Laptop battery not charging

[Konekochama]

Hello everyone, this one has got me pulling my hair out in frustration. My computer recently has started yet again not charging the battery. Usually, I would just call Dell, have them replace the motherboard again, and have it work for a few months. But, seeing as this is the THIRD time this has happened in the span of about 12 months, I think it's time to start trying to figure out the root cause of why this is happening to the motherboard instead of just replacing it and being done with it.

The exact problem: Laptop will run on the charger no problem, but in the system tray it says "Plugged in, not charging". No steps to reset the battery provided by Dell have worked. The motherboard has been replaced 2 times already. It will work for a few months, and then stop charging again.


My specs are as follows:

Manufacturer: Dell

Model: Inspiron 1525

Processor: Intel Core Duo CPU T5250 @ 1.50GHz/processor

Memory: 2 GB

System type: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

(I'll provide more if needed)

Any info anyone might have could help.

Thanks for your time. ;3

Edit:

Just thought I'd mention that this is a brand new battery in the laptop already, provided by the company I leased the laptop from when the charging problem occurred the second time. They hoped it would fix the problem and it did not. I also have a new AC adapter for this laptop from the second time, but I can see tomorrow if a replacement one will work. Since this was also tried the second time, I doubt it.

If worse comes to worse, I can always buy an external charger for my battery and just use the regular charger when I'm at home.

[Xanthe]

The same thing happened to my Dell XPS. The batteries eventually give out and will no longer hold a charge.

[Konekochama]

Hmm.. I don't think it's the battery either. I took it to the company I bought it from and they gave me a new battery that didn't fix the problem the last time this happened. It also worked perfectly fine up until a few days ago when it just stopped charging altogether.

[Shalafi]

I know older laptops and batteries had problems like this due to the system switching from plugged in to charging constantly, thereby trickling charge from the battery and recharging; this would wear out the battery. One of my friends who used to support this would recommend pulling the battery whenever it was full and the laptop was going to be plugged in for an extensive period of time.

[Konekochama]

That was my first thought too, but its not like it's performance decreased over time. It will just stop charging suddenly.

Also, this is the same battery from when it happened last time. After they replaced the motherboard and sent it back, it worked perfectly fine up until now when the same problem has resurfaced.

To me, it seems something is causing it to malfunction and it seems Dell is just using a quick fix solution instead of finding out the root cause.

[Shalafi]

just using a quick fix solution instead of finding out the root cause.

This is the problem with all technical support nowadays.

[Omniyoji]

Maybe it might be the AC adapter!?

[Klutz]

Buy a new battery you cheap fuck.

[Konekochama]

Maybe it might be the AC adapter!?

Dell shipped me a new AC adapter the second time this problem came up. I can see about trying another AC adapter tomorrow. (I don't have a spare)

[OWS_Tonx]

My best guess would be that it's a bad battery or wrong charger. I've had a few people use an overpowered charger thats made for the docking station on the machine itself. It eventually kills the battery. If that's not the case, call 'em up and say this is the third time it's happened, replace it

[Konekochama]

Now that you mention it, the laptop did come with a 2 prong adapter. The one they sent me as a replacement is a 90 watt 3 prong adapter. It worked fine so I didn't think anything of it.

[Grey Jorildyn]

This suddenly not charging thing happened to my Acer Aspire. Flashed the bios and it started working again. Apparently some windows update caused the battery to stop working.

[AoE]

I have a Dell but I have an XPS. It's been my experience that Dell XPS's customer service is way better than normal Dell customer service. I don't remember the exact details because it happened like two years ago but I ended up having to get a new motherboard when my battery wouldn't charge anymore even though it was a good battery. Luckily my laptop was still under warranty so I got it fixed the next week.

I don't wanna just go ahead and say that's what it is because I know most people hate hearing they have to spend money but look into that.

[Korietsu]

Going to go ahead and say its probably a short or a bad connection between the AC adapter and the motherboard/battery.