Old Laptop For Charity Battery Not Charging

Dell Inspiron 1525. Has windows 7 Professional, SP1, 2gb ram, 64 bit OS, Intel Celeron 550 @2Ghz.

I've inherited this mess of a machine that I've finally cleaned up completely including bad windows files and such, using loads of software and help from majorgeeks. Machine at least now runs and recognizes key strokes, prior it didn't do much and using the software was anguishing.

Problem is the software the charity uses only works on laptops prior to windows 10. They can't afford a new laptop, nor the newer version of the software and hence this is the only laptop available. It does work but no battery, causing me difficulty.

Issue is the battery shows 1% all the time. It's not charging. I've been able to get it to show charging but it never actually charges and sooner or later it goes back to not charging. The Dell bios needs an update but the bios update requires 10% battery life and even using /forcestart in the dos prompt it fails.

I got a new power chord and a battery and to no avail.

I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it. Ran laptop down. Tried to update bios without luck due to 10% battery life error. Bios defaults all exist.

I ran some Dell battery dx http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/19/266588/EN#Issue5 and it showed battery was fine. I ran from startup the Dell Dx and it doesn't show the battery even connected (out where you check bios), funny is even when I disconnected power cord, it still doesn't recognize battery there.

I also pushed on the area around the connector, didn't change a thing.

Machine does have a HOTKEY by FN+F3 but it's not changing anything.

Machines originally a Vista machine that someone upgraded to Windows 7.

All driver files are updated per driver booster 4, all windows updates are finally installed (originally this machine would not update even with Windows update fixer, windows update mini, tweaking. Finally got update by finding a manual windows update that finally worked (I tried many before finding 1).

Any suggestions?

I'm thinking the hotkey isn't enabled correctly or motherboard issue connection. Both things I'm fairly uncertain how to fix.

 

Your Dell link does not seem to work. Note that different notebooks use different FN F key combinations so I don't know what FN +F3 is supposed to do.

I find it odd it needs 10% battery to update the BIOS if it is connected to the charger. ???

Does the notebook run with the battery removed?

You say you got a new power cord, do you mean new charger? Is it an exact replacement?

 

Fn + f3 is a hotkey for the battery charger.
Bios no matter if I run from desktop or in DOS prompt with admin rights it says that I need battery charged to 10% to update bios.
Notebook runs with battery removed and vice versa without the power cord. Test from bios screen area shows cord is fine but doesn't recognize battery at all. The test from the links below show battery is fine so it's a bit strange.
The power cord is an exact replacement and it looks perfectly fine.
http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/19/266588/EN#Issue5
http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN296542/EN
Those links show at least dells reccomendations to fix the issue. I am not sure specifically how to get a true DOS prompt without Windows running, if one exists as maybe that will let me update the bios. I'm thinking the bios update has something to do with the charger.

Bios update file 1525_A17.exe trying to run from the desktop.

 

And what is that supposed to do? My notebook has no such function for the battery or charger.

Did you calibrate the battery? Typically, you must run the battery down, then charge it up to calibrate the battery to the charging monitoring circuits.

So I would unplug the charger and run the notebook until it shuts itself off. Then plug in the charger overnight and see what happens.

 

I did some poking around and found several people who replaced the power jack, which is on a removable board, to solve the charging problem.
https://www.google.com/search?q=48....rceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=48.4W006.021&tbm=shop

Odd but reasonable. It would reduce the chance of a bad BIOS flash if it was unplugged or a power outage.

 

thanks. cheaper than a new laptop.
Battery calibrated and charges only to 1%, like there's a cap on how much it will charge too. I played and unplugged for a bit and plugged in a few times, every time it would move to not charging once it hit 1%. I'm going to find the old battery and see if same thing happens again.

 

True - and as a matter of fact, a power outage while flashing the BIOS on a PC about 20 years ago (bricking the motherboard ) is a primary reason I recommend all computers be on an UPS. But since most notebooks I have ever heard of allow notebooks to run just on the charger (with the battery removed), I still find it add the notebook would be coded to (1) require the battery be installed and (2) that it have at least 10% charge.

For a bit? What if you just leave it unplugged? How long will it keep the notebook running? 1% would be considered "critically low" and typically would signal any notebook to save the image and enter hibernation mode. But yours does not seem to be doing that suggesting it has more than 1% charge.

 

I lowered power setting to 0 as often a child knocks plug out so it doesn't go to critical settings. Before the laptop went dead and I lost stuff whenever someone knocked plug out. Now it remains on for a few minutes before dieing.

 

So it must be recharging a little bit.

Was the replacement battery an exact Dell replacement?

 

Dell no longer sells a replacement battery for this laptop. I believe the replacement battery was purchased via best buy although I'm not positive. I know I had checked and it was same wattage and other info. At the moment I can't find old one.

 

Yes battery charges to 1% only. Is there a virus or something that could set something to max out a charge on a batttery?
This laptop was handed over to me, originally barely working. Now it is running fairly well and shows virus free using all the major geeks tests.
If I could just get it to charge batteries, I'd be fine being the groups treasurer and activity chair with it.

 

Charging is done at the hardware level, outside of the operating system. I suppose a virus might affect the monitoring program when Windows is running. But if the notebook is powered off and the charge is plugged in, no program (whether infected or not) is running.

 

Your advice has been wonderful. I actually openned laptop and went to the powerjack to see if I would be able to do replacement on my own. Found literally a piece of dust embedded in there guess what, it charged to 100% overnight. I guess my dust off remover that I had done wasn't perfect. Our scout troop was convinced we needed to buy a new laptop and new software and wanted to fundraise, Majorgeeks and my time saved them or at least deferred them having to suffer the cost, my time spent cleaning it using all these great softwares and your time fixing battery issue has been priceless. While it's an old laptop, it's been saved and perfect for what we need it for. Thanks so much.

Question, what do you think about using battery life software? Is there any value in it? Is there truth that keeping a batter at 40% is best and fully discharging every few months or is this just more time?

 

Great!

I don't believe in any 3rd party software to manage notebook batteries. This is all done just fine by the notebook itself. As far as that 40% thing - that is just BS. Oddly, We just had another poster ask a similar question. While he asked about 20% instead of 40%, my answers are the same. See his opening post then my response here.

Note you should be able to download the manual for that notebook from the notebook's webpage on the maker's website. If not, then the general guidelines I provided will do fine.