power jack or mainboard problem.
IAMAxem
5 Posts
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April 30th, 2010 19:00
My DELL Inspiron 1525 gave a similar message. The charger continued to power the laptop as well. I researched this in the forums here thoroughly and found the following: (1) The problem is fairly common to DELL Laptops (2) The solutions vary depending on the true source of the end-user's problem (Note: See [2a] below.
[2a] Solutions List: NOTE: Listed in order of highest to lowest practicability
(A) Power down your unit. Remove your battery. Power up your unit. Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds. The unit will power down. Replace the battery. Power up the unit to see if the message is gone and the battery is charging.
(B) Make sure your unit is Virus and Spyware free
(C) Make sure you have the most recent bios update for your unit. If you do try to flash it again one more time.
(D) Replace the charger with a DELL replacement charger
(E) Purchase a DELL external battery charger for your unit
(F) Replace power socket on motherboard
(G) Replace Motherboard
Solution (C) worked for me but all of these have been necessary or worked as options for others
PS: If battery was working prior to the discharge you described I doubt that it has a problem.
IAMAxem
5 Posts
0
April 30th, 2010 19:00
My DELL Inspiron 1525 gave a similar message. The charger continued to power the laptop as well. I researched this in the forums here thoroughly and found the following: (1) The problem is fairly common to DELL Laptops (2) The solutions vary depending on the true source of the end-user's problem (Note: See [2a] below.
[2a] Solutions List: NOTE: Listed in order of highest to lowest practicability
(A) Power down your unit. Remove your battery. Power up your unit. Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds. The unit will power down. Replace the battery. Power up the unit to see if the message is gone and the battery is charging.
(B) Make sure your unit is Virus and Spyware free
(C) Make sure you have the most recent bios update for your unit. If you do try to flash it again one more time.
(D) Replace the charger with a DELL replacement charger
(E) Purchase a DELL external battery charger for your unit
(F) Replace power socket on motherboard
(G) Replace Motherboard
Solution (C) worked for me but all of these have been necessary or worked as options for others
PS: If battery was working prior to the discharge you described I doubt that it has a problem.
Sparrow76
2 Posts
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May 1st, 2010 15:00
Ok thanks all.
I'm inclined to think it's the charger after all because it's now decided to start charging the battery up again. Seems random when I plug it in if it'll behave and charge or just give power but not enough to charge the battery.
I'll try a different adaptor, hope it's not the motherboard in the end!