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Battery not charging = bios?

K

kel7298

Junior Member
I previously posted this question on another thread but have not received a response...

Bios help please..

Previous to installing W7 Ultimate 32 bit on a Dell 1501 (XP Professional OS), I had battery charging issues (battery not recognized or would not charge). The system was under warranty at that time and I was informed to upgrade the bios. I did as instructed and it resolved my problem.

Unfortunately, I am once again having battery charging issues. Can I update the bios using the Vista 32 bit upgrade from Dell?

Or does anyone have any suggestions I might try?
 
It sounds to me like your hardware's wonky. Are there higher BIOS versions you can upgrade to? Looking on their site, they only list one Version 2.6.3, A16. Is that what you have? If so, there's no BIOS you can upgrade to. I'm a little dubious of that being the issue anyway.
 
I have never upgraded the bios since installing W7. I thought that since it was an issue earlier, then it might be again. Honestly no clue if it will help, just wasn't even sure I could upgrade using the vista bios upgrade.

Any thoughts on what the issue might be. The battery was replaced last year.
 
BIOS is independent of the O/S. It'll always be there regardless of what O/S you install. I don't know enough about batteries, or charging circuits to give advice, but that's where I think the problem is. Is the battery an original oem, or is it 3rd party? Third party batteries can be unreliable, and that might be where the problem is.
 
Most of the time if the battery won't charge it is either a bad battery or power jack/ac adaptor. If the BIOS is to blame then the battery should still charge while the laptop is turned off. However if the AC Adaptor is not supplying the proper juice then it can just run the laptop but not charge the battery.
 
Last edited:
Matt1970 said:
Most of the time if the battery won't charge it is either a bad battery or power jack/ac adaptor. If the BIOS is to blame then the battery should still charge while the laptop is turned off. However if the AC Adaptor is not supplying the proper juice then it can just run the laptop but not charge the battery.
Click to expand...

I agree - it is either the AC jack or the charger. The Dell 1501's are notorious for having problems with both (and often simultaneously). The AC jacks seem to be especially problematic due to lack of a secure jack to cord connection -- the plug wallows around in the AC jack socket and eventually cause the jack to stop working.

Trying a replacement AC adapter would be a good first step as it is much easier to swap the charger than the AC jack (i.e. no soldering required). Just make sure to use a compatible charger (for some reason I seem to recall Targus' "universal" AC adapter/charger will not work with Dell 1501's).

You could also try swapping the CMOS battery as well (having a bad one can cause all sorts of weird issues), but I'll still bet it is the AC jack.
 
Common problem on Dell laptops, in the BIOS, there is a section about the battery/ac unit, if it says unknown battery or unknown ac unit, it most of the time wont charge the battery.
I have a 1501, 1525 and 1526 with the same problem
Google for the problem as well.....seems to be related to some identification chip used in the battery pack or ac unit
 
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