Hi!

I have excatly the same problem as described above. I also have Inspiron 6400. Can someone please help because i cannot upgrade my bios to A17.

I just bought a '07 E1705 that was reloaded with XP. When it got back from the shop, the battery was unrecognized by the computer. I don't know wht's up.

Hi, I have DELL Inspiron 6400/E1505 laptop and it's been one and half year since i bought this laptop so my warranty is already expired. I am experiencing a weird problem with my battery. This morning when i started my laptop (Vista Home Edition) on AC power, the battery icon (battery with plug) was showing a cross and when i hovered over the icon, it says 'No Battery is detected. When i open the battery meter software, the first tab 'battery status' was showing all controls empty and disabled. I thought perhaps my battery is dead, but my laptop is working OK with AC power as well as on battery. Battery light turn green/yellow when it's on AC power but it is RED when i remove the AC power but system keeps working. In battery mode the battery meter icon doesn't change (it normally changes to show a battery without the plug). I am not sure what to do, what has happened? my battery is dead or battery meter software is not behaving?

I had the exact same problem: The battery showed power, but the computer just don't seem to rely on it when the AC adapter is unpluged.

Worst, I reinstalled Window recently and the battery is simply no longer recognized. I figured that it might be a driver problem, as it worked before the reinstallation... is there anyone that can tell me how to proceed?

I used the trouble-shooting guide on the Dell website and it indicated my battery needed to be replaced. I did so, with a used one from ebay and everything works fine now. I guess the processor in the the original bettery isn't working. I'm looking for a way to have this type of bettery refurbushed, including the IC module. Try the interactive trouble-shooting guide. and good luck.

Yeah well, the problem is that the trouble-shooting guide do not talk about unrecognized battery... I'm able to go through it, and it don't solve my problem. And as I said, I bought a new battery and it's not working... not recognized...

Hi!

I possess an Inspirion 1501, and I'm experiencing closely the same problem, I explaine, when I start my computer  befor windows runs a message is displayed in white and black (DOS), saying that the bettery is not reconized and therefor could not be charged.

menwhile the battery is working well and I didn't noticed anything in relation either with the autonomy of the battery itself or any other hting else.

May someone help me to resolve this problem

thanks to everyone 

I have the same problem but I think I have figured out why this happens. My battery life had been declining for a while. The battery was starting to get a little old. It finally got to the point one day where it didn't have enough battery power to finish the very-low-battery hibernate completely and it shut off during the hibernation process while I was looking for my AC adaptor. When I booted it up on AC power I noticed the red X on the battery icon in the tray. The battery would still charge fully but it still had the red X. It also would show no battery installed in the BIOS. I tried everything I could think of to get it recognized again but had no luck. We happened to have some old spare batteries for this model of laptop so I tested them out. Some of them were recognized but some were not. I chose to keep one of them that was recognized. The battery life on this one wasn't great but at least the indicator worked. Today I was doing some charge and drain cycles on the battery and I let the drain go too long. All in about two seconds, Windows informed me that I had 5% charge remaining, the battery indicator light on the laptop went from green to flashing amber and then the laptop shut down. When i booted back up, I had the red X on the battery indicator again. There must be something in the battery module that recognizes this type of ungraceful shutdown and, by design, flips some irreversible switch that causes it to no longer be recognized by the laptop. When this happens, the red X will show in the tray and the user will know that it is time to get a new battery. Makes good sense, I guess. If it can't complete the hibernation process when it is low on charge, then it is time to be replaced.

I have a very similar problem.  My Dell is an Inspiron 1720 and is pretty new and I almost always have it pluggedin.   I had no problems with the battery until I re-installed Vista Home (with the re-installation cd that came with the Dell laptop).  

[BTW - The reason for re-installment was that McAfee was not able to update, and some posts stated to re-install the OS.  Stupid me] 

Now, the battery consistently blinks red and I am unable to use the laptop without it being plugged in.  This is normally not a problem, usually.....but now if the cord accidentally becomes unplugged (say if I pull the laptop to my lap) it dies.  The adapter still has the green light.

What's going on?  Are my "good" battery settings in the previous 'Windows.Old' file?   I understand this is not logical....   Did the battery actually lose its life by re-installing Vista Home again?   

Any ideas?

Dell Inspiron battery not recognized red light