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General discussion

plugged in, not charging

Jan 9, 2010 10:23PM PST

My laptop battery meter constantly reads "plugged in, not charging" in the system tray and won't charge when the AC adapter is plugged in (even though the laptop draws power).

I have tried a number of supposed fixes and none has worked including:
- opening Device Manager, deleting then scanning to reset the ACPI
- cleaning pins and ports on the battery and AC slot
- changing the battery,
- changing the power adapter
-flashing the bios
- updating all drivers out of date
- tapping the laptop near the inspiron logo ('cause I read it could be a short)
- a series of variations on removing the battery shutting down and restarting with the battery in or out etc.

I can very rarely get my battery to charge by unplugging and plugging in my AC adapter. Sometimes after about 20-30 minutes of unplugging and plugging in the adapter it suddenly starts charging.

Note: each time I unplug and plug in the adapter the screen intensity lowers to reflect the battery power plan and then returns to brighter when I plug in the adapter. leading one to suspect that the laptop is drawing power from the ac adapter fine.

Reading on various support forums, it seems this is an intermittent problem for nearly all makes and models of laptop owners who all have one thing in common: Vista O/S.

So, the most likely reason for this problem seems to be an undiagnosed bug in Vista.

I run Visa ultimate 32bit on a Dell Inspiron 1525.

I am looking for help with this problem.

Discussion is locked

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2 steps.
Jan 9, 2010 10:33PM PST

Let's keep it simple.

1. Reinstall the OS per Dell's guidance.
2. If that fails call Dell and arrange for repairs.

In closing, Dell's battery is rated for 300 cycles so maybe it's an old battery?
Bob

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plugged in, not charging - help needed
Jan 11, 2010 12:39AM PST

thank you.

I should have mentioned that I reinstalled the OS and even swapped my battery for a known good battery about a month ago and it made no difference.

Reading other forums it seems that people are encountering this problem frequently even on new laptops from all manufactures (as well as older Vista OS laptops). Most manufacturers try to exchanged the AC charger and/or battery before giving up and returning the units to depot for replacement of the motherboard which requires a warranty.

Many posters in other forums suspect it is a Vista glitch that is meant to prevent batteries from over charging and that eventually a Vista update or patch will solve the problem.

I was just wondering if anyone had correctly diagnosed the problem yet?

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The deal with new machines is simple.
Jan 11, 2010 1:18AM PST

It's in warranty and you don't give up. You keep on the maker till its fixed.

Some will not follow this path and end up in a bad situation.

-> Try this? -> http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19681_102-0.html?messageID=3211649&tag=forums06;posts#3211649

Again, if it's a maker defect, get it fixed. As to being Vista I've seen some thousand laptops with it working and less than 10 with the problem. All 10 were fixed with a fresh OS reload according to the maker's instruction. Sadly this gives me a narrow view of what's up here.
Bob

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plugged in, not charging (part III)
Jan 17, 2010 6:05AM PST

thank you again Bob,

So far I have re-installed Windows Vista Ultimate twice. No luck.

Then I took my laptop to a local shop specializing in batteries and chargers and tried swapping out 3 different AC chargers and two known working new batteries. The good ol' "plugged in, not charging" never went away much to everyone's astonishment.

I came across this posting below which points to a known design flaw with Dell Inspiron 1525s. Something about unshielded cable between the controller chip on the Mother board and the ID chip pin in the AC adapter.

http://getsatisfaction.com/dell/topics/inspiron_1525_cmos_battery_problems_again

my Dell is from early '08, so the standard 1 year warranty is over. I doubt Dell will take responsibility for any design flaws.

I hesitate to just give up and buy a new lap top. Any advice on getting Dell to repair the problem without paying too much ?

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If that is so.
Jan 17, 2010 7:47AM PST

Then motherboard replacement is the fix. I read your post as if it did that since day one. But failures outside warranty are costly to fix. Keep laptops in warranty unless you are ready for the repair bills.

If it's cosmetic but annoying yet still works why fix it?
Bob

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Same type issue
Jul 5, 2010 6:05AM PDT

FYI--I have a Gateway M-6827 that had the same problem (plugged in, not charging)--resolved after trying your solution with dumping and reloading the ACPI; the only difference--I had to do it in safe mode. So far so good. Regards....