Alienware M14x R2 battery doing wierd

Question

Initially my battery did not seem to have any charge when i tried to turn the laptop on after having traveled trough cold weather(that was around new year), having read something somewhere about batteries loosing charge in cold weather and the problem stopping after having it plugged in for a while i wasn't that much bothered.

Currently however i seem to have a different problem with the following symptoms:

-laptop doesn't recognize the battery(had this once or twice before, but a reboot fixed it).

-battery does not provide power to the laptop(pulling the power plug instantly turns off the laptop as if does not have any battery installed.

-battery lights flash, i.e. it flashes and tries to display some sort of code.

This code goes something like:

-4 times 3 lights(first, third and fifth) flashing very fast.

-2 seconds nothing.

-5 lights flash(switch on/off every seccond or so), pattern seems to change every time i reactivate it by pressing the button(for showing battery charge).

For now i have removed the battery from the laptop for safety reasons.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong and/or how it can be fixed?

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Hello,

Follow the troubleshooting steps on this article, if the issue persists then the battery needs to be replaced. If you're still in warranty you can send me a private message with your Service Tag so I can help you get the replacement.

Let me know how it goes!

TheLightLOD · Answer

Thank you for the reply,

i have followed all steps(where possible*). But as i expected yesterday the battery controller thing in the battery package seems to not functioning properly.

Simply put, with the laptop itself there's nothing wrong(been using it all day on net power without any issues, nor had any issues in the past 2 months since i last re-installed windows).

With the part of the battery pack that holds the charge(the actual battery cells) there's nothing wrong either, as i noticed all 5 LED's burning this morning, and they're still burning continuously right now(about 12 hours later). Also the battery pack does not react to the "show charge" button anymore.

This leads me to the conclusion that the controller part(the circuit board that controls the charge lights) in battery pack is somehow malfunctioning, whilst the cells are intact).

As for warranty, my system's 1 year warranty expired somewhere around new year 2014. After which the no charge after trip through cold weather started.

Now as you might understand, i'm not very motivated to by a new battery because a(probably) software bug/issue is preventing my current battery from functioning.

What i can just post here is my battery serial number 41167, also i'm going to let one of my professors take a look(NOT dismantle) at it tomorrow.

*bios update couldn't be started(already had latest A13 version) but it was complaining about the battery. And Alienware Autopsy claims all capacity values(including designed charge capacity) to be 0.

P.S. I'm a Technical Software engineering student(i.e. knows code and hardware like Atmel boards etc), so i think i have a decent ability to locate a prblem.

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

It's most likely a hardware issue, but if you think it could be software you can try a System Restore or AlienRespawn if the recovery image is available, to restore the software back before the problem started.

TheLightLOD · Answer

As stated in my previous post there's nothing wrong with the laptop itself, so alien respawn or system restore won't help me ;)

It is the battery that is acting up by still having energy(the five LED's on the battery are still on after 1-2 days), but not outputting power to the computer. I.e. in the battery there's some "mini-computer" that is having issues(which could be software related or just have a wire broken).

Anyway, looking at this conversation i don't really see a "reset battery" manual popping up before the battery's LED's will have drained all battery power and destroy the Li-Ion cells....

What would be the price of a replacement battery?

I have seen it costs around €200,-, but that is with on-site installing which i don't need(it's just 2 screws for the laptop cover, and then 2 more screws a connector for the battery pack itself).

Also as you might wonder why i had just 1 year of warranty, that's because i've been having Dell desktops for almost 15 years now and never had any hardware issues :) whereas my two pc's from a competitor both pretty much suïcidedin one year (hard drive broke in < 6 months on both of them, and had numerous other issues with fans, cpu, videocard).

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

I understand what you're referring to. The battery firmware is updated through the BIOS, but unfortunately, if you attempt to update the BIOS with no battery charge the update will fail.

For pricing information, send an email to alienhelp@dell.com with your Service Tag and system details to ask for available replacement parts.

marcusvnac · Answer

Hi THELIGHTLOD!

I have a M14x R2 with A13 Bios too, and yesterday it started with the same problem that you described here. The five battery meter lights is always on, and I only can turn on my laptop without battery.

When I plug the battery on laptop, it shut down!

I don't want to buy a new battery because this... How you solve your problem?

Regards,

Marcus Vinicius

Kitczia · Answer

Exactly the same issue here.  M14x R2, all 5 battery lights constantly on, laptop only functions when the battery is disconnected. Any solutions or is it replacement battery time?

marcusvnac · Answer

I had to replace mine.

midnight_tempes · Answer

Did that put an end to the problem?

I'm scared to put a new battery in mine, as my laptop/old battery are displaying the described symptoms, and one of the wires on the cable connecting the battery to the motherboard is blackened. I just don't want to fry a new battery if the motherboard is the problem (no visible damage to the motherboard though).

marcusvnac · Answer

Hi, I had to buy a new battery. No other things that I did solve the problem.

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Alienware M14x R2 battery doing wierd

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