XPS L702, blinking battery lights (4 amber, 1 white)

Hi Tempwfox519,

Good work on troubleshooting. We will have to check the status of the adapter in BIOS; if the adapter is not detected properly the system will continue to receive power but will not charge the battery. Please follow the steps mentioned below to check if the adapter is detected properly.

1. Start the computer by pressing the power button
2. Press the F2 key 2-3 times
3. You will now be on the BIOS screen
4. Under the Main Tab look for the option that says AC Adapter Type
5. If the Adapter Type says Unknown or None with the adapter plugged in.
6. Reconnect the adapter to the machine and if the status now shows as Unknown then the AC Adapter needs to be replaced.

Hi Tempwfox519,

I’d advise that you load defaults in the BIOS. Please follow the steps mentioned below to load the BIOS to defaults.

1. Reboot the computer.
2. When prompted during POST, press the key to enter the setup screen.
3. On the System Setup screen, press the key.
4. Press the key on Yes to Load Optimized Defaults and restart the computer.

Please reply us with the findings.

Hello Dell-Ravi, I loaded defaults in the Bios, rebooted, and no change. Still get the same initial message about the battery being too hot and the lights continue to blink 4/1 Amber/white. I also removed/reinserted the second battery with Windows running just to make sure the same Windows pop-up about the battery being the wrong type occurred. It did. Not sure what else to try to help you with this one. Kind of mind-boggling.

Hi Tempwfox519,

It seems like you will need to check for the issue with a known good battery to isolate if the issue is related to battery or the system board..

Dell-Ravi BC, Funny you should say that....this morning the battery that I received from Dell quit working altogether. The battery diagnostics was say there wasn't a battery in...before that, it detected the battery, but couldn't get any data from it. I have the old battery back in now. I'll send the new defective battery back to Dell. Hopefully I won't have any problems doing that. Thanks for your help with this. Once the new battery comes in I'll let you know how it goes.

Dell-Ravi BC, I'm currently in Germany and haven't been able to get through to Dell Support on the phone... The Dell Return link on their website states that I cannot return the new defective battery that I just got. Not sure why. Are you able to help with this, or should I just keep trying to get through on the phone? Thanks again.

Hi Tempwfox519,

Please private message us the system service tag so that I can check and assist you. To send a private message, click on my name and send private message.

Dell Ravi BC, I have another update for you... At one point the laptop quit loading into Windows. A message appeared stating "A problem has been detected with Windows....win32k.sys. The blinking light was not on at this point. Windows went thru a Windows Startup Repair, but failed, but eventually allowed me back into Windows in Safe Mode. At this time I decided to Restore to previous date that before the blinking light issue. I did so and the blinking light stopped and the battery started recharging again. All good, or so I thought. Windows Automatic Update kicked in and automatically downloaded all updates. As soon as it did this, the blink light issue resumed and the battery stopped charging. I recorded the Windows update files downloaded at the time. The following are Windows Updates-Critical: KB982726 KB2687502 KB2881071 KB890830 KB2976627 KB2937610 KB2943357 KB2918614 KB2976897 KB2978668 KB2978742 KB2981580 The following Program Updates were also downloaded and installed: ADOBE READER 11.0.7.79 FLASH PLAYER FOR IE 14.0.0.145 UTORRENT 3.3.0.29544 (This one keeps reinstalling itself after I uninstall; I can't get rid of it; not sure why) JAVA RUNTIME ENV 1.7.0 UPDATE 65 I have now turned Automatic Windows Updates to: "Check for updates but let me choose to download and install them." The problem, however, is that there are no more RECOVERY points that I can choose that are before the battery issue. The previous one that I selected is now gone and replaced with newer points, so not sure what to do now. I contacted Dell for a battery replacement and I believe they are sending one, but feel doubtful that it'll resolve the problem. Unfortunately I was unable to replace the batteries while the system was running ok... It would have let us know if the battery that I got from Dell was good or not. What I can do now is start uninstalling the above listed updates one by one and reboot each time to see if the problem corrects itself. Is there anything else I should do? Thanks again for all your help.

Hi Tempwfox519,

It seems like an issue related to Windows update but please let me know once the battery is replaced so that we can check and troubleshoot further.

DELL-RAVI BC,

The Dell replacement battery arrived and this time the battery was good.  It fixed the problem.  Thanks for all your help with this.  There's no stress like that when your computer is on the fritz.  Thanks again.