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Inspiron Mini 1012 Battery and Adapter Issues
The adapter on my Mini 1012 shorted out and I quit using the laptop for a while.
i bought a new adapter. When I used it to boot the laptop, I got a message saying that the battery was not recognized and could not be charged. The laptop worked fine on the power from the adapter, but the battery did not charge.
I downloaded and ran the Dell diagnostic for the battery. It indicated, in sort of an indefinite way, that the battery seemed weak or dead, and that was it.
My questions:
Is the message I'm getting on boot-up (battery not recognized and cannot be charged) indicative of a weak/dead battery or could it also possibly indicate some incompatibility between the adapter and the battery? And if it's the latter, how can I confirm that.
I'm not averse to buying a new battery, but if I'm going to find it's incompatible with the adapter, I'd just continue to have the same problem.
DELL-Chinmay S
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March 2nd, 2013 20:00
Hi BillMoore710,
You can drain the residual power of your computer and re-calibrate the battery by following the steps below:
If the issue still persists, you can check in BIOS if the charger behavior is enabled. You may follow the steps below to check same in BIOS:
You can also take a look at the video from link: http://dell.to/XyDitW
Please share the findings.
ejn63
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March 4th, 2013 05:00
Since you know the adapter shorted out -- and if this is a Dell AC adapter you replaced it with -- the likelihood is that the problem isn't - or isn't solely- the battery. The battery may indeed be bad, but it's likely the mainboard is as well.
BillMoore710
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March 4th, 2013 05:00
I tried all these suggestions and still got the same result. On bootup, I'm still confronted by a message that the battery can't be identified and won't be charged, and I have to hit F1 to proceed to Windows. By the way, the link in the suggestions to the suggested video to watch produces nothing but a dead end.
At this point, and based on what I've done and seen, may I correctly and safely assume that the battery is dead and that I should proceed with acquiring a new one? In other words, is what I'm experiencing on bootup a clear sign of a bad battery, or could something else still be wrong?
BillMoore710
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March 4th, 2013 06:00
The adapter I replaced the shorted-out one with is not a Dell, but it has the identical appearance and specs as the original adapter. Is it possible that this adapter somehow isn't "matched" to the battery, and that's what's causing my problem? If so, is there a way to achieve or force a "match"? Conversely, is there a way to absolutely determine if it's the mainboard that's my problem?
It seems to me that there is a lot of trial and error involved in diagnosing this problem when there ought to be a clear way to determine exactly which component is bad and to replace it. It appears I might go through numerous replacements (at considerable cost) of three components (adapter, battery and mainboard) and still not have a solution. The alternative of being able to use this laptop only on adapter power seems a shame for something I bought less than three years ago with the goal of being able to use it virtually anywhere.
ejn63
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March 4th, 2013 06:00
Third party adapters most often will power the system but will not charge the battery. The first thing to try is a genuine Dell adapter - if it isn't recognized by the system, you have a mainboard problem that will need to be addressed first. If it is recognized but the battery still won't charge, the mainboard is OK but the battery is not.
Most Dell systems use interchangeable adapters -- you might just borrow one from a friend or colleague to test it.
BillMoore710
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March 4th, 2013 13:00
The laptop is operating perfectly well with a non-Dell adapter that I paid $25 for. Why should I have to buy a Dell adapter for $65+ and where in the world can I find a "friend" who will loan me one? And as you indicate, this approach may only tell me that the main board is bad. I don't understand why a functioning laptop can't tell me straight-up which of its components have gone bad.
ejn63
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March 4th, 2013 13:00
The fact is that the notebook is not operating "perfectly well" on the adapter - if it were, you wouldn't be asking for assistance.
You can't wave a magic wand to find out what's wrong.
If that adapter DID at one point charge the battery but won't any longer, the odds are it's the power jack (meaning the mainboard) that's the issue. If it never charged the battery, then you need to try a Dell OEM adapter to figure out whether it's the adapter or the mainboard. If it's neither of those, it's the battery.
Your statement about "the old adapter shorted out" and neither the battery nor the adapter is recognized strongly suggests the mainboard is the problem - but there are no guarantees, so it's worth trying another Dell adapter first. If you don't; have one, just about any competent computer shop should have one - and you can try their adapter, likely without charge.
On a netbook like this one, if it's anything more than the adapter, the repair may not be worth it. You can find used netbooks on Ebay for well under $100 -- so replacing parts such as mainboards, etc., makes no sense.
BillMoore710
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March 4th, 2013 14:00
When I say that my netbook is operating "perfectly well", I'm saying that I have access to all its capabilities except for battery functioning. I can run Windows, application programs, communicate over the Internet, etc. So everything is fine as long as I don't need battery power.
Let's say I get hold of a Dell OEM adapter, hook it up, and, when I boot up, I continue to get the same messages about not being able to recognize or charge the battery. Does that mean that I definitely have a bad main board, or could it still mean that I may have a bad battery, in which case I then have to put in a new battery before I can know for sure the main board is bad. Seems like a lot of trial-and-error and expense, to discover a problem that's not worth fixing.
How about this approach? Charge the existing battery (or a new one) with an external charger, and see if the charged battery works. I suppose if it doesn't, that would pretty much definitively indicate that I've got a main board problem, or would it? Again, a not inexpensive way of determining there's no economical solution.
The more we go on about this, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that what I now own is a net book with no battery capability. And I just need to accept this. Seems a shame for a device that's less than three years old, and was working perfectly until the original Dell OEM adapter failed.
ejn63
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March 4th, 2013 14:00
If you can find an external charger that will work, that is one test, yes. If the battery is three years old, it's well beyond its design life, though -- so even if it does charge externally, it may not put the mainboard in the clear.
jiskyna
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August 15th, 2013 03:00
Will a generic battery work with a Dell laptop?
I bought an Amstron replacement battery for my Dell Inspiron and it takes two days to charge. Is this typical of new laptop batteries? Do off-brand batteries not work well with Dells? What should I do? Such as: www.caccu.nl/dell-inspiron-mini-1012-batterij.html show.
Cbunch25
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January 17th, 2014 21:00
I am having the same exact problem.....battery can not be identified press F1 to continue. Did you ever find a solution to your problem?
andyrt0910
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February 13th, 2016 04:00
I'm having the same problem with my Mini 10 model 1012.
Tried 2 generic batteries from Amazon with good ratings, no luck.
Bought a genuine dell battery, still no luck.
Tried the charger from my mini 9. Still no luck.
I've spent way too much time and effort ... I'm just going to end up getting another $199 Acer Chromebook.
kirkd
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February 13th, 2016 05:00
You need to listen to ejn63.
You may be having problems getting the exact error messages because you are NOT using a Dell charger. Dell chargers have a third wire in the DC connection that communicates charger info to the battery circuity. Without this third wire, and many after-market chargers either do not have it or have a sensor wire that is not working correctly, all bets are off. Some work, and some do not work.
andyrt0910
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February 13th, 2016 06:00
BOTH of the chargers I'm using are DELL branded chargers.
One came with the Mini 10.
The other came with the Mini 9.
Neither is charging the new Dell brand battery I purchased.
I love the laptop, but am spending too much time trying to revive a 6+ year old machine. It's a shame that any computer manufacturer would even require using OEM chargers even though that's not my issue.
Anwar002
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February 26th, 2016 23:00
I don't think Dell make these batteries anymore.
If there are genuine batteries available online, they must be quite a few years old.
Modern batteries have complex circuitry that communicate with charger and the motherboard.
If the battery is extremely low on charge, as it can happen in a warehouse, it may lose its capability to communicate with other components.
Do not turn on your laptop immediately after installing a new battery unless it is fully charged.
Install the new battery first then plug in the ac adapter. If the charge LED is lit, that means the battery is charging. Just wait a few minutes and turn on your laptop with ac adapter plugged in.
I just purchased a replacement battery for my netbook, the battery had only 5% charge. On my first try, I didn't follow the steps above and the battery was not recognized and I had to return it for replacement.