Dell Inspiron 8200 will not charge a battery - what am I missing?

[Howard_Woodard]

This has been the most frustrating and unrewarding process I have been involved in for quite some time.

It started out with an old Inspiron 8200 running XP which was exactly the platform that I needed for some automotive diagnostic software. It ran fine from the A/C adapter but would not charge either of what was two fairly new batteries.

I bought a new A/C adapter but nothing changed. I bought a new battery and it would not charge it. The charging light would stay on for a few minutes and then go out. I bought another battery and had the same problem.

I bought a new motherboard and the symptom changed to flashing red/grn charging LED but the result was the same -- the battery would not charge. I bought a new battery charging board and had the same problem. I took both motherboards out and sat them on cardboard boxes and plugged the batteries in directly and had the same problem. I bought another battery and when I plugged it in the BIOS battery status page shows that it came with 52% charge but the charging circuit is idle -- not charging. As with all the aforementioned configurations, the battery charge led flashes constantly 1 green followed by 1 red.

The only thing in common with all these different components was BIOS A11. I read a couple posts where the posters swore that the only way to fix this problem was to go back to BIOS A09 so I got a copy of A09 and flashed it. It made absolutely no difference -- still blinking one red and one green and not charging -- showing "idle". Well actually it did make one difference – it said my CPU was not supported. But it went ahead and booted and ran everything without error.

This is incredible.

The only thing that hasn't been changed is the display but the symptom is the same whether the display is attached or not. Every other component has been replaced -- it isn't even the same laptop anymore -- and the symptom has not changed one iota. I thought Windows XP might have something to do with it but it does the same thing whether the laptop is shut off, in BIOS or in Windows.

Appropriate for Halloween I guess...

Anyone have an idea -- besides just tossing it and all of the duplicate parts I now own, into the garbage can?

Thanks in advance,
Howard

 

[jarotech]

You have some interesting story about your Dell Inspiron 8200. What is your main question ?

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Sorry, I thought it was implied.

What could be causing it to act this way? Why would changing all of these components, including the BIOS, not have any effect on the symptom? What does one red followed by one green blinking on the charging LED on the battery -- 2 old ones and 3 new ones -- mean?

Any ideas?

 

[jarotech]

Sorry for the delay, maybe this has nothing to do with your problem, change the BIOS battery with a new one.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Sorry for the delay, maybe this has nothing to do with your problem, change the BIOS battery with a new one.

Since that's the only part I haven't changed I'll give it a shot. I'm curious what the connection is between the BIOS battery and the battery charging circuit.

I'll give it a try and let you know.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

I should probably be embarrassed at having tried that but, hey, it's the only part that hasn't been changed. As you might expect it made no difference.

I have 3 new rechargeable Li-ion batteries that were all listed as compatible with the Dell Inspiron 8200...

Two purchased on eBAY from SIBUSA that say they are 14.8v 33wh to "Replace 1691P". Both of these batteries show a steady green charging LED for about 15 minutes and the status [from inside BIOS or Windows] shows them at 0% and charging. After the charging LED goes out they still show "charging" as their status. But of course they never move off of 0%.

The third was purchased on Amazon.com and shows "Model 4460 14.4 v 5200mAh/75Wh". It is actually the second one like this -- the first had exactly the same symptoms as this one and was returned. When plugged in, it sometimes repeats three times a sequence of 4 greens / one red 3 times and then goes to a constant flashing of one green/one red. I say sometimes because almost all of the time it goes immediately to the one green / one red flashing. The status in BIOS shows "Idling" and Windows shows that it is not charging. Unlike with the two SIBUSA batteries where the LED eventually goes out, it will flash the green / red sequence forever with no change to the battery.

All of the batteries came with a partial charge and would run the laptop until they were completely drained.

Given that every single part in the laptop has been replaced and the laptop has never ever done one thing different as a result I'm starting to doubt that these batteries are really compatible with the 8200 and its charging system.

Does anyone know of an example of a recently purchased battery working in a Dell Inspiron 8200? If so, do you know the make, model and source of the battery?

 

[jarotech]

Do you have the original battery?

 

[Howard_Woodard]

No, the original battery was tossed about a year ago -- the laptop had been stored away for 6-7 years and the battery was dead as a door nail and wouldn't charge -- when I bought the two SIBUSA batteries.

 

[jarotech]

The original battery had a circuit inside compatible with the laptop, the new one maybe not so compatible.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Yes, that's what I'm thinking as well. Now I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows of one of the after-market ones working on the 8200 and, if so, which one.

Btw, do you know what fn+f3 (battery) is supposed to do? I've tried it while booting, while in BIOS and after Windows XP has started up and it has no discernible effect.

 

[jarotech]

I found a FAQ about your laptop, FN+F3 is supposed to give you a status about the battery.
http/www.oocities.org/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm

 

[sora]

I found a FAQ about your laptop, FN+F3 is supposed to give you a status about the battery.
http/www.oocities.org/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm

He said it had no effect at all. FN+F3 probably just shows how much battery you have left.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks Sora. The note on that function key combination says "* denotes functionality that can only be invoked prior to loading an ACPI capable operating system" -- whatever the heck that means.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

I notice that in Device Manager under Batteries there are three entries:

Batteries
1 - Microsoft AC Adapter
2 - Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
3 - Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery

I wonder if these are the same 3 entries in 8200s that can successfully charge a battery...

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Just in case its a clue I'd like to add that...

The two 33 Wh batteries from sibusa turn the laptop's green charging LED on steady for a few minutes before turning it off -- though BIOS and/or Windows will show "Charging" while the light is on they never actually do.

Three other recently purchased batteries that are 75 Wh or greater all simply start the laptop's charging LED flashing one green followed by one red but never charging and showing "idle" in BIOS and/or Windows.

 

[jarotech]

I notice that in Device Manager under Batteries there are three entries:

Batteries
1 - Microsoft AC Adapter
2 - Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
3 - Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery

I wonder if these are the same 3 entries in 8200s that can successfully charge a battery...

Hi, try to uninstall number 2 and 3, reboot after.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

With the battery in or out?

 

[jarotech]

With the battery in.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks. The drivers reloaded but made no difference. I don't find any Dell battery drivers for it.