5150 Battery/Charger Issue

Question

Earlier in the previous week, my computer began rejecting my adapter. It would automatically switch to battery power & of course the battery drained out. I thought it was the adapter, so I purchased a new one. No luck. The laptop now will NOT turn on, because the battery has 0% life & the charger is STILL not charging the battery. If you take the battery out, the computer has no response. If you put the battery in with the charger, the battery LED light will flash green for a second, as will the power light, but the computer doesn't actually turn on.

Can anyone give me an idea of what the problem could be? Thanks.

benson125 · Answer

I am having the same problem with my 5160. I sent the computer back at 11 months with the same problem, mother board replaced. Now it's 6 months later and I have just replaced ac adapter and battery with no results. Now the ac plug at the back of the computer is loose also. Of course waranty is over so no luck in getting any info out of the dell support folks! I think its time for another laptop- not a dell this time.

ejn63 · Answer

Assuming you don't want to be in the same position a year from now, when you buy the new notebook, get a 3-year warranty on it, whatever you buy.

Kathy517 · Answer

My computer is still under warranty. I'm just wondering if I could get an idea of what the problem could be before I put it in the hands of dell. Message Edited by Kathy517 on 07-27-200601:26 PM

stang99gtv8 · Answer

The problem is in the power supply that comes with the motherboard. In order to get this issue fixed, you must have the whole thing replace. The problem with this is that Dell is replacing them with faulty products once again. My advice to anyone reading this is to cut your losses, scrap this notebook, and buy anyone else but Dell. They WILL NOT back their customer issues no matter what, and every laptop they build has some kind of issues they refuse to support. I used to work for them, trust me on this.

ejn63 · Answer

If you worked for them, you know Dell did not build the 51xx models. Compal did.

They also build for Toshiba, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Apple and Sony.

Not coincidentally, perhaps, many of those vendors have the same type of power jack/mainboard issues.

stang99gtv8 · Answer

Actually this is something I suprisingly didn't know and never really looked into. Although that definatley is an interesting fact. I do know that I received many many complaints about this issue from the 51XX series notebooks and unless it was under the warranty Dell said no thank you to helping people with them. You would think with that many issues a recall might come out of it, but I guess since it doesn't involve risk of injury to anyone they won't do that.

ejn63 · Answer

All manufacturers that are public companies are responsible to their shareholders, who would scream blue murder at a recall - it'd cost more per unit than the original profit on the system.

One major automaker produced a known-faulty automatic transmission for years - their response to the failures was to shorten the warranty from 7 years, 70K miles to 3/36.

captnKrunch · Answer

My 5160 does the same thing.  I replaced the charger without sucess then had Dell swap the mother board for $500 producing exactly the same problem.  Tech support then had me download a new BIOS which was exactly the same version I already had.  Of course, nothing changed.  It's not the same Dell we used to know.

captnKrunch · Answer

Today tech support first told me it was a problem with the external power supply. When I pointed out that I recently purchased a new one and the problem didn't change, they then said it was the battery. When I pointed out that the last guy had diagnosed it as the motherboard and they had just replaced it for $500 had hadn't fixed a thing, she repeated it was definitely the battery. When I asked what would happen if I purchased a battery and it didn't fix it, she told me to take it up with sales.

My current battery charges fine then runs the computer for about 2.5 hours depending upon disk activity. Obviously the problem is in the circuitry which decides if the external power supply is connected and whether the battery should be charged or not. Oh well.

molet · Answer

My Inspiron 5150 is wierd too.  Aside from the battery not charging, two of the LED lights up front(the power and the battery) stays on when I try to power up the notebook...all 3 lights used to flash about 5 times when I try to power up; but now two of the lights stay on. I have dismantled the whole notebook and de-soldered the CMOS battery.

captnKrunch · Answer

Well, the new battery arrived today and it does exactly the same thing as my old battery as I predicted.  I called technical support and got the usual run around before they would let me speak.  They want the computer back to change the mother board again but this time for free.  It'll be interesting if the let me send the unnecessary battery and external charger back to them for credit.   For those just starting this process, it appears to me that the possible culprits are ...   1. bad power plug.  often shows as intermittant operation cured by wiggling the plug.  Try www.doctorlaptop-repair-jack.com because the plugs apparently are custom to Dell and they won't sell them.   2. bad external power supply.  probably caused by a bad battery but it's hard to tell.   3. bad battery.  Their suppliers are obviously incompetent and the technology appears to be tough so Dell is treating them like a consumable.   4.  bad Motherboard.  the most likely cause and the cure most readily pushed by Dell. $500 including air frieght to and from, plus they extend the warranty.  Strangely, in my case it appears they replaced the motherboard with one which had the same problem so they are probably reusing badly tested used parts.   Good luck.

stang99gtv8 · Answer

I am going to post this issue again because dell apparently doesn't want anyone to know about this issue. It was deleted and a message sent to me by administrators that it was a violation of their Terms of Service. If anyone wants to know the contents of the full post, let me know and I will send it to you via e-mail. The problem in this laptop is a chip that controls the power charging of the laptop that is located on the bottom of the motherboard. it is located under the C cover of the wireless card that you can remove. The plastic clip on the left side of the C cover rubs up against this 14 pin chip causing it to lose connection and soemtimes burn up due to the constant reconnection and disconnection. This is an issue that has to be fixed by replacing the motherboard or recconection the pins if it hasn't burnt up.   My former post went into great detail about this issue but was deleted by administrators and my account was threatened to be banned. I am sorry to have to report this incident, but rest assured it will NOT go un noticed by others. I hope this message does not get deleted as well, because what a cover up it would be if it were......

captnKrunch · Answer

I'm interested in your full post.  please send an email to xxx@rdtools.com replacing xxx with ssh. How did you find this out? Thanks.

madma1 · Answer

please send me your full post to madma@sbcglobal.net. My battery charger would always lose power from the beginning. Today, after about a year, it gave out comepletely, so i'm on borrowed time till i can resolve this issue. Thanks!

jfk2234 · Answer

I was wondering if you would also send me a full response to this issue as I also have this problem. Some times Ill plug in the A/C adapter and it will just charge and other times it wont. I have quite a bit of experience with soldering A/C jacks because I rebuild laptops so if you also have a part # for the replacement (upgrade) A/C jack that goes on the motherboard, I will just eliminate it as well. Thanks! jfk2234@yahoo.com

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5150 Battery/Charger Issue

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