Inspiron 8500; AC adapter wont charge batteries anymore

Question

Hello, My current problem is summarized at the top of this message.. the rest of it is a rambling introduction to and inane background of the problem, so unless you're interested, ignore the rest! Thanks. :) Problem summary: -5 month old Inspiron 8500 which I bought thru the Dell website. After very strange system behavior (not powering up), my system is now perfectly back to normal except my AC adapter (model: NADP-90KB A, P/N: 9T215) when connected wont charge either of my batteries anymore (I have an identical spare battery), whether the system is powered on or off. Otherwise it does sustain the system, and the batteries only deplete when the system is on and the AC is disconnected. -My friend's new Dell Celeron laptop's AC adapter DOES charge my batteries when connected to my system. It looks identical to mine but with a different model #. -Strangely, my adapter DOES charge HIS battery when connected to HIS laptop. -The bastardo refuses to trade! -Can i do something to fix this? -If not, my system is still under the 1 year limited warranty. Does it entitle me to exchange my AC adapter for free? -If yes, I'm a college student who literally cant live without the laptop at least until the end of the semester. Could I have the replacement shipped here before I surrender my original AC adapter? **** I purchased my Inspiron 8500 online in September of 2003, and it is still under a 1 year limited warranty. Sometime in January, after having been constantly on for over a day, the system (Win XP) froze. Ctrl-alt-del did nothing, and I had to hold down the power button to shut it down. When I would try switching it back on however, absolutely nothing would happen, except that the power LED would blink exactly 10 times. I left it for a few days (trying unsuccessfully every day to get it to switch on), and then surfed this forum on a friend's PC. I followed the instructions given to others with similar problems to take out the battery, CD drive, hard drive and both RAM chips, and got no response with AC or battery connected, until with just one RAM chip in after holding the power button down for something like 15 seconds, the system came to life! The system password (I have the BIOS password protection activated) wouldnt work however until I put everything back in (other RAM chip, HD, etc.).. in fact I wasnt sure it was responding to any key but the enter key. Once everything was back in though the password worked. It prompted me through some system diagnostic utility and eventually I got to Windows. My laptop was somehow resurrected, seemed perfectly back to normal, and I was elated. I soon noticed though that the capital 'C', 'D', 'E', and '#' characters wouldnt work (basically the shift key in combination with one of those keys, which are arranged almost linearly on the keyboard. I could only get capital C D and E with caps lock). Strangely enough, after a few days that little problem dissapeared and now all keys are working. Which brings me to the only problem remaining. Either immediately or very soon after my laptop came back from the dead (cant remember which), I would get the following message before the system booted: 'The AC Power Adapter type cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance. Strike the F3 key (before the F1 or F2 key) if you do not want to see power warning messages again. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility.' I had never seen this message before my laptop went on sick leave, nor had I changed my AC adapter. After pressing F1 the first few boots, I got sick of the message and banished it with F3. The system was working normaly otherwise and I thought nothing of it..; I usually run the laptop on AC power, with a few exceptions of carrying it from place to place, etc. I noticed after a couple more weeks that my battery was flat and the system immediately hibernated when I disconnected the AC. This led me to realise that the battery was not charging. I have a spare battery, but the same thing happened with that one too, the system does not charge the battery. It only depletes it however when its on and the AC is disconnected. The little power icon in windows doesnt say '(charging)' like it used to, and the charging LED is never on when the AC adapter is connected, whether the system is powered on or off. With both batteries. Now my friend also has a new Dell laptop (cant remember what, but its not an Inspiron, and it has a Celeron processor), and his AC adapter looks identical but is a slightly different model (different Model # printed on it, but that may be because he bought it overseas). Now here is the crazy part: I tried plugging his adapter to my laptop and my battery WOULD charge, and I tried plugging my adapter to his laptop and his battery also would charge!!! Its just that my adapter will not charge my battery anymore! These are frustrating problems to have on a practically new system, but otherwise my laptop is clockwork; a great piece of kit, and blazing. Anyway, any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading. Rami

Loly19 · Answer

great... I just got off the phone with dell and they are sending me a new adapter..   my fiance' is a computer person if he is any help with resetting the bios I will let you know! Lori

casedot · Answer

I have the same problem.  My original AC Adapter stopped working so dell sent me a new one (before I shipped my old back).  Now, the new AC adapter will keep my system powered, but the system says that the AC adapter is unidentified.  I have read that there is a certain communication between the AC adapter and the motherboard, so apparently, this communication is not happening.  I tried to update my bios but when I run the flash utility it says I must plug in the AC adapter and the battery. It seems to think that the ac adapter is not plugged in, yet my computer is using power from the adapter.  I have read no replies from Dell as to a solution between the communication of the adapter and the motherboard, and now my battery charge is at 0% with no way to charge it.  I wish someone who knew how to get the adapter and motherboard to communicate would respond.

Loly19 · Answer

I am having the same problem with my insprion 8500... my computer runs fine on AC power, its just not charging the battery.

I also receive this message each time I restart or start up my computer

The AC Power Adapter type cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance.

RamiN81 · Answer

Thanks for replying.. Please dont take this wrong, but its reassuring to know its not just my system thats doing this.

Its logical that the motherboard communicates with the AC adapter, telling it how much power it wants etc., and that mechanism must be prone to problems. On one hand I dont want to leave room for this to turn into a bigger problem, especially after the warranty expires, but on the other hand its not a big enough deal to bother sending the whole laptop back to Dell where they might just make a superficial fix, or even inadvertently create more problems (which has been my experience with different service / tech support in the past).

Its just the weirdest thing that my friend's AC adapter charges my batteries and his batteries, and that my adapter charges his batteries, but my adapter doesnt charge my batteries.

I'm going to try to figure out how to update my bios, and I'll keep u guys posted.

Good luck..

RamiN81 · Answer

ok i just updated my BIOS from A03 to A05. Everything still works but the problem hasnt gone away; the battery still wont charge..

Loly19 · Answer

Well, I tried to update the BIOS as well and it won't let me Its Says the Batter and AC Adapter must be plugged in.... ARGH

Loly19 · Answer

Well, from what I've read there aren't many who aren't having this problem!

I just got my new power supply from Dell and am still getting the error on boot and no charge

Going to try and figure out how to 'refresh' the bios...

Lori

DELL-Corey · Answer

Loly19, Thank you for using Dell's Community Forum. It seems that you may need a new motherboard. You should contact us about that.

Doctor J · Answer

Inspiron 8600, a month old. Got the 'power adapter type cannot be determined' message and no charging of the batteries. Then Dell sent a 90 watt adapter. It worked for 2 days and then stopped. Then Dell had me upgrade the Bios. That didn't help. Then Dell sent a technician with a motherboard. It doesn't work either. From what I can see on this forum hundreds of people with Latitudes and Inspirons are being put through this dance with no success. J.

RamiN81 · Answer

Doctor J, I'm really surprised that the new motherboard didnt fix it.. I guess its probablyt not a motherboard issue after all.. Even weirder that the 90W adapter worked and then stopped after 2 days.. whats up with that??

Lori, was your new adapter the same model # as the old one? And how come I could upgrade my BIOS but you couldnt? Weird. Something else weird; I ran my BIOS upgrade patch from XP, and now XP wont let me delete or even move the patch file (even after restarting and everything), saying that some program is using it. That wouldnt normally bug me except that its on my desktop..

Like I said above, my friend's adapter did charge my batteries, but then again I didnt leave it plugged in for 2 days to see if it stayed working.. just overnight. His adapter came with his new Dell Celeron laptop which he bought overseas.. I'm gonna find out what its model # is, and if Dell's replacement doesnt work I'm gonna ask them to send me one of those. Will keep you posted.

This seems, to my ignorant self, like a very trivial but integral bug in the Inspiron power system that cant be fixed by just replacing components. I think whoever designed the power system should work on this, not just quick-fix PR service engineers. I can live on AC power, but it would be nice to have some battery charge in a brand new laptop.. Just some wishful thinking.

Anyway, plz stay in touch ppl, until someone finds a way to fix this.

Take care.

Rami

casedot · Answer

Yeah, I dont think the motherboard is the problem.  Anyway, my laptop has gotten to the point where it wont turn on using the battery now.  It would be nice to have the ability to use my laptop without it being plugged in, otherwise I would have just built myself another awsome desktop....

Loly19 · Answer

or atleast that's what 'tech support' told me.... I love my computer, I really do LOVE this laptop.... its just frustrating that this is happening... and I can't help but wonder if it has happened to so many people what's to stop it from happening again once my motherboard is replaced and whoes to say that IS the problem since it hasn't helped others....

Loly19 · Answer

Well it turns out I do in fact need a new motherboard *sigh*

piaggio · Answer

Yesterday I got the 'AC power adapter type cannot be determined' message on my inspiron 8500. (So adapter is working as power supply but battery charging is disabled.) Before yesterday I had no problems at all and power cable and connectors is 100% undamaged.

I decided to break open the power brick. (Yes, really break, beacause there are no screws)

And yes .. as many people suspected the small pin of the connector is the DATA line and is connected to a Dallas DS 2501 1-wire memory chip in the power brick. The 2501 is 512 bit EPROM with also an unique identification code. Measurement by oscilloscope made it clear that this chip is indeed DEAD, the 'high' voltage on the DATA line was about 0.6 V while it should be at least 2.2 V.

When disconnecting the data line from the memory chip and measuring the signal level on the DATA line when plugging in the connector in the laptop the signal level is back to a perfect 3.3 V and the laptop is clearly sending request signals, so the laptop should be o.k.

Of course this minor defect can't easily be repaired, because when buying a new DS-2501 as a replacement, first it should be programmed with the right data, so you need programming software/hardware and of course a power brick with a still intact DS-2501 to copy the data from!

Guess I have to buy a new power brick .....

(... or call Dell service and get the advice to replace the mainboard ??? ridiculous!)

Hope my little research made it more clear for everyone ....

... and shame on Dell!

RamiN81 · Answer

Thanks piaggio, your investigation was VERY interesting, and your results make perfect sense (in explaining the problem I had, as well as why people with different model Dell laptops are all experiencing the same problem).. a bad selection of EPROM chip used in many models of Dell power bricks (at least until last year).. indeed shame on Dell for choosing it, but even more so for not identifying the source of such an apparently common problem and making it common knowledge amongst customer service personnel.

My problem was solved last year when Dell sent me a new power brick (under warranty).. I'm hoping its the last one I'll need.. I take it your warranty is expired (or you probably wouldnt have cracked it open!).. so yeah a new power brick would probably be easier and cheaper (but less fun) than ordering, programming and installing a new DS-2501. Both ways, hope your batteries are back in action soon!

regards,
Rami

p.s. To be fair, I gotta say tho that my laptop has been operating speedily and flawlessly (under my savage duress) since then

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