Laptop troubleshooting forum: Battery not recognized - Inspiron 1501

do you have the latest version of Dell's Quickset program. This program just recognized my laptop battery is getting near the end of it's life cycle.

I think it might be this program that is not recognizing your battery.

Go here and download and install any programs and drivers you need.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx

Since the computer is fairly new, then make it a warranty issue.


Rick

Do you believe that BIO FIX is recent ( 2008/2009 ) to fix a problem that has been going on "forever".

What does that tell you about the company! And dont forget -- if the FIX craps out, you are screwed cause the company has no FREE SUPPORT!!!

Something to think about before buying a DELL!! If Dell doesnt soon address these issues, they will have NO company!! Probably why they are selling them in Walmarts and Sams and other retail locations!

i have a similar problem. i have an inspiron e1505 laptop i bought 3 years ago. i am taking the bar exam in a few days and so was making sure my computer was all up to snuff. a friend did a system restore (i think...he completely cleaned and reset the thing) and i got a replacement battery (because mine was only holding a charge for about 30 minutes) that i put in after the system restore.

now the battery-charging light only comes on for about 2 minutes when i first turn on the computer. when i unplug the power adapter, the computer immediately dies, as though it has no backup battery option.

in "my computer" it shows that the battery is charging (even though the battery-charging light isn't lit up) and is 87% charged. but it doesn't switch to using the battery when i pull the power cord.

oh and my power adapter isn't the original one - i inherited it from a friend when my original one broke.

i'm running windows xp.

thanks!! any help is hugely appreciated - and sorry in advance if i dind't include all the information. computers aren't exactly my forte - but i can tell you all about california law!

-cara

CHANGED FROM XP TO VISTA LOADING IS VERY SLOW,PC DON'T RECOGNISE BATTERY AND BATTERY POWER LASTS FOR FIVE MINUTES

there is a update to the bios. I had the same problem. i saw the link on here somewhere. after i downloaded the update, the error messages disappeared. Good luck

The makers had to lock down on non maker batteries this is happening more and more. If the top of the forum post doesn't cure it, this is expensive to fix.
Bob

Sometimes the bios fixes it. Other times it's the battery, the motherboard or the connection between the two. Here's the problem. If the BIOS didn't fix it, it usually costs too much as the fix is the motherboard and battery is replaced.

The really hard part is how to tell the owner this.

it seems that if the battery even a good battery is very low/flat the laptop will not recognise it / won't charge it,

i had an inspiron 1501 given with the battery not recognised issue, it came with a hp psu also unrecognised, tried a dell psu, did the bios update several times resoldered the charging socket to the mobo and all the other tricks people suggested pressing this that and the other standing on one leg etc,
the battery was a recent replacement 6400 but acted dead, i figured it may never have been charged due to the hp psu it came with,

i tried manually gently charging the battery with a bench psu @100ma via the battery case terminals and failed to get it to take charge, no green led's when pressing the battery test button,
as a last resort i decided to break it open but only got as far as peeling the sticker off to reveal 6 of the 9 cells,
using a couple of needles to make a connection to the batteries i could see, i measured the voltage at less than 0.5v , hooked up the bench supply and set it to 100ma, it started charging, charged them up to 6v and tried the battery in the laptop, no change,
i moved the positive connection to the positive battery case terminal leaving the negative pinned to the batteries, it started charging the whole pack, took it up to 10.2v then put it back in the laptop, booted straight up with no warnings and started charging the battery, initially showing no bars then 1% with your battery is working normally message,
it continues to boot and charge as it should the battery test button illumates all green,

either the battery needs to have a certain level of charge to be recognised or the batteries internal circuitry/switch is powered from the battery, its not a good idea to allow your battery to run down low with this charging setup.