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Question

Laptop AC Adapter charges battery to full, then not detected

Sep 30, 2018 9:02AM PDT

Hi, I just installed a new battery onto my Dell Inspiron 15-3521. The AC Adapter has always worked but the old battery would only last for 5-10 minutes. Now, the ac adapter charges the battery to 100% but then stops supplying power. The icon at the bottom right changes once the battery hits 100% to looking like there is no ac adapter plugged in and the computer starts running on battery power. Also the indicator light on the front of the laptop goes off at this point, the one that inidicates it is receiving ac power. This usually resolves once I shut down the pc and turn it back on. Usually the indicator light is on if the computer is off but receiving power, but now will not turn on until the laptop is turned back on. The green light on the ac adapter box is always on. Lastly, the computer continues to receive power indefinitely if the battery is removed before it is fully charged when the laptop is on and plugged in. Any ideas on a cause and solution to this? Thank you
-Chris

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Additional info
Sep 30, 2018 9:05AM PDT

Sometimes restarting the laptop does not fix this if the battery is plugged in. I hit f2 and when this is occurring the Bios is reporting the ac adapter is not connected

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Answer
Dell uses a 3 wire connection to the charger.
Sep 30, 2018 9:23AM PDT

So if that system faults the battery either doesn't charge or could do something as noted.

-> If the machine works fine but this is just COSMETIC I would NOT FIX!

To fix would require testing such as a factory load of the OS/system and trying another Dell branded charger for this model.

Yes, there could be a BIOS update, or driver you didn't install but when folk reach the point of posting I find they already checked that out at Dell.com and their service tag for updates.

Lastly, a few models demand "battery calibration." Be sure to google your full model and that phrase to see if your model needs this.

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Answer
That Might Be Perfectly Normal...
Sep 30, 2018 9:36AM PDT

I've got a few laptops here that will charge to 100% and the charger will then not start charging again till the charge goes down to 90 - 95% or so. They're designed that way. In between 90 and 100%, the charger isn't charging, mousing over the battery icon will say: "Plugged in, not charging" but things are working just fine and once it gets below 90%, the charger begins charging again.. Nothing to fix in these cases.

Hope this helps.

Grif