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Author Topic: My Laptop Battery Won't Charge But The AC Adapter Works Fine  (Read 4729 times)

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kmillz95

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My Laptop Battery Won't Charge But The AC Adapter Works Fine
« on: November 28, 2011, 03:07:31 AM »
Hi :) ,

My name is Kyle and I'm 16 and have a Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop that was bought roughly two years ago at Christmas time by my parents.  The laptop itself seems to be in pretty good condition, although a few months ago I had to replace the hard drive.  It runs on Windows 7, BIOS version A11, and has roughly 150 GB of free disk space.  I do not pay for security programs, although I do use Microsoft Security Essentials and Advanced SystemCare 4 to keep it running smoothly.

The problem I'm having is that the laptop battery is not charging.  I have the AC adapter plugged in and the battery is in place but the battery icon on my laptop says "Plugged in, not charging."  The power level is at 0% because I drained the battery to see if it would fix the issue but it did not.  I have tried various methods found on multiple websites to fix this issue, but most of those methods were specifically geared for issues involving Windows Vista and did not fix my problem anyway.  Some of these methods include reseating the battery and adapter in numerous progressions along with shutting down and rebooting the laptop as well as disabling the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery driver in my Device Manager and re-enabling it.  As I have said, none of these methods worked.  The adapter itself works because I have tried running my laptop solely on AC power with the battery not attached and it runs fine, and it also shows the white power light which indicates that the AC adapter is supplying power to the laptop.  But when the battery is attached and the adapter is not, as a result of the 0% of power in the battery, the laptop either shuts down if it is on or will not turn on if it is off.  I normally had the adapter plugged in along with the battery and rarely moved my laptop from my desk except to my bed which is only a few feet away within these past two years.  When I boot my laptop an error message indicates that it does not detect an AC adapter with sufficient wattage for the battery and prompts me to try reseating the adapter, find one with sufficient wattage, run system diagnostics, or enter system setup.  I have run system diagnostics and nothing abnormal was detected.  I also tried looked into system setup with both the adapter and battery attached and under the battery section it specifies that the battery is idle and there is no AC adapter detected, although without the adapter connected the laptop would shut off. :'(

Is there any way I can fix this issue without buying new hardware?  Perhaps something I'm missing that has to do with the connection of the adapter and battery or dealing with software?  Or, if it is a hardware issue, is it my battery?  My adapter?  Or as I've read, could it be the motherboard?  Any help figuring out what the problem is and how to fix it would be greatly appreciated.  As I've said, I usually have the adapter plugged in anyway, but it is would be nice to have my laptop in a condition where there are no major issues I have to worry about.  Unfortunately the laptop is no longer covered under warranty as I only had a one year warranty which expired last year.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Kyle :-\

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Re: My Laptop Battery Won't Charge But The AC Adapter Works Fine
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2011, 04:35:57 AM »
Excellent writeup for anyone, especially a 16 year old.  You get an "A".
The battery is bad & they are quite expensive.  Because Dells are so common, you can probably get a replacement battery from a local retailer.  If it doesn't work, return it.

Just Googled it for you.  Battery price is not that bad, $35 + 4 shipping
http://www.batteryedge.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DL1525&gclid=CIeh_KSd2awCFYtR7AodbwFjrw

I like Apex Battery, I've used them before, $40 w/free shipping
http://www.apexbattery.com/dell-inspiron-1545-6-cell-li-ion-laptop-battery--dell-1525-6.html