New laptop batterty will not charge on Dell Insirion 6000

[hondaman2003]

I just purchased a new battery and it will not charge. My laptop will run on the little battery power that came with the new battery. It will run on AC power with the new battery plugged in and not drain the new battery.

I purchased the new battery because the previous one gradually stopped holding a charge.

Please help!

 

[goombawaho]

The laptop doesn't say anything about an "The AC power adapter type cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance." when it starts up - correct???

On some (I don't if all) Dell laptops, there is a little pin on the dc plug that identifies the power adapter to the laptop and "allows" charging of the battery.

I fried my ac adapter pin and it would run on AC okay, but it would not charge the battery.

 

[hondaman2003]

I didn't specifically see anything like that. Where can I go to find if it is saying something like that?

 

[goombawaho]

It pops up shortly after pressing the power button. You couldn't miss it unless you weren't watching at all.

This is probably not your situation. Do you have another of the same AC adapter just to check or anyone you know??

 

[hondaman2003]

I do not have another AC adapter and do not know anyone with this same AC adapter either.

This is actually the third battery for this computer, the second battery didn't have this problem.

 

[rclarke250]

If you are buying batteries from an online or eBay vendor, I have seen these fail right out of the box.

 

[hondaman2003]

This was from eBay where they offer a 3 year warranty.

 

[goombawaho]

Send it back for warranty replacement. You can't do any further troubleshooting unless you had another battery in your hands OR another AC adapter (or both).

 

[hondaman2003]

I called a battery store around here and they have an AC adapter on hand and are willing to let me try plug it in to see if it works. I will let you know the results of that.

 

[hondaman2003]

A new AC adapter did not work. The guys at the local battery store did comment on how abnormally loose the cable fit.

When my laptop didn't have a battery at all it would randomly power down if you moved it or sometimes even if you didn't move it. I talked with a cell phone repair friend and he said that once in a while he sees that a cell phone can have just enough of a connection to the power cord to sometimes work and other times not and that he just needs to fix the power connection.

I have a feeling that is what I'm going to have to do here.

Thank you everyone for everything you have offered!

 

[FredWagner]

I have an elderly laptop where the coaxial power connector has worked loose, and I have to put some lateral 'english' on the cord from the charger to get it to connect, but if I do that, it does stay connected. That's easier (so far) than tearing the laptop apart to resolder the connector to the main board.... put some lateral stress on the cord to the connector from the charger, and see if at some point you get a light that shows the charger is recognized. Then position the cable so it will stay in that position without holding on to it.

Fred Wagner

 

[hondaman2003]

Fred,
Thank you for offering the suggestion. I will try it to see if I can get a light to appear by moving the plug around.

goombawaho,
If you are still watching this thread, I thought I would let you know that I went into the BIOS and discovered the AC adapter is listed as "unknown". However unfortunately, a new one wouldn't have helped based on my experience at the local battery store.

 

[goombawaho]

Was that a genuine Dell DC adapter that was meant for your specific model that you tested at the battery store???

And they have to be Dell power supplies (or built with that special pin) to be identified by the laptop BUT I don't know that all the dell laptops have this feature. I know for sure that mine does - it's a Latitude D800 that somebody gave me.

It's probably a loose DC power jack as suggested that needs to be replaced and soldered onto the motherboard by a QUALIFIED person or they could ruin your mobo.

Interesting linky:

http://www.laptop-junction.com/toast/content/dell-ac-power-adapter-not-recognized

 

[hondaman2003]

Here is the deal on this situation. I was able to get the DC jack replaced by a qualified professional. My current AC adapter wouldn't work after that. It still had the problem of turning off randomly also.

I tried a new AC adapter again and the battery is charging. I think I had several problems along the way. I think the DC jack, AC adapter and battery all went at the same time.

Thank you for all the suggestions.