Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Dell Latitude D620 Won't run on battery power

by lapiputer Sep 3, 2009 10:47PM PDT

My Dell Latitude D620 had been running fine on both AC power and battery, although I have primarily used AC with a docking station. Now I've found that although the battery appears to be 100% (and I even occassionally get an indicator that it is 98% and charging), I cannot run at all on battery power. The test lights on the battery itself all light up. It is a Dell battery (Type TC030), and both AC adaptors and the docking station are Dell (PA-10 for the docking station and PA-12 for the laptop AC). It seems as though the laptop recognizes the battery, and charges the battery, but won't use the battery. Any suggestions?

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Sadly this almost always is...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 3, 2009 11:37PM PDT

A mainboard fault. Yes there is an OS setting but we can test for that by trying to boot Windows after a shutdown but I see no reason to explore that. Sorry to read about your loss.
Bob

- Collapse -
I have thihs same problem
by marzzi Apr 25, 2010 7:53AM PDT

Dell Latitude D620 refurbished. Dell replaced the motherboard directly after purchase as its USB ports were "stuttering". It never ran on the battery before I got the new one. Once I got the new battery it worked fine. Then all of a sudden with no warning it stopped running on the battery which it see's as 100% charged. It started running on the battery for a few days after the initial stop, and then it went back to not running on the battery.

I went to the Dell site and downloaded updates for the BIOS but nothing has changed.

I read someplace a post from a guy who had 2 Dell notebooks that both did this and he said it was the power adapter. Is that possible?

If you have any ideas on what else this problem could be please let me know.

Thanks!

- Collapse -
Unlikely.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 25, 2010 11:44PM PDT

Having seen too many failed batteries (these only last 300 cycles or 18 months) I know to slip in our shop battery for a test. Due to prior troubles we had to spray paint our shop batteries and mutilate them because more than once a customer claimed our shop battery was their battery. We cured that.

Laptop batteries are going to be an upsetting reality of laptop ownership with those low cycle counts and low life span. I have yet to come up with a good response for those that don't want it to be the battery or board. At least for some laptops we can show it's the battery.

A great shop can do that test. But it costs.
Bob

Back to Dell forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info