battery not charging

Question

In the six months I have had my inspiron, I have used it without AC power a handfull of times only.  The other day, as I turned it on, a message about power came up.  Some settings were changed apparently, and it said it is safest to press F1 to continue, or F2 or F3 for other reasons which I did not understand at all, and I know a bit about computers.   I pressed F1 as it said this could later be changed through F2 setup.   Now the battery will not charge at all.  The laptop only runs with AC power, and the battery is 1% charged, and is in a 'critical' state.    Pressing F2 while booting takes me to setup no problems, and there is a page for the battery. But all this does is tell me I have one discharged battery and no second battery!  Correct!  Now what?   Power Management options under Control Panel are no better.    Help please

mcuff · Answer

Inspirion 8600 about 9 months old.
Last week on power up I got the message the Power Adapter type could not be determined. I did the F1 thing, then the F3 thing and kept on going.
One week later (after pulling the AC cord out while the machine was on) I find that battery will not charge.
The battery status indicator on the battery shows one light, out of five.
The battery indicator on the laptop does not blink (charging) when AC power is plugged in.
The battery application in Windows shows 0% charge and red X across the battery.

In the bios it reads "Power Adapter: unknown". What did it say before?!?

-Michael

GrumpyCustomer · Answer

I've got exactly the same problem. I've spent a week figuring out the cause. I believe you will find that the problem is either your AC adapter, or the laptop's motherboard. In one of those places, a component has failed. Your laptop can no longer determine whether you have attached a Dell AC adapter, or something else. Since Dell wants to sell you its adapters, your laptop will not charge your battery unless it detects a genuine Dell adapter is attached.   If your computer is only 9 months old, it should still be under warrantee. I am not so lucky. I'm hoping that I can simply replace the AC adapter.   Good Luck!

Fat Cat · Answer

AC adapter not recognized = the recognition circuit in the AC adapter has failed

you can still use the adapter to run the computer, but will not be able to charge the battery

Dell knows about the problem, but the Dell customer support people (wherever they are) don't appear to know.

Just buy a new adapater each time this happens, think of them as a consumable item rather than robust hardware.

mcuff · Answer

I suspect that you are correct. I just received a new battery from Dell and nothing has changed.
The Adapter warning still appears, the battery light on the laptop is still unlit, and the new battery doesn't appear to be charging.
Back to support....
-Michael

GrumpyCustomer · Answer

If your AC adapter isn't covered under warrantee, there's no reason to buy from Dell. You can find Dell adapters for less elsewhere. The same goes for batteries.   I got a replacement battery for my Dell Inspiron 8500 from Pacific Battery Systems ( www.pacificbattery.com). Price: $99.90 includes shipping. Dell's price: $169.00 + shipping.   I just ordered a replacement Dell AC adapter from www.shopmemory.net. Price: $49.00 includes shipping. Dell's price: $59.95 + shipping.   In both cases my order shipped the same day. The replacement battery and AC adapter are both covered under 1-year warrantees.

GrumpyCustomer · Answer

The problem arises suddenly. One day it works great. But the next time you turn on the laptop you get a BIOS-generated error message telling you that the 'AC adapter is not recognized', and that your laptop's performance might be affected. The warning helpfully informs you that you can press F1, F2 or F3. One of those options takes you into the BIOS settings, another one turns off the AC adapter error message so that do don't see it anymore, and the third option lets you continue booting up but leaves the error message enabled so you see it the next time you reboot.   If you have NOT seen the above error message, then read no further. Maybe your Dell has experienced a different problem.   If you have seen the above error message, it is most likely because the little 'brain' inside your AC adapter has died. Dell has placed a 'brain' inside all Dell AC adapters so that they can communicate with your laptop. The AC adapter, in effect, says 'Hey, I'm a genuine Dell AC adapter.' Your laptop listens for the message from the adapter, and if it doesn't receive the message it assumes that you are using a non-Dell AC adapter, or some other non-approved power source. Your laptop continues to use the power from the 'unidentified' AC adapter, thus your PC continues to operate, but to punish you for your insolence your laptop refuses to charge the battery.   Your AC adapter continues to work, in that it continues to provide the proper voltage for your laptop to operate. But, because the adapter's little brain has suffered some kind of electronic stroke, your laptop refuses to use its power to charge your battery. This is a Dell 'feature' that seems to be totally undocumented, and is not even known to most Dell Support technicians.   I should also point out that it is possible that the problem is not the AC adapter at all. It could be that your laptop has gone 'deaf,' and is no longer able to hear the AC adapter's messages. If that is the case, then your motherboard will need to be repaired or replaced.   Note: you wouldn't be having any problems at all if Dell wasn't so worried about people finding other sources for AC adapters.   If your PC is covered under warrantee, contact Dell Service. They should fix it for you, if you are able to convince them that 1) The battery is OK, 2) There's nothing wrong with the BIOS, and 3) Your laptop is expecting a message from the AC adapter that it just isn't receiving.   You might be told that you need to send in your laptop to have its motherboard repaired/replaced. Don't do that until they have swapped out your AC adapter, or somehow determined that the adapter's brain is in working order.   If your Dell is not under warrantee, you might want to check out some alternative (less expensive) sources of genuine Dell components. See my previous post.

sohanrugs · Answer

Ok, from the responses, I am not sure if others have experienced the same problem as me.

I am sure that there was not even a hint of any problems in AC adapter or battery, and that the setting have randomly been changed (I did leave laptop in care of friend for 2 hours the same day; they say they did not touch it).

So I am convinced the problem is not hardware, but…

Did anybody experience any indications that their equipment may be going wrong, prior to it actually happening? Or did it just happen one day?

Does any body know of any internal settings I could check?

Thanks for the help so far.

GrumpyCustomer · Answer

< >   Here's something else I should have mentioned: When you press F2, and go to the page for the battery, look at the top of the display. Does it say 'AC Adapter not recognized', or something similar? If yes, then you have the brain-dead adapter problem. If, instead, it says that you have a genuine Dell AC adapter, then you've got some other problem.

mcuff · Answer

That seems to be right on the money. I just tried another AC adapter (Dell brand) and the laptop had no problems booting, or charging the battery - everthing worked. Oy.

GrumpyCustomer · Answer

My new Dell AC adapter arrived via FedEx today. It solved the battery charging problem. No surprise.   Dell's foolish policy of making their computers compatible only with unreliable Dell AC adapters was the one and only cause of this headache and expense.   Dell, please wise up!

sohanrugs · Answer

Well, may I take this opportunity to thank everyone for the help, especially GrumpyCustomer, who gave pretty much the best and most patient explanation of the problem, and solution.

You were spot on. I phoned Dell, they took me thorugh the same thing you were talking about, and came to same conclusion: AC adapter's 'brain' has been fried. Thankfully still under warranty, so they next day delivered a new one. Battery is charging as we speak (or as I type rather)

Fantastic. I must say that this forum has been a great help, as have you all.

Unfortunately however, now that the laptop is functioning properly again, I have to go back to work.

Many many thanks again.

Silpher · Answer

yes thanks alot I followed this whole tread and it was very usefull because I almost let my motherboard be replaced instead of buying a new adapter.   great thanks again   Ingmar from holland

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battery not charging

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