Laptop works with adapter but wont charge new battery.

[Oldernrocks]

My Dell Inspiron 1505 works fine with or without the a/c adapter plugged in if the battery is charged. The laptop will not charge the battery, however. I can charge the battery with another charger, reinstall it, and the laptop works until the battery is depleted. There appears to be something in the BIOS that is keeping the charging current from going to the battery.
Has anyone experienced this problem before?
Thanks,
Oldernrocks

 

[scout_03]

did you test the charger if it is working and check where it plug in the laptop is the socket is not loose .

 

[jarotech]

If you use your laptop with just the charger, without the battery, is it working ? If it is, the problem is the charging circuit on the motherboard, that has nothing to do with the BIOS. If it is not, do what scout_03 said.

 

[Oldernrocks]

If you use your laptop with just the charger, without the battery, is it working ? If it is, the problem is the charging circuit on the motherboard, that has nothing to do with the BIOS. If it is not, do what scout_03 said.

Thanks for your replies. It is always encouraging to find others who want to help.
Yes, the laptop works great with either the adapter plugged in or with a charged battery. I also suspected the laptop charging circuitry.
I have read reports that suggested Dell may have logic which can turn off battery charging if certain battery characteristics are detected. I wanted to eliminate this possibility before opening up the laptop. Laptops are so tedious to work with.
Oldernrocks

 

[scout_03]

it work on ac and with the batery at full charge but it wont charge the battery that is a power issue on the charge system in the laptop ,if you use the dell batery it should work i would find a dell service center to test that charging circuit .

 

[Oldernrocks]

The AC adapter powers up and operates the computer very well. Even with the laptop shut off and the adapter plugged in it will not charge the battery.
The charging circuit is not working in the laptop. There appear to be two options; (1) there an electrical problem in the charging circuit that prevents it from charging the battery, or (2) there is something in the software controlling the charging circuit that is preventing charging. If we assume the software is preventing charging it could be because the software is corrupted or because it was designed to discriminate between batteries and it does not like the battery connected.
I have tried two different batteries, both of which will charge up to full capacity with an external charger, as indicated by the laptop battery test, and each will operate the laptop until they run down.
I ran across an identical problem reported by another forum member, nonoitall "Yet another "new battery won't charge" question (Dell Inspiron 4150)"
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/59976-35-battery-charge-question-dell-inspiron-4150
He found a solder joint that he was able to repair and correct his charging problem.
I think I am going to dig into the laptop.
Oldernrocks

 

[jarotech]

When your laptop will be disassembled, if you need help just ask, the problem could be just a coil who prevent the battery to be charge, just like the coil (FL1) from nonoitall.

 

[Oldernrocks]

Thanks to Veteran++ for his input.

I haven't had the time to dig into the laptop yet but I will check coil FL1 as suggested by nonoitall.
Oldernrocks

 

[Oldernrocks]

did you test the charger if it is working and check where it plug in the laptop is the socket is not loose .

I took the laptop apart and found no obvious faults with connectors, solder joints, or discolored components. I adjusted the BIOS to display all diagnostic messages on start-up and, for the first time, saw a Dell message which in effect said the adapter being use did not have sufficient capacity to charge the battery and that a genuine Dell adapter was required. I bought a used Dell adapter on eBay and now the battery charges as it should. This sounds to me like a ploy by Dell to sell their own over-priced components. I fail to see why the battery could not be recharged, especially at a very low rate, without creating any problems for the computer.

The reaffirms my conviction that nearly everyone should build his own computer for better performance, longer warranties, more flexibility, improved expansion capability, and no intrusive bloatware.

 

[scout_03]

you could check both adaptor with the output they have for power and volts also amp,dell use to have owner system parts .

 

[bbtomas]

hi, i know this thread is old, but for anyone suffering the same issues:
i had exactly the same problem and found an answer on an HP site, which solved my problem, it was a faulty battery driver 😀 easy fix in 5min

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Lockups-Freezes-Hangs/Laptop-battery-not-charging-but-laptop-works-with-power/td-p/1049529

First of all, shutdown the notebook, unplug the AC Adapter, remove the battery, and then hold down the Power button for a full minute.
Now, plug in the AC Adapter without the battery inserted, start the notebook, open windows Control Panel, open Device Manager, expand the entry for Batteries, right click on and the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery and select Uninstall - do not uninstall anything else here. When the uninstall is complete, shut the PC down, unplug the AC Adapter, re-insert the battery and then start the PC on just the battery. Windows will automatically reinstall the driver - leave Windows running for a few minutes. Shutdown the PC again. Now plug in the AC Adapter ( with the battery still inserted ) and start the notebook to see if this has helped the issue at all.