Dell inspiron n5010 Ac adapter problem

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Guide community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

dave513271

Honorable
May 14, 2012
1
0
10,510
hey everyone, Recently my dell inspiron n5010 has failed to recognize my 90W adapter (despite powering it just fine).
full error message:
"The Ac power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined.
the battery may not charge.
the system will adjust the performance to match the power available
please connect a dell 90W AC adapter or greater for the best system performance.
Strike the F3 key (before F1 or F2 key) if you do not want to see power warning message
strike the f1 key to continue, f2 to run the setup utility"
The central pin in the 90W adapter looks fine and the battery works without the adapter (also works with just adapter inserted), however, The computer wont charge and scales down the processing power to a crippling speed. Given that my warranty is finished and Dell support doesnt help much once warranty is up, is there anything I can do to get the processor back to its full functionality?
 


Oh my God, can't believe this actually worked! Thanks a lot, man! Saved me from a big headache...
 
This is what was wrong with mine showing the same AC charging problem..
The end of the plug that goes into the computer has a very thin post in the center. Just by chance I noticed it was not centered and not allowing it to plug into the computer properly. I re-centered this thin post inside the plug (make sure unplugged from the wall), plugged it back in and all is good! I now make sure I very carefully plug this into the computer as it is a very fragile thin post centered inside the end of the plug that doesn't take much to bend to the side
 


I'm very grateful for your message. It actually worked. Thanks a lot!

 


The problem is: when battery is under 10% it is impossible to reload or update your bios. In other words it is impossible to solve the problem when your (Dell) AC-adapter is not recognized. Several people with Dell Laptops I know have this problem. Isn't there a possibility to force BIOS update without or with a less loaded battery??????

 
after long time i found a solution to update the bios without battery. the dell bois cannot be updated until we are inside windows, so create a dos boot drive with a cd or a usb drive, copy your bios exe file in the drive. Now restart and boot your system through the boot drive, you created. then go to the directory you saved the bois file and type

"your_bios_file_name.exe / forceit"
now your bois will be updated without any problem. thats how i updated my bois

sharravanan
 


Hi Varun. I have tried your solution but still nothing. Bios is all upgraded correctly, but ac adapter- cannot be recognized. I can use the laptop with ac adaptor plugged in, but does not charge battery. What else can try?
 
Hi guys, I have on my Dell 5537 2 years the same problem. Having tried all the ways described above. The only way to get the battery recharged - push harder charging plug into the laptop. Be very careful !!! The best way to do so:
1. Make sure the battery is charged for less than 94%
2. Insert the plug of charge (while I charge indicator lights for 3-4 seconds, then goes out)
3. Not removing the plug lightly push it into the connector for a few seconds and keep tabs on charging indicator (instead of pressing it is possible to twist)
After these manipulations my battery starts charging. Oh, and do not forget to disable the option "Show AC warnings" in the BIOS.

Sorry for my English, translated using Google translator: P
 


Hi Dell-Varun_T

I'm having this same problem with my Inspiron 17R. Can you better explain your solution to me please? I went to the Dell website and can't find anything about install/updating Quickset and don't know what you mean by flash the Bios.

Thank you,
Michelle
 


When I installed back the batery, and hit OK, the program gave me another warning saying that my battery was below 10% and couldn't continue with the installation.