Dell Inspiron 1501 Notebook Logo
Posted on Jul 20, 2009
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Inspiron runs on ac power but not battery

My last battery, the original, began having a very short life if not plugged it. I used the tester button on the battery which showed that it was faulty. I replaced the battery which gave me a battery life of three hours the first time it was used. After that it started showing low battery after three minutes. It was fully charged. The tester light on the battery itself shows that the battery is fine and there are no blinking lights on the computer itself while the computer is plugged it. But if I unplug it I will recieve a warning sign within three minutes and the battery life says that it is 15%. What should I do?

  • charitybaer Jul 20, 2009

    I have actually done both of these things and I still get the same result. I expected the old battery to lose life after 4 years, but not a brand new one. I have my computer programmed to go into standby after so long, I have the screen as dark as I can read it, all of the power savings things that have been suggested. I have allowed it to charge overnight but when I turn it on the next day, it's the same thing...dying within minutes. I am about to just buy a new computer altogether!

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  • Posted on Jul 20, 2009
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Sounds like you have a faulty ac adapter or jack on the laptop and its not charging the battery fully. More like a trickle charge. I would recommend leaving the laptop on default power settings or the best power settings and see if their is a differance in life or either shutdown the laptop and let it charge until the light shows fully charged.

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1helpful
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Dell Inspiron 1420 switch off while on at Internet site and it will not start up again when pressing the on button.

you can first try to connect your laptop to an AC power source via the ac adapter, if it fails to charge the battery, then it must be your battery died. try a relacement dell inspiron 1420 battery,which usually lasts longer and is compatibale with your dell and costs much less than the original one!
tip

Battery won?t charge and AC adaptor not recognized

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 that just turned two years old.

After one year, my dell 6-cell battery started to falter, so Ipurchased a new 9-cell battery. This worked fine until a couple ofmonths ago when I noticed that my 65W adaptor was frayed. I bought anew 65W Dell Inspiron 6000 ac adapter andit worked well for about a week until I noticed that my battery wasn’tcharging at times. If I was patient, or unplugged the adapter andplugged it back in, the battery began charging and all was saved.
dell-inspiron-6000-laptop-battery.jpg?w=200
This lasted only a short time until my Dell Inspiron 6000 batterywouldn’t charge at all for long periods of time, and sometimes thecomputer wouldn’t turn on, even if plugged into the wall. I thought itmight still be the adaptor, so I borrowed a fully functioning 90W Delladapter from a family member to test the system. This worked better,but still not great.

When I removed the battery and started only fromAC power, the functionality was also intermittent. Usually, if thecomputer actually started, I received the start-up error “The Inspiron 6000 AC AdapterType could not be determined, etc. etc. etc.” After pressing F1, thecomputer booted, but if the battery wasn’t in, the computer didn’tusually last long before shutting off. Unsure if maybe the battery wasthe problem, I put the 6-cell Inspiron 6000 batteryback in, and it too wouldn’t charge, although (together with the 90Wadapter) my computer would at least start more consistently if pluggedin. The error remained however, and sometimes the system stopsrecognizing power and switches to my ever dwindling battery power untilthe adapter is recognized again.
90-06009-010_replacement-dell-inspiron-6000.jpg
The problem is with the jack on the motherboard inside our Inspiron 6000’s. This is the jack you plug your power plug into on the back of the laptop.

Somehow the jack gets worn and does not make correct contact withthe laptop so the Laptop does not see the power supply as a legit Dellbrand. So the powersupply will not charge the laptop battery and run the laptop at the same time.

DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.

Modern laptops are all sold with built-in wireless laptop ac adapter.Some power notebooks used by corporate road warriors will have powerfulcellular adapters that connect the laptop to the Internet via the cellphone infrastructure

A bad connection between DC-IN power jack on the system board and the system board is a very common problem with dell pa 12,dell e1505 and Dell Inspiron 6000notebooks. If your laptop is out of warranty, then you can fix theproblem by resoldering DC-IN jack on the system board. If it’s stillunder warranty, it would be fixed at no charge to you. Problem symptoms:
93-06070-002_replacement-dell-pa-12.jpg
  • Laptop randomly shuts down without any warning.
  • Power LED and battery charge LED start flickering when you wigglethe power cord or the AC adapter tip on the back or your laptop.
  • The battery will not get charged.
  • When you plug ac adapter for laptop, the laptop appears to be dead and there is no LED * activity at all (DC-IN jack on the system board is broken).
To fix the problem, you have to take your laptop apart, remove the system board to resoleder or replace the DC-IN jack. dell pa 12 and Dell Inspiron 6000 disassembly guides will help you to remove the system board. Take a closer look at the power jack on the system laptop board witha magnifying glass. In most cases you get the power problem because ofa bad connection between the DC jack and the system board, you’ll see acrack between the DC jack connector and the system board.
on Jan 22, 2010 • Computers & Internet
0helpful
1answer

Battery light flashes orange three times then green. It doesn't impact battery life or operation. Is there a danger I that I might lose all my data? can I safely continue using laptop with ac adaptor...

This indicates either a faulty battery, charging circuit or motherboard issue with the charging port or charging circuit.

You can run the laptop solely on the ac adapter without issue as long as you have steady power. Try removing the battery and plug in the AC adapter and see if the laptop gives you the same light flashes...if it does, you maybe having an AC adapter issue. Try running the laptop solely on the battery and see how long the charge lasts.

Hopefully, all you are dealing with is a battery that is losing a few cells but is still capable of functioning...then you just have to get a new one.
3helpful
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Dell 1525 won't run on ac but will on generic battery

Dell systems will not charge the battery without a Dell Branded AC adapter connected to the system (The BIOS looks for the adapter ID and disables the battery charger if not ID'd)
It appears, that since the system will not power on with either AC adapter, that there is a problem with the power connection of the system. You can replace the power board
http://cgi.ebay.com/DeLL-Inspiron-1525-1526-Power-Jack-Board-48-4W006-011_W0QQitemZ380212346664QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotherboards?hash=item58866bff28#ht_953wt_1165
if that fails to resolve next is the motherboard
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=dell+inspiron+1525+motherboard&_sacat=0&_dmpt=Laptop_Adapters_Chargers&_odkw=dell+inspiron+1525+charger+board&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1311
1helpful
1answer

I bought a inspiron 9400 off ebay and the bios is locked. Dell will not help me because I am not the original purchaser. please any help.

Only A Couple Things You Can Try Here.....

You Can Attempt To Clear the BIOS By Removing The CMOS Battery...
You will have to disassemble to get to it...Not sure offhand on your exact model whether your battery is plugged into the motherboard or directly soldered.. I am almost certain yours is a Snap in/out that gets inserted into a carriage on your motherboard... Either Way... You Will Need to remove it... Make sure your Power Battery is also removed... and your AC Adapter is not plugged in..
Then Press and Hold Your Power On Button To SHort Out The Connection... THen After 30 seconds or so.... Reinsert CMOS Battery...
Reinsert Power Battery...Plug In AC Adapter...
Attempt To Power On


Didn't Work... Option 2:

Try Using A Backdoor Password Or Default Pass...Go To THe Following Link For More Info On It: http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.shtml

Still Didn't Work... Option 3:

The BIOS Will Either Need To Be Flashed... Or You Will Need To Replace The Motherboard...

The BIOS ROM CHIP can be flashed (erased and written over) but it is costly... you Can Google Search That Information If You Choose To...
Use Search Term: Dell Inspiron Bios Flash
3helpful
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I had the battery not recognized on boot up. then

the Dell AC adapter has a sensing pin so the bios can determine the wattage of the adapter. If the system cannot ID the adapter, the battery charger circuit is disabled. You'll need a functional DELL ac adapter to get the battery to charge
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Battery light flashes 4times orange then 1green

We had the same problem. I figured out it was NOT the main battery, but the auxilary battery. The batter life WITH the auxiliary was 68% total, when I removed the 2nd battery the battery life shot back up to 98% AND the flashing orange / red lights were gone (both on the power source and off). I then replaced the auxiliary battery with a spar back up to make SURE that it was not a fluke and with the new backup battery firmly in place the lights still did not flash. Problem solved.
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Dell Inspiron 6400 Battery

your miracle,most laptop batteries have a life span of 4 years tops,but that if you take care of it,but most dont realize over charging kills the cells in your battery,and if you have it plugged up make sure you go into power settings and put it on ac/dc power settings.and if you have it away from home without power,put it on best battery settings,and let the power die all the way down before recharging,that will give it a full charge lasting longer.but as for your battery it might be time for a new one
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Dell inspiron 6400 system responding very slow on ac adaptor

FIRST REPLACE YOUR BATTERY, THEN ALSO CHECK VIRUS WITH AN UPDATED VIRUS CLEANER.
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Inspiron laptop Battery won't charge

Hi
Update laptop bios go dell.com check for update of your laptop model....
Thanks
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