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Battery not charging on a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop?

Hello,

Our brand new (2 months' old) Dell Inspiron 1525 seems to have a problem with the battery.

It's working fine when on mains power, but the battery isn't charging; on hovering the cursor over the battery icon, it's telling me "0% available (plugged in, not charging).

Is the battery dead; it shouldn't be as it's a new laptop? Is there anything else I can try to fix the problem?

Daniel Murphy
May 2008

Dell Computers, Notebooks/Laptop PCs 1525 Laptop Hello

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Dell laptop charger in Pakistan
September 2024

I had this same probem with my Dell Inspiron 1525. What I found was, that the Bios was not getting a signal from the adapter telling it that it was ready to charge the battery. Now, there are two things you can do to fix it. One, the adapter has a bad circut in it not putting the signal out, or two, the power jack board in the computer where you plug the adapter in is bad. I fixed mine (I repair computers) by replacing the power jack board. If you replace these things one at a time, you will fix the problem, and they are not expensive fixes. One more thing, make sure you get the Dell brand adapter made for your model when replacing the old one, as many of the genaric ones may not send a signal to the Bios.

Martin
September 2013

I now have this problem with my 5 year old Dell 1525. I'm a bit astonished to read how little logic there is to many answers. While I haven't fixed the issue yet, let me add a couple of tips.
The following is only really useful if you have a multi meter handy. But this does allow you to take sone of the (expensive) guess work out of the equation.
The centre pin of the Dell PSU does not show a DC voltage when it is unplugged.
However, if you remove the centre cover from the dell laptop (the bit just above the keyboard) then you will find just under 3V DC on the centre pin of the connector onto the charger board (with psu plugged in). This (together with the 18-19VDC seen on the outer connectors) proves that a) my power supply is working and b) I have a sound mechanical connection into the computer. I assume therefore that the problem must lie with a bad charger daughter board, and so I guess its £20 and a couple of hours trying no to lose any screws or break anything else while I replace it and hope for the best.

Mike P
May 2013

Had the same issue. Thought the center pin inside the connector of the charger might not connect enough. There is a 'switch' inside wow MR DELL.What you need to do is sand the end connector end remove a bit of the rubber on the connector to go deeper. This way making the center pin longer. It worked and the battery is charging YES.... Thanks to Gijs trick

Yjeep
Feb-2013

Yjeep
February 2013

I had the same problem just a while. I removed my battery after it gets low and plugged in my laptop. But when I tried to put back the battery, it's no longer charging. It keeps on flashing orange light even it is plugged. But it was now resolved. What I did is I:
1. Remove the battery and use the laptop while plugged in.
2. Shut down the pc
3. Remove the plug
4. Put back the battery
5. Tried to press the power button and
6. Put back the plug..

The orange indicator became white, that means the battery is now on its "charge mode"

Hope it works the same for you...

dudung
December 2012

Dell is the worst support for me and my friends even though Dell has so many service centres in INDIA....

So, I strongly prefer don't contact Dell customer support .. Bez i contacted the Dell supporter so many times but not a clear answer . Instead of give a proper answer for the customer always tells the nonsense things ( buy the new hardware etc... )

krishna
December 2012

Had the same issue. Thought the center pin inside the connector of the charger might not connect enough. I tested which a clothing pin and could feel a 'switch'. Took a 3mm piece of the clothing pin and put it inside the hole in which the center pin connects. This way making the center pin longer. It worked and the battery is charging.

Gijs
November 2012

On my inspiron 1525, I carefully removed the top cover that has the logo and you can see the jack down inside to the left. i tightened the mounting screw and then with a small screw driver i pushed on the small center wire connector towards the outside. This moved that connection to where it now connects on the center pin of the adapter jack. I also filed down a small amount of plastic off the jack so it will enter further in. All good now !

John
September 2012

Hi,

I had similar problem with my Dell Inspiron 1525 which I bought in 2008. After 3 years, the battery went dead so i got a new original Dell battery. It worked fine for first 2 weeks but then started giving the famous dell problem "plugged in, not charging" . This problem was intermittent as sometimes it would charge too 100% and sometimes it would simply say "plugged in, not charging". I went through all the options as suggested in this forum (update BIOS to Rev A17,tap the inspiron logo, blow and remove the dust, tighten the screw under battery cover at the back, unplug and plug the battery, uninstall the battery s/w from device manager etc etc.) but nothing worked for me. I then allowed my laptop to run on battery for 10-15 min. The battery level came down to below 20%. I then plugged in the power cord into the laptop and guess what !!!.. its charging !..now it is 25% and still going on. I don't know what extra I did. But next time, if I get the same problem of "plugged in,not charging", I will allow the battery level to come down to below 20% and then charge it again. Will see if it works. Weird logic ! but one thing for sure. NO MORE DELL FOR ME !

valokv
June 2012

I put in the e bay board and now the battery will charg up to 68% then shows charging every min or so for 2 sec..
what tells the charger to stops charging when the batter is 100%

Thanks Eugene

EugeneFlorida
April 2012

This is the youtube link that shows step by step how to replace the power board to get your inspiron 1525 to charge again and not just say plugged in not charging. don't buy the board from the link on youtube though, they want over $50 bucks for it. It's only $4.25 on ebay this is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-pIFa0o3k

GT
March 2012

This is the link to the fix for the inspiron 1525

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dell-Inspiron-1525-USB-AC-DC-IN-Power-Jack-Charger-Board-PB04-/190657408975?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item2c64112fcf

It costs $4.25 with free shipping. It took me about 90 minutes to completely replace it. youtube has the step by step. The only tools you need are a small phillips screwdriver and a flat head screwdriver. Now my computer says plugged in and charging no more orange light on the front of the laptop. This is the fix.

GT
March 2012

I have a dell inspiron 1525 and went through all the same problems. I am on it right now. It would power on while plugged in and say plugged in not charging. I bought a new battery same thing. New ac adapter same thing. I was about to buy a whole new motherboard when i bought a "power board" for 5 dollars on ebay. youtube has a complete step by step on how to replace it. It fixed it and now i have two batteries that both charge. The battery was never the problem. It is definately the power board. a tiny board where the ac power plug into the side of the laptop that has two usb plugs on the same board. Cheap fix but it took forever to find what it was.

GT
March 2012

I tried the blowing three times into the port and unbelievably this appears to have corrected the problem (perhaps only temporarily). I've been unable to charge the 1525 going on 1.5 years now. Thanks for the tip.

Chris
March 2012

Inspiron 1525 did not charge a new battery. The charger was new (aftermarket) the battery was new (aftermarket) and did charge it couple times and then stopped charging... I try it a Dell charger original from a friend and it works now. So I guess the chip on the original one sends info to the bios.

I wont buy any more dell products!!!!

Gustavo Arenas
February 2012

Had the same issue on my Dell 9300. Battery was dead and not charging, so bought a new one, 9 cell cheapo for £20.
plugged in, was 57% pre-charged and lasted for an impressive 2 hours on half charge.

Plugged in power cord, but not re-charging. Read this thread and im ashamed to say I followed most of the old wifes tales that were recomended. Blowing, battery out and in etc. I even found myself tapping the badge.

My suspicion was correct. There had been a little fraying at the cable bend next to the male connector that plugs into the laptop. I had previously taped this to strengthen it, so removed the tape, then with a stanley knife, carefuly cut the plastic sheath that covers the cable join to the stainless steel plug. It is quite tuff, but once inside found 3 wires. Two were still connected but the thinest one in the centre was broken. Was not sure if this was me breaking open the cable, but soldered it back, insulated the other two, then taped thoughoughly to strengthen.

Plugged in and now charging !!!

Whitey
February 2012

changed power board everything nomal charged twice now no probs so im puttin it all down to power board

carl
February 2012

i to did the blowing trick and my 1525 charged to full power so i let it discharge to half power now it wont charge again any suggestion would be very helpful

carl
February 2012

OK so I got home and opened the laptop. While it's open I carefully slide in the battery back in place and plug the charger to the laptop jack. I turn the laptop on, watch the battery indicator came out. As expected the indicator says "plug in , not charging". I used my right finger to push the connector from the inside of the laptop against the front jack with my left hand holding charger connector. I saw the battery indicator showing charging. I shut the laptop off, disconnect the charger, removed the battery and with a pointed soldering iron I reheated the three solder connections behing the jack. Installed back the battery and plug the charger back, turn the laptop on, but to my surprise, it was not charging. Maybe the new battery I bought from Ebay is not OEM direct replacement but just compatible. So I clicked to Control Panel function of the laptop and uninstalled the battery and the charger from the Device Manager under Battery sub-menu. Shutdown the Laptop disconnect the charger and removed the battery. Waited few minutes. Installed back the battery and turn laptop on, while booting, plugged the charger back to the laptop and the laptop automatically re-installed the software for the battery and charger, and it started charging. That's it. Hope that would stay good forever.

Fred
February 2012

After reading all these comments about blowing inside the socket and tapping the top cover by the logo fixes the problem, It make sense to me that there's a cold solder connection in the vicinity of the laptop jack connector. I have the same problem with my 1525 for few months now. I have replaced the battery and charger to no avail. I can't wait to go home today to open it up and resolder the connections. You can't see a bad solder connection but you can do a continuity test if you have a multitester and a technical person. But I'm just going to reheat all the solder joints behind the jack connector when I get to it tonight. By blowing the jack, actually you're heating up the connector and minutely expands the solder to make the contact and also by tapping the cover on top of the connector, makes the solder joint touch and connects. This is just temporary fix and eventually will come back to the same trouble. I will post the result after I do this repair tonight.

Fred
February 2012

check a pin inside cable charger. I might be bent.
It happened to me.

Brian ly
January 2012

why is my new battery not charging

mel
January 2012

I had problems charging my Inspiron 1501 for weeks, with connection on and off. Thinking it was a broken wire somewhere I bought a new charger, to no avail, same issue. Read this message board and tried the blowing into hole at back method three times really hard. To m amazement it now charges perfectly! Cannot believe it...

Richard
January 2012

I had the same problem on my laptop. I noticed the condition of the jack connection was slowly deteriorating and actually had a bit of frayed wire pertruding out...but it still powered the laptop so I figured it wasnt the problem. Not wanting to ignore it I bought a cheap china jobby just to see if that would fix it and it has done. I will now buy a replacement Dell charger as I hear the chinese ones are rubbish but for me, the problem was the bit that plugged into the laptop. Although the prong inside was in the right place, not bent ot snapped off, something was actually wrong inside the plug itself and it must have broke the line. For £8 it was worth buying a cheap and cheerful to diagnose... then buy the propper jobby later on so as not to damage the cell.

Tony from Wigan
January 2012

Hi...I had been struggling with this for the last coupla days, and went through a lot of posts on a lot of forums...even called up the nearby stores to compare new Dell adapter prices...then decided to try a couple of things all at once- so, not sure which one did the trick ;). Yes, ladies and gentlemen- my inspironbattery is now charging...the led display tells me this, and the battery icon mouseover confirms it...for anyone else it could possibly help, here's what I did.

I had earlier tried uninstalling the Microsoft ACPI-compliant control component, then removing the battery and scanning for hardware changes to automatically install MS ACPI again etc- didn't work. This time, I removed the battery again after I powered off the notebook, removed all visible dust, blew into the cavity too, for extra measure. Then detached the cable from the powerboard- I could see the inner wire bunch because of the "warped" rubber cylinder-like cover ( don't know the technical term for this). This I taped together with some packing tape that I had on hand (electrical or scotch should work fine too), twisted the cylinder back into position, connected the cables, inserted the battery back into the cavity, and powered on the laptop (and held my breath, sorta). When I saw the battery led light up I grinned, when I didn't get any "Adapter not recognized) message, I grinned wider, and when I saw the battery icon said "plugged in, charging", I allowed myself to whoop! :)

Just hunted down this forum, because it had pretty recent posts...hope this bails out somebody of their misery and anguish :)

Rupika
December 2011

Battery not charging on a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop?

Hello,

Our brand new (3 years' old) Dell Inspiron 1525 seems to have a problem with the battery.

It's working fine when on mains power, but the battery isn't charging; on hovering the cursor over the battery icon, it's telling me "0% available (plugged in, not charging).

Is the battery dead; it shouldn't be as it's a new laptop? Is there anything else I can try to fix the problem?

haider
November 2011

Try all the tips on this forum first - I've ended up buying a new battery for no reason.
Thought everyone that said blowing into the charger and the lead connector were taking the #ickey - But they're genius'.
If you need a new battery, I've got a spare for sale.

leelie
November 2011

power board for dell inspiron 1525 can be bought on ebay prices vary from £6 to £20 but look for genuine part dont buy chinese model they dont last long. this will cure charging problem but you will have to take apart laptop and fit it yourself, or get someone to do it for you.

martythesparky
September 2011

Dont waste your money and time replacing ac adapter or battery the problem is definatley the power board inside the laptop (capacitor on board not working or burnt out and bad design of power board doesnt help, dell know about problem and havnt done anything to rectify). only solution is to replace this not sure how much they are for this model.

Martythesparky
September 2011

I just blew into the charging socket and it is now working! Very cost-effective!

Kerrie McKimmie
September 2011

Interesting development...with no interference from me, the laptop charges for 5 seconds, stops for 10, then begins charging again...weird, I know, but no weirder than whacking the Logo!

TinkerElla
September 2011

well, blowing worked from 6% to 35%.Violence on "Inspiron" now works a few seconds at a time...brand new Dell charge...made it to 38%...

TinkerElla
September 2011

You can buy an external charger for your laptop
battery on eBay for 20 to 30 dollars .
Blowing ,tapping , bending , and all the other
nonsense fixes don't really do anything, your just
disconnecting the power for a moment and sometimes this will reset the charger circuit .
Clearly there are several things that can go wrong with this circuit ie: Wall adapter,dc power plug,
power board,mother board etc.
For me the minor inconvenience of taking the battery out of the computer and charging it externally is far easier than buying hardware witch
may or may not work or fighting with dell support witch does nothing or doing a major overhall on
a laptop that still may not fix it.

Wow are you people dumb !
July 2011

Got the new battery from ebay for 35 bucks..computer loaded it and pop-up the hateful message plugged in and not charging..Tried Bios - Software Updates - No Help..I tried the same battery in other Dell 1525 and battery is charging... I don't Know man-- I guess i ll try to change 1st power cord..Hope that helps..Coz changing the charger board sounds like fun but I dont wana damage anything else...

Syed Ahsan
June 2011

Our engineer said may be the Ac adapter already damaged. You may need to buy a new dell inspiron 1525 ac adapter, we support this Merchant.
http://www.battery-center.net/adapter/dell-inspiron-1525-ac-adapter.html

There dell inspiron 1525 battery 12-cell almost lasting more than six hours!!!
http://www.battery-center.net/dell-inspiron-1525-battery.html

diggtwitter
June 2011

Our Inspiron 1525 is about 2 years old. Our problem turned out to be a defective power supply. A new one (not from Dell, they are rip off's on price) was only about $35 with S&H. Not to bad.

BTW. I measured the voltage output of supply to find out it was bad (should put out 18VDC but was only running at 11). I found that center pin on plug is - and inside sleeve of plug is the +. That's why some chargers don't work with dell because on my other laptop, which is a HP, the polarity of the pins is reversed.

Alan B.
June 2011

Just to add to the debate, I have a Studio XPS (18 months old and out of warranty) which developed the "charger not recognised - press F1" fault. Bearing in mind all the comments on the web I was really worried that I would be in for an expensive time. I don't know how to take it apart and so didn't think I could replace the power socket - even if this was the problem - and a new motherboard is £350 or so. My local laptop shop wanted £76 and 48 hours just to tell me what was wrong with it. In the end I phoned Dell and - Yes - they convinced me to take up extended warranty for a year (£120) and immediately sent me a new power supply lead. I was skeptical but was comforted by the fact that if it was not the power cord then they would send out an engineer with a new mother board for no extra cost. the power supply arrived yeserday and has fixed the problem.

Eaters
May 2011

Just fixed mine! I tried a new battery (no fix), a new AC adapter (no fix), A system restore (no fix).

There really is only one answer and that is that you need to change the power board (bit that plug goes in to). I paid about £10 for mine. Its a small board with a power jack and 2x USB hubs. It took about 2 hours to do and you do not need a soldering iron. You do need to take out quite a bit of the laptop to get at it but it ony requires moderate skill. Good luck all!

Chris D
May 2011

As someone else stated below me, the issue is usually caused by the charger board. In most cases you will not need a new motherboard. The best information i found regarding the issue is here: http://njrefurbpc.com/magento/dell-inspiron-1525-not-charging

It's a pretty easy fix, and does not require soldering. As long as you are capable of taking the laptop apart, and successfully putting it back together that should be the solution for you. I also read on the Dell boards to avoid buying the cheap Chinese boards because they seem to break pretty quick too.

Raymond L
May 2011

This is a very well Known issue

david
April 2011

Hello guys, I hope someone can suggest some help. I too had a dell inspiron 1525 with the plugged in not charging problem. I recently bought the power board off ebay and spent nearly 2 hrs dismantling the laptop to replace the faulty part. After i reassembled the laptop, the battery light started to flash for the first time but then within minutes it stopped and now it is in the same mess as before i replaced the power board. My battery says something like 76% available (Plugged in, not charging)nbut if i plug out the mains it dies immediately. There is not even enough power in the battery to flicker the lights if i start it up without plugging it in. I am well aware that this laptop was of faulty design by dell but all I want now is to sort the problem out. Any help would be appreciated. I do not want to order a new battery if the fault is somewhere else.

Regards,

Chris

ChrisMc
April 2011

Final update to mine. Local engineers said it was a whole new Motherboard needed, which wouldn't be cost effective.

But I found out that I hadn't had it as long as I though and it was still within the extra warranty that I had paid for. I phoned Dell who sent a new Motherboard and charger to an engineeer who replaced it and it's now fine. It took less than 72 hours from phoning Dell to having it back fixed. that has restored my faith in Dell.

Keith Rowcliffe
April 2011

i have a dell 5010 and suffered the problem of it working on mains power but not charging the battery so i opened up the charging adaptor and found that the 3 wires that come off the board and go into the lead that connects to the laptop were touching two white and one black this invloves splitting the rubber on the lead that comes out of the plastic box and seeing weather there is any bare wires touching which was the case in my problem after using electricians tape and seperating the black from the white the charging light came back on (please unplug the charger before doing this and make sur the green light not illuminated) the plastic box is not too easy to get into as it is glued a light amount of tennon saw on the corner to allow a flat screwdriver to prize the box open but try not to be too rough as you will need to put it back together

eddy
April 2011

My almost two year old Dell studio laptop 1537 started getting the AC adapter not recognized message push F1 and on the icon, plugged in not charging, which reduced to 0% battery. I called Dell, they sent me a new AC adapter. Of course that wasnt it. They then sent a repair person to my residence and replaced the motherboard which did the trick. Luckily still under warranty.

K.R. Holm
April 2011

Just blew into the charging socket and hey presto, its now charging !! :-)

Snowdog
April 2011

I had purchased a new plug in socket set from rocketfish. it contained 10 various plug heads.I thought I had picked the correct one to replace because it did fit and the power came on.I did not check to see if the battery was charging. After reading some of the solutions here, I checked and found another plug that was similar and changed to it. Voila the battery commenced charging and within 10 minutes went from 2% to 20%. You need the exact right plug head.

Gary Sorrell
April 2011

Followed SC's instructions and lo and behold my battery is charging - up to 5% after a minute or so - zero to hero - thanks SC!

Winnie
April 2011

Tried the blowing in to laptop charge socket-and it worked !

Fiona
March 2011

guessing the anwer is to never buy dell as they are impossible to find for help and such as problem should have been taking care of for us all. i

Paul T
March 2011

i have posted a fix on this problem Nov 2010 by opening up your laptop and tightening the screw [the one holding the charging port],last week it stopped charging again[after almost 4 months of use], Im about to buy an external charger in ebay but then decided to visit this site again. Then i followed Kevin M posted March 2011. I cant believe how thin that wire and the connection to circuitboard is almost under that black thingy, I dont have a fine soldering tip so in no way i can solder that. So i push the wire connection with a fine metal tip [aka very small tweezer] so that the wire can rub against instead of soldering them together. I do not know how long this will last, but the main point is my laptop starts charging again.

Renoscenic
March 2011

I've had this problem for WEEKS with my Dell 1525 that I've had for 3 years.
I've tried EVERYTHING apart from the obvious...

I just blew into the laptop charge socket, and it started charging 5 seconds later!!!

SC
March 2011

Hi All, I'm an electronics tech, I usually work on audio problems but my son handed me his laptop and asked if I could fix it.. A Dell 1526 with a few issues including the famous "plugged in not charging" battery indicator.

The fix: The female center pin on the DC-In connector has to be re-soldered to the board upon which it is mounted. This point of fine soldering is clearly visible if you remove part of the top case containing the function light panel and power button.

First remove the battery and remove two small screws holding this panel mounted in the battery compartment area. You will then be able to pry off it off. Careful when removing it fully as a small ribbon cable is connected to it that feeds power to the light emitting diodes...

Look down to the left and you can see the back of the DC-In Jack... the back of the center pin can be seen .. re-solder it at the point where it meets the circuit board below... it leads to a very fine circuit board trail that travels under the diode ( small black rectangular thing mounted near the back of the DC jack)

All the other remedies listed here may work but only temporarily, sorry it has to be re-soldered.

Good Luck!

Kevin M
March 2011

Am i the only one recognizing dell damage control spooks posting on this?
I also find it amusing thinking of a million + people around the world 'blowing' into power adaptors and 'pressing' the inspiron label.

This is a hardware/design issue as mentioned above and dell KNOW it.

notfallingforit
March 2011

Fn + F2 worked for Dell Lattitude !!!

Arvind Ahuja
February 2011

We've been seeing a lot of people coming to our website with this issue from this page in particular.

The problem a lot of you are experiencing is in my experience *usually* caused by a failed "charger board" inside the Inspiron 1525. It could be the charger, or battery as well but I would suggest checking out this article for help diagnosing the issue through process of elimination:

http://njrefurbpc.com/magento/dell-inspiron-1525-not-charging

And the dell service manual for the Inspiron 1525 with instructions on replacing the charger board:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1525/en/sm/sysboard.htm

We see tons of these units in every month, and we supply quality replacement parts for these laptops that have been proven to be compatible time and time again. So if you need good parts, and fast shipping give us a try.

Sean from NJRefurb
February 2011

I was too quick to post that I had fixed it by removing and replacing the battery. It was back the same the next day.

I've now tried tightening the screw under the logo plate to no avail, although earlier on it said 71% available and now it's at 80% so it has been charging at some point. Unfortunately I hadn't looked before unplugging it to change rooms.

Someone on another forum said it could be the centre pin has lost contact inside the plug and he re-soldered his on another make, but mine is a moulded plug so it can't be done.

I have now ordered a replacement charger in the hope that will solve it. If not then I might take it in somewhere to have the connections inside the laptop checked as I'm not confident about strippin it down far enough to try it myself.

Keith Rowcliffe
February 2011

This is an interesting thread. I recently worked on a Dell Insperon 1525. It left my bench with the charging problem as described in this thread. The thing had been dropped, plugged with dust, disassembled by armatures, and missing many screws. The fact that it had a generic power supply, I dismissed the charging problem. I told the customer I would do some research. From this page I have ascertained that the problem is a cold solder joint on the DC input board. Being an engineer and ex-computer tech this is an easy fix.
What I can’t figure out is the bad mouthing of Dell. Dell by far has the best customer service of any PC company I have had to deal with. Those of you that are bitching lets look at some facts. You bought an Insperon. If you wanted a bulletproof machine you should have purchased a Latitude. I have a couple of Insperons on my bench right now that have identical hardware to there Latitude brothers. The only difference is mechanical strength. So what? Are you going to abandon Dell and go buy an IBM think pad? I think not. Doogie

doogie812
February 2011

Until yesterday I often had this problem and unplugging the power adapter the plugging it in again 2 or 3 times got it working again. Since yesterday it wouldn't charge at all. I removed the battery to try the fix of removing the cover and tightening the connection but first I cleaned the battery contacts and replaced it. It immediately started charging again.

Keith Rowcliffe
February 2011

its the motherboard 400.00 from dell they pay only 40.00 4 it what a rip off

scott
February 2011

Recently I purchased a Dell 1525. It had an aftermarket battery and ac adapter. It would not charge the battery. I looked at all the remarks here and tried all the ones that I could manage but in the end I went to an expert. He tried a Dell ac adapater,that didn't so we tried a Dell battery and the two solved the problem. It seems that dell only likes Dell accessaries.It wasn't too expensive ($100) that was cheap.

Jake
February 2011

I had the same issue and fixed it by following the information here: http://njrefurbpc.com/magento/dell-inspiron-1525-not-charging

I ordered and installed the daughter board (Was really hard, thought i was going to ruin everything), and now my battery chargers fine. They offer a $99 repair service for people i anywhere in the USA.

Good luck!

Jane
February 2011

Hey guys,
thanx so much for all the advice! I had the same problem and was able to fix it by tighten the screw underneath the "center control cover". Best thing is that dell provides all the information about removing the center control cover right here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1525/en/sm/cntrcont.htm#wp1180201

Thanks so much again, my wife hugged me over and over for repairing her computer in such short time!

Creice
January 2011

Thanks for all the advice. Yes, it was the connection between the transformer and the lap top - the fine pin in the centre of the connector needed slightly bending - and now no problems.

michaelmayer
January 2011

I unplugged and blew into socket then plugged back in and pressed and held Fn/F3 and now it's started charging again. Knew there wasn't a prob with the actual charger as the screen is always on full brightness when plugged in (my power settings are such that when not plugged in the screen is dim) but was getting a message on start up to say that the power source wasn't recognised, seems it was ok for running the computer but not "right" for charging the battery.
The fact that thi solution works and works for many of the people on the page is evidence that it is a design flaw so Dell should fix it for free, but at the end of the day it may make you look a bit silly but blowing and pressing and pressing the right keys seems easier than sending it away.

Hobman
January 2011

i best buy laptop battery http://www.powerchargerbattery.com/

dagelong
January 2011

just crazy powering up quickly-i have been happy w this laptop until now. oh well - will see how things go.

jb
January 2011

blown on it, took out charger, battery etc, tapped, hit then wacked the inspiron logo (worked for 4 % then stopped again)
absolute rubbish laptop, had lots of other troubles and wont buy again!

cazza
January 2011

Hi all, had same problem a dell inspiron which is a few years old. I'd knocked the connector several times so assumed it was a hardware problem but saw this and thought differently.

However, on looking into the connection socket in the laptop I saw one of the 4 connectors was a bit bent. I stuck in some sisscors and bent it back, now it works :). Obviously the pins are fragile so check they are all neatly aligned, and l'll probably have to do it again. But i think it's a connection issue that a decent laptop repair man could sort out fairly quickly.

Pete
January 2011

Same problem as all.
I just blew into the plug of the charging cable,hey presto we are back in business!!!

Cliffrombrooklyn
December 2010

i just had the sign come up on my dell inspirion 1525 (plugged in not charging) after following the bang the inspiron sign and blow on the ac adpater it is now charging.took a few attempts but it now is charging!!yay!dunno if its fluke but its def worth a go!!

rachibabes
December 2010

My 1525 (el cheapo piece o junk)

I have always had to giggle and pull slow and giggle until I got it to start charging.
I licked the plug, seemed to help some, but the whole thing is silly really.
I needed a new battery, and I bought a new charger. Still same problem.
From this site I learned about taking off the logo panel and tightened up the one screw that the charging receptacle is on.
Looks like it works! The charging light comes on about 6 seconds after I pug it in. It has been a long time. It is not hard to do! Thanks!

Trawlercap
December 2010

Amazing! Unplugged power cord, banged on inspiron symbol (top left) and plugged power cord back in - Now currently charging!!! Amazing!

librarymom
December 2010

Try blowing out the dust on the adapter prongs, plug it back up, hold down the FN and F3 keys simultaneously until the blue charging light comes on.

Sonya
December 2010

Fredri's solution worked for me. Turned laptop off. Blew REALLY hard into adapter end. Turned laptop on and pressed hard on Inspiron logo and voila, laptop is charging.

Thanks!

Dena in Ohio
December 2010

Try installing BIOS upgrade via DELL website. It worked for my DELL 1545,as I had another laptop with compartible battery to power the laptop while installing BIOS. I have an older 1520 for which I might need to change the battery.

Ike N
December 2010

Blew,tapped and fiddled with the AC-DC adapter in the Laptop but this worked for only short periods.
I follow the answer of Renoscenic of November 2010 by removing the small screws behind the battery and gently removing the cover of the speakers (the grill where there is the Inspiron logo), with a small flat screwdriver was easy and i tight the screw that hold the AC-DC connector on the motherboard. Now the battery charge every time i plugged in the charger and after 3 months still going strong.
By the way NO MORE DELL for me please!!! Design sucks!

Ivano Aberdeen
December 2010

The suggestion of holding down the Fn F3 keys for a few seconds has just sorted my laptop, and to think I was thinking of buying a new mains adaptor.

Alistair
December 2010

Just gently pushed the Inspiron logo close to the jack...charging! Thanks lads

Francesco
December 2010

HERE'S THE ANSWER!!!!!! No joke.....I had the same problem and frustration as all of you, and also have the joke-of-a-computer Dell Inspirion 1525. If you get the "battery plugged in but not charging" then 99.9% certain that it's a simple fix: hold in Fn + F2 and that should re-enable the battery charge. Apparently hitting those keys an initial time (which I didn't even realize that I had done) DIS-ables the battery charge action, so pressing it a second time reverses the action! TRY IT!!!!!
GOOD LUCK!

gardenjunkie20
November 2010

I solved the problem with a little Yankee ingenuity. It's the receptacle that takes the pin on the charger plug. It stops making contact. Here's how I did it. I took some very fine wire and using a tweezers jammed it into the receptacle. The pin on the ac plug now makes contact with the jack for charging.

David C.
November 2010

If the Inspiron 1525 has the same option on function keys as the e4310 does then check you haven't disabled battery charging. this is what happened to me, and I discovered that by holding Fn-F2 (which is right next to Fn-F1 which I use to send the laptop into sleep mode) I disabled battery charging. Just type Fn-F2 a second time to re-enable it.

(On my laptop the F2 key has a logo of a battery with a lightning bolt in it). This is the only thing that worked, ty for saving me a lot of money

Scott Wolf
November 2010

I have done some research as I had the same issue(Dell 1525) as all cases mentioned below: "Plugged in, but no charging " and also bought new 9 cell battery. Obviously the problem wasn't the hardware and I was about to buy new adapter or start opening the laptop. Amazing - the logo pushing/violence worked. Dont buy batteries and adapter before you have definitely diagnose the fault. Good luck with kicking and don't break you laptop.

Radina
November 2010

I replaced the AC adapter and power cord with a non Dell brand but compatible with the inspiron 1525 (obviously). Replacing the power cord works. The computer is now recognizing the adapter and my battery is now charging. I hope this helps. I only paid around $12 on ebay for mine, so it is a relatively inexpensive fix.

Christina
November 2010

I tried EVERYTHING on the internet. I've had my laptop for about 3 years.
Then I came across this page. I took out my charger (it automatically turned off) blew it REALLY hard and then plugged it back in. I then hit the inspiron logo REALLY hard, turned it back on and HEY PRESTO! I hope it works for you. :S
Up to 6% already!

fredri
November 2010

The center piece of my adaptor cord is not connecting with my internal slot in the laptop. I went and bought a universal adaptor and it still did not connect. So I used clear packing tape to press the adaptor piece inward....snug---temporary fix. I will be returning the $76.00 dollar Universal adaptor to Walmart, and buying an inexpensive adaptor off of ebay. Will never buy another Dell laptop again....Ugh!

sporter
November 2010

After reading the multitude of responses here i was thinking oh crap, but after a quick blow in the power jack and a few taps on the inspiron logo, the battery is now charging!

Bradley
November 2010

Manage to fix this issue at last - 1st i tried tapping the inspiron logo . . . ended up banging my head into it ,it didnt work. . 2nd uninstall battery tingy in the device manager then scan it for the changes i made. . .it didnt work . . 3rd blow the charger port hole added more spit for good electrical conduction . . . it didnt work . .4th i scratched my head , hold one leg , spin 3 times and bark like a dog . . . .it didnt work. . . The solution . power off your laptop remove the battery , you will find a two small screws inside that compartment, remove them. Flip open your laptop , facing you , now remove the plastic cover where the inspiron logo and control buttons are located ,i have used a small screw driver and carefully pry the sides . . be careful this plastic cover have some clips attached inside to secure them in place,but can be easily removed, note that where the hinges are located they are also clipped together ,so give it a little tug to separate them. Now be careful , there are wires attached to that plastic cover , so dont just yank it and rip that like a mad man. once everything is done .Note where the charging port located . you will find a small screw inside it just tighten them.Take some picture of it to remind you that you just opened a laptop to tighten a screw.. .yehey . . .Thats it. . . putting them together is in need of another instructional forum . . hahahaha only joking . . just clip them and put the screw back, pop in your battery back . and say . . that was easy.

Renoscenic
November 2010

I've had this problem too (along with always having to press F1 at startup as the power cord was not recognised as a Dell).

I always use it plugged into the power supply but have noticed that the battery charge has steadily decreased. Today it went down to zero.

It is, as I type this, now charging itself. I fiddled with the power supply plug that plugs into the socket on the laptop - ramming it in tightly does not work - pulling it out a little does. Sorry not to explain properly but just try pushing your charger socket right in then gently, slowly moving it out again until the charging light shows on the front of the laptop.

Good luck.

(Ooh back up to 8% charge already!)

Lynn
November 2010

I had this problem after a while it was intermitent at first then stpped charging all together. Then after finding out the cost of repair I decided to use it as mains only, after a few months it started working fine again ??? don't know why just happy about it. GOOD LUCK .. Dave

Dave H
November 2010

Dell Inspiron 1525:
I have just replaced the charger and that popped up as "plugged in not charging" again.
I removed the front panel from the laptop (remove the two screws from under the battery first), then tightened up the two screws holding the power adapter in (top left under the Inspiron logo).
I good spray of dwf (WD40 type spray) inside both charger end AND inside the adapter plug on the laptop - lo-and-behold, the thing is now plugged in and CHARGING!!

Derek Rothwell
November 2010

I've the same problem with my 1525 as everyone else here has, as i was reading through the posts I was trying all the easy DIY suggestions. Blowing, tapping, plugging, unplugging, fiddling with the connections, twisting and pulling the wires. My 1525 shut down while I had the adapter unplugged on one occasion, I restarted it with the adapter plugged in, did a little more wire fiddling and now its charging... HAPPY DAYS! I was on the verge of buying a new adapter or having the local PC repair man repair the motherboard as suggested in some posts. I know I may have to do either at some stage but for now, I'm a very happy bunny:)

EJ
November 2010

I had this repaired by dell about a year ago and they had to replace the unit inside; took them ages.
Now it looks like it's gone again; no amount of tapping the logo, packing the inside of the centre of the port with copper wire, blowing crud out of the hole, flashing the bios etc nothing works.

It's my daughters laptop and I have just swapped the case as the hinges were stuffed; I know how hard this little charging unit is to get to.
Fortunately my mother has the same laptop so I will get her to charge the battery for me on her laptop and stick it into this computer, my daughter leaves it plugged in all the time anyway, it's just when the power cord comes out the laptop turns off.

Mannyjen
October 2010

I do computer repairs, and I have found the reason behind this fault. The DC in board, where the AC adaptor plugs into the computer. The is a small trace in the board the breaks inside the board. Sometimes if you resolder the DC jack, paying more attention to the middle pin. It will the recognize the ac adaptor and chage you battery. If you do not feel up to soldering. You can get a new dc in board from ebay, and swap that out. Or if you must have someone do it for you. This will fix the fault 99% of the time. The other one percent are caused by bad adaptors, or battery, or motherbaord.

Discount Eletronics Tech
October 2010

I just tried using compressed air
I sprayed directly in to the center hole of the power adapter input then sprayed the contact lead on the cord
plugged it back in and it's charging again
so in my case it was just dirty contact points
when using the compressed air use the tube supply with the can and place it directly on the adapter over the hole and directly over the pin on the wire
I also blew out around the wire

John
October 2010

I bought a new battery and it still would not charge. If you press the Fn & F3 key it will start charging again within a few seconds. Be sure to press and hold it for a second and it toggles charging on.

JeffW
October 2010

hi guy's i've tried everything on here and nothing seems to be working, I went into the setup menu(F2 on Bootup) and it says on battery Info that the AC adaptor is an unknown device installed? any clues about this?

phuddy48
October 2010

sorry to be thick - where is the Inspiron logo situated? J

jan
October 2010

Same problem. I work in I.T. repairs, and have noticed Dell computers are the most common computers with problems, I'm always fixing Dell's. Dell sucks!

Fionn Croke
October 2010

The same thing was happening to me just now, I tried tapping the inspiron logo and it immediatly began charging (:

Lexee
September 2010

folks stop banging on your computer. I changed my battery and I no longer have the issue. I was caught up in all of this for awhile and starting tapping on the logo. It just made no sense. I bought a compatible battery off ebay for 27 bucks and I am now fully charged.

notsosmartman
September 2010

Yes I had this problem it was intermitant at first then stopped alltogether and found that it was an expensive repair. So I decided to run it on the mains with battery still on. Now after 5 months it has started charging again.
Good Luck from Dave

Dave L H
September 2010

I had the same problem as well. After trying several different solutions posted on other sites, new power supply, new battery, tapping on the logo, etc., I found the real solution. There is a severe design failure happening here.

Dell wants us to buy replacement batteries and power supplies from them, not 3rd party manufacturers. For the power supplies, they send an identification signal over the center pin of the power supply. If it does not identify itself correctly as a Dell, then you get the annoying message at startup and the battery will not charge. Well the technology was initially designed several years ago to work over about a 3-6 inch transmission path. Now they are using it over the 2-3 feet path of the power cord. This requires the transmission path to be broken.
This is why some of the fixes posted on other sites work for a while, but they will eventually stop working. The bottom line is that the power input connector on the computer is breaking down over time. This should not be happening, this should have been designed properly and tested properly, but it obviously was not by all of the problems out there.

Being an electrical engineer, I went and bought a new power input board on Ebay for about 25 bucks. I then took on the very difficult task of replacing it. This should not be tried by people that are not tech savvy. There is a very good chance that your computer will not work again. You have to remove every screw in the base, take off the keyboard, all of the plastic, remove several connectors, then remember how it all goes back together.

The good news is that replacing the power board does fix the problem. I would buy the board off of ebay, then take it to a local shop and have it installed.

This is my last Dell computer. I was a lifetime Dell user, but this design failure is completely unacceptable. It is a huge issue within the computing community. They sold thousands of these computers with this faulty design and do not own up to the problem. This problem should not start showing up after 6 months.

Good Luck!!!!!

Karl
September 2010

I have the same issue.. i tapped on the inspiron logo.. i bought a new battery ... I bought a new AC charger ... I bought power jack circuit board ..and I did all other tricks mentioned in different forums but no luck. Still having the problem...Even I re-installed the OS (vista)..

mahe
September 2010

1. Click Start and type device in the search field, then select Device Manager.

2. Expand the Batteries category.

3. Under the Batteries category, right-click the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listing, and select Uninstall . WARNING: Do not remove the Microsoft AC Adapter driver or any other ACPI compliant driver.

4. On the Device Manager taskbar, click Scan for hardware changes . Alternately, select Action > Scan for hardware changes.

more details, please follow this link: http://www.exceldigital.org.uk/HP-laptop-battery-charging-issue.html

laptop battery exceldigital.org.uk
September 2010

just bought a new battery for my insipiron 1525, and it was plugged in and not charging. Was reading the posts and tapped on the inspiron logo, and it worked!. really wish I hadnt bought a new battery

kelly
September 2010

I just tried tapping the logo and all that to fix the "not charging" issue. That didn't seem to work but I blew on the inside of the charger where it plugs in and its working now. Just keep fiddling with it...you'll eventually get it to work

HK
September 2010

Yeah.. if you scroll down, you'd see to TAP like HIT the area where the laptop say "Inspiron 1525". It works! Don't be shy, give it a couple wacks, but not enough to do damage, obviously. I would try this a couple times and unplug/replug before trying anything else.

Thanks to whoever figured this out... you made me feel like the Fonz! EEEEEHYYY!!

pogophotography
September 2010

After months of trying to fix it myself (1 month out of warranty) and getting the run around from Dell, and seeing all the people with the same issue, I placed a complaint with the BBB. It worked, Dell contacted me and extended the service to fix the issue with this (should be recalled) model. This is Dell created nightmare! They refuse to acknowledge the issue. Try the complaint from at BBB.org.

SAP
August 2010

arrrgh!!! I bought a new battery and it is still not charging. =(

meg
August 2010

I am a dork and tried 2 batteries before I realized it was the power cord that needed replacing. I got an off brand one this morning, and it is charging my new battery (off brand also). Yay

Becca
August 2010

I am in Nigeria with irregular power outages I unpugged from the main charger unit changed the positioning and reconnected bingo!!!!!!!!

goodyman
August 2010

I'm having the same problem.
Where is the Inspiron Logo that you have to tap in order for it to work?

Nicole
August 2010

Holding down the inspiron logo really does work for this problem...as if!

Sarah
August 2010

I've been chasing this problem for several months now, unaware of how common it is. Replaced the AC adapter, cleaned contacts, bent the center charging pin slightly to make better contact, changed batteries - no joy.

After googling my way to these posts, I tried the unplug and plug approach and it started working. I've tested this now about 5 times, where by some combination of unplug/plug (pausing for different lengths of time) leads to either a no-charge or charging state. This leads me to believe there is a hardware fault in the charging circuit on the motherboard.

I've tried a Dell 90 watt power supply, and the charging circuit seems to respond better to this charger. Perhaps there's a control in there that only charges the battery if it detects enough wattage.

So it appears to me that unplugging/replugging the adapter (1-2 secs) causes some kind of reset to enable charging. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

Mark I.
August 2010

I had the "reset power adapter" and "plugged in, not charging" problem appear at a point when my battery was below the 10% charged level, so I couldn't update the BIOS. I tapped the logo (which does seem silly) at many different points in the start up, running, and shutdown phase, and even when the power was off with no luck. I wiggled the power cord, blew out the dust, etc. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but when I began the shutdown process, then unplugged and replugged in the power cord during the initial stages of shutdown, the battery started charging the next time I started up. Once the battery was fully charged I flashed the BIOS with the newest Dell BIOS update. Things seem to be working now (for the moment anyway...).

Dell used to be a good product. What happened?
August 2010

lool tappin da logo....it works but wat a load of crap haha

roy campbell :D
August 2010

It sounds crazy,
but hitting the Inpiron logo works for me

Aart
August 2010

i hate having my dell inspiron 1525 saying plugged in not charging sooo i want to replace the charger....but then i said what if its the battery .....then i say what if its something more and i jus waste all that money........what u guys think is the problem........the computer was working fine for the pass year

manda
July 2010

Obviuosly the laptop is a pile of s**t, we had it one day, took it back and told PC World where to shove it and got a HP laptop, job done, Dell lose out again as they will no be recommended by us, ever.

royrogers1976
July 2010

Ha i tried the unplugging then holding down the inspiron logo then plugging it back in and it worked.. whoever thought of that is a genius.

JD
July 2010

Tapping on the Inspiron logo works !!!!

Dell sucks!!!!
July 2010

Ok this is kinda stupid, but tapping on the logo worked for me as well. Try it a few times before going to the tech service or paying some serious cash for repairs :)

Davlumbaz
July 2010

7/23/10 guys thanks for this "How to" chat, I also have a Dell Inspiron 1525 for my kids use and recently a technician came to fix LCD latch that my children damaged. the tech fixed the latch but, he left all shady meaning didn't explain what he did, he was like "all done, I'm out" and left. Looking over the Inspiron notice he installed several parts, but the back part near the power outlet was broken off and now the laptop was plugged but not charging. So long story short, tapping on the logo enabled the charging feature to work. Wow, that was too weird, but hey whatever works. Thanks again.

Thank you
July 2010

Fiddled with the wire inside the jack that goes into the laptop then a couple of thumps with the bottom of my fist just to the left of the inspiron logo sorted out for me. Thanks for all the advice.

Aidan
July 2010

Holy cow...just tried blowing the dust out of the ac charger hole and really pushing the charger in to the hole and the battery is now charging. I just replaced the battery thinking it was dead (which it may have been) but then the new battery was not charging and before I went through the hassle of returning it figured let me check on-line to see if there is any way to see if in fact it is charging...too easy.

Gayle
July 2010

As you can see by now..many people are having this problem with no fixes. I have even replaced the power board, to no avail. Please join my facebook group about a class action lawsuit against Dell.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=110664402318765

Leslie
July 2010

I found I had to replace the power jack on my niece's Inspiron 1525. The AC adapter has three connections, Positive/Negative/Signal. The purpose of Positive and Negative are obvious--they power the computer. The Signal is the very center 'needle' which allows the AC adaptor to describe itself to the computer. The connector inside the computer's Signal lead is unreliable on many computers. The flexing of the "inspiron" may temporarily allow contact but this will work only for a short period of time. To fix the problem, unsolder and replace the jack on the "Charger Board" (Dell's official name) or if the soldering job is a bit daunting, replace the Charger Board for a new one. I replaced the AC adapter on the Charger Board and it took the better part of a day to de-solder the old connector. The rest of the job was not so bad. I found connectors made by FOXCONN to be of better quality than the original.

CGJ Texas
July 2010

i had this laptop for almost 2 years now and it seems to be doing ok but the only thing is that the battery isn't charging.i even got a new charger it worked for a bit but then i had the same problem.i tried to tap the inspiron logo and it doesn't work :( plz some1 help!

tetolini
July 2010

Thank you to the person who recommended tapping on the Inspiron logo! It didn't work for me just to tap on it, but when I tapped on it and unplugged the cord and plugged it back in right away at the same time, it worked like a charm. The little light just popped right back on. Thank you so much!

Alex
June 2010

Date 6/16/10 "Plugged in & not Charging"
I just fixed my laptop. The center pin on the power cord was not making contact to the laptop connection. Disconnect power cord and just slightly bend this center pin and this fixes it. The female connection on these laptops must wear out over time and the male connector end looses touch with these contacts. I did check the solder joints inside the laptop and these were secure. My warranty also was up in March, so this is a wear and tear issue.

Sparks
June 2010

Dear,
I had the same problem & got a solution.
In my case another adaptor was working fine on the same laptop.
The problem was with the socket of the adapter which we have to insert in laptop.
A local vendor repaired it & now it is working fine (charging the battery).
Regards,

drshyam
June 2010

changed to another dell laptop charger and it worked,pity i had just bought a new battery which also failed to charge before I did a websearch and found this page and the solution!

drdocker
June 2010

Ridiculously tapping the Inspiron logo a few times worked for me too.

Sachet
June 2010

I had the same problem I just updated the BIOS and now it's charging. Try this it worked for me. Download the update from Dell's website you need at least 10% charge on the battery. Get your service tag # from the bottom of the laptop and plug into Dell to get pointed to the correct update.

Larry C
June 2010

and this is why you don't buy dells.

mike
June 2010

My friend had a DELL inspiron 1525 laptop.....he had the same problem. Battery not charging. So he gotten a UNIVERSAL Dell battery charger and it seemed to fix the problem, but the battery charger the came with the laptop is the coprate *Problem*. I dont know what the differance with those to laptop chargers is, but i know one is working (universal) and one is not...

HaxGurl
June 2010

I had an Inspiron with a similar problem... 1st check the dell inspiron 1525 battery isnt loose or anything, or it may just be your dell 1525 battery has died... otherwise mine did this because the power socket was broken and therefore not enough power was getting through... in which case it may need either a replacement socket or like with mine it may be the end of the laptops life! Of course it may be none of these but its what ive seen before.

To see more info on the http://laptopbatteriesinfo.blogspot.com/2010/05/dell-inspiron-1525-battery-q.html

May be you should to buy a third-pary replacement dell inspiron 1525 battery on the http://www.powerlaptopbattery.co.uk/dell/inspiron-1525-battery.htm

marys
May 2010

my 1525 is about a year old now and i just recently starting having this problem. saw that someone said to tap on the inspiron logo at the top left of the keypad and surprisingly its fixed the problem! for now atleast...

kb
May 2010

cali stunter i JUST did that tapping 3 times where is said inspiron and mine started charging too! how totally WEIRD! lol fanx for that! :) xxx

hayleyyyyyyyy
May 2010

im having the same problem with my inspiron 1525. i plugged in the laptop one day and its saying 'plugged in, not charging' really getting on my nerves! it still works but if i move the slightest while its on my lap, the cable comes out and the laptop turns off. i just want to fix this problem! i tried blowing into the battery and the bit where you plug the cable in. please help me. :(

Emily P
May 2010

hello everybody.I Got the same problem on my Inspiron 1525, and I'm using it for about one year.All you need is to freez the battery in -20 c for about one hour, then take it out from freezer and leave it at room temp. for a few minutes befor using it.
It seem to be crazy thing but it works...good luck

majed
May 2010

Here is a short term fix that worked for me...When turning on your laptop, make sure it is unplugged. Once it gets past the boot up point where you normally see the "cannot determine power watt" message (or whatever it say - can't recall from memory) then go ahead and plug in your laptop. This worked for me for about 6 months. It doesn't work anymore though.

Jason
May 2010

I was also facing "plugged in, not charging" problem with my inspiron 1525. After reading couple of answers in this thread, I checked my charging connector which plugs into PC. I guess the internal thin pin was not touching properly, played a little with that and I got the battery charging again.

Aditya
May 2010

Thanks everybody, I was about to buy a new battery, whew, glad I ran across this

Kip
May 2010

It's the center pin inside the male connection of the charger. Somehow isn't making a connection. But what to do about it? Bending it with a small utensil (but not so much it won't go in the female opening) works. Anybody have a better, permanent solution?

John Bixby
May 2010

Yes, blowing in the power adapter socket on the notebook actually worked for me. I can't believe that dust is probably the cause.

Brian Alwin
May 2010

Ok, I just wanted to let everyone know how I fixed mine. I was going to buy a charging board, but opted to re-solder the connections on the charging board. This did the trick. I just re-melted the solder and re installed the board. I too went the route to buy a battery, new adapter, and pull my hair out to make the battery charge. The re-melting the solder worked for me, and it saved me 50.00 for a charging board.

John T
May 2010

Wel hello everybody. Got the same problem on my daughters 1525. Tried all your suggestions - no luck. Computer is now 18 months old. Jeez what a bummer.

Gordonoporto
May 2010

Try cleaning battery contacts + those on back of case with toothbrush, dip in alcohol , gin or voda if desperate.

GP
April 2010

previously i was using windows vista and has no problem charging. but after i swtiched to windows 7, i start to have lots of problem. my mic didnt work properly. my scroll touch pad didnt work properly. i install drivers from dell then those problem were solved. but now i have this charing problem. a week ago, sometime it charge, while sometimes it doesnt. but now, its completely not charging. tried blowing out, but didnt work for me.

quick
April 2010

If the Dell Laptop can be operated when the the charger is plugged in but it does not charge the battery, then a common cause is that the central pin in the charger plug has broken off. I have read that some users have used a straight pin to make a repair but I doubt this would remain secure. A new charger cable complete with charger plug attached can be bought from the US www.laptopjacks.com. It costs $12-50 plus postage. The existing cable has to be removed from the charger by desoldering the existing Live, Neutral and Earth wires from the existing connection tags using a soldering iron to melt the solder. I suggest you Photo the connections before removing the cable from the charger so that you ensure you solder the new cable Live, Neutral and Earth wires to the correct tags.

This cable and plug works for both the Inspiron 9400 and XPS 1530 laptops and I suspect many other Dell Laptops. The cable identification code is PL7450. Check your plug connection diameter and length versus the PL7450. There are numerous cables to choose from incuding HP and other manufacturers.

Patrick K
April 2010

I had the same problem. I tried everthing and nothing worked! I took a hammer and hit it about 15 times then I threw it out in the street twice. This made me feel really good. I had to go buy a new one (NOT A DELL Toshiba) and it CHARGES!

James
April 2010

Went to eBay, there are hundreds of "used" Dell 1525 power boards for sale. Obviously Dell has a significant problem with them and obviously not owning up to it.

Do a search on:

DELL 1525 1526 DC POWER JACK REPAIR 48.4W006.011

This eBay seller will repair you board for $31.25 (US)
I'm not connected with seller user name: brickfence

If this was a Toyota problem the govt would be involved..but Dell continues to KNOWINGLY sell faulty parts!

Ed
April 2010

ok check this out i got a insiron 1525 on my birthday last year every once in a while said plugged in not charging so of coarse my warrenty was up so i tried "blowing in the jack" it did jack $H!T so i blew into the jack again (with my mouth) not compressed air plugged it in same thing plugged no charge i tapped next to where it says inspiron 3 times and i swear the light popped on and some times it is the charger so check that too (use a friends dont buy one)

cali stunter "miracle worker"
April 2010

Im having the same problem, it is just so horrible. Battery doesnt charge. Im having to leave my adapter in so the laptop stays on and on top I keep getting this stupid message which says that A.C adapter is not recognised. I have had my laptop for like 3 months and its just so annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Iv tried blowing into it and taking the battery out but nothing works....

Naz
April 2010

I found my problem was the after-market charger had the wrong adapter on the power cord that plugs into the Inspiron 1525. There are two adapters that look identical in the kit of 10 adapters. Look on the side of the adapter and you will see a REV number. You want the REV A.1 adapter for the Inspiron 1525. The REV A.2 will allow you to power up the laptop and use it but WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO CHARGE THE BATTERY! The battery LED will blink RED 4 times and then flash BLUE and go out. If you press and you will see the battery is not charging with the wrong adapter in place.

Glenn Davis
April 2010

Hi I have recently solved this problem, I bought a new battery and adapter and still had the same problem .... plugged in not charging. So I did a little investigating and found a problem with the power board. I searched insprion 1525 power board on ebay and found one there for £35 I then replaced the part. I have had the new part in the laptop for a little under a week and have had no problem up to now, it only took me about 1hr to dismantle and replace the part.

Hope this Helps :)

tommytucker
April 2010

Why don't we all file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commision?

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Bubba
April 2010

Took mine to local computer guy who said it was a fault on the small circuitboard that controls power. He replaced it and it works fine now. Charged me 50 quid.

Dell are no good
March 2010

The problem is not the battery or chargers, it's the freakin motherboard. Dell is fully aware of this and the only alternative in there eyes is send your laptop in for a diagnostic check at around $350. My Inspiron 1525 was a year old ehen i started having this problem and spoke with Dell chat who convinced me the charger was bad. I ordered a new charger and a month later a battery from Amazon in which the computer still reads
plugged in, not charging. Will not spend another dime with them. Google Dell battery will not charge and you will be amazed.

Rescue Squad
March 2010

I have same battery issue with Dell Inspiron 1525, I changed adopter, and battery but still it is not working. Dell is the worst company, I will not buy anything from Dell.

Help less Dell Customer Mick
March 2010

i had a same problem. I bought dell inspiron 1525 laptop 21 months ago. After 18 months my battery was dead, i bought a new 6 cell battery online for some 140 bucks and replaced my existing battery. it worked fine for 1 week, then it came up "plugged in, not charging". After reading this forum i tried to blow up in the battery fine terminals and resetted the battery. It worked fine but its just a temporary solution. I am going to buy a new notebook but definitely not dell....

Hema
March 2010

same problem with my 1525. also friend has same problem, blowing into it doesnt work. got new charger doesnt work either, mums also got 1525 so put battery in her laptop and thats fine. what i have to do is keep switching batterys with mum as her laptop doesnt have this problem, a pain but my only solution

sarah
March 2010

My laptop is over a year old, and I originally bought it in Britain. Just before I moved to Australia (which was about 6 months ago) it started to encounter this problem, so I bought a new charger, but that didn't work. I blew into the hole, still didn't work. When I got to Australia (and switched the British charger with an Australian one) I had a bit of success (it would occasionally charge) then after another two months, it has stopped charging completely. Has anybody got any suggestions on things I can do to help my laptop, bearing in mind I'm on a budget?

The POM with the busted battery
March 2010

I tried what David B suggested:

" I tried taking out the power lead while the PC was running and quickly plugging it back in in the 2 seconds I get before it dies. Lo and behold - the charging light came on and I am up to 5% and increasing as I type."

W0RKING F0R ME VERY VERY welll

Mohamed
March 2010

i know the problem
Just change the adapter

i guarante it works

muhasoft
March 2010

I have been having the same issues for a couple of months now, working the laptop just being plugged in but not charging. I have followed the blow into the hole advice and it started charing immediately when i plugged it back in. Typical as i thought the battery was knackered and i've just ordered a new laptop, oh well, that will teach me to check online for any answers BEFORE i go and buy something expensive to replace it.

Julzy
March 2010

Same here - spent over £200 with PC World on a 'fix' having tried every trick on the net including blowing on contacts etc. New motherboard, new battery and new AC adaptor - it even went back to Dell. Came back after 4 weeks ... guess what ... still not charging, Moral? Avoid PC World ... avoid Dell.

Roger
March 2010

Use a full charge cycle before recharging. All laptop batteries in our site are Li-Ion batteries, so, they do not have memory which you might find in NiCad batteries. However, each chemistry has a limited number of charge cycles, so use a full charge cycle before re-charging to maximize your battery's usage. When charging your battery for the first time, your computer may indicate that charging is complete just after 10 or 15 minutes. Don't worry, this is normal with rechargeable batteries. Just simply remove the laptop battery from the laptop and repeat the charging procedure.

Try To avoid over-charging, especially, do not let your laptop battery over discharged. It is normal for laptop battery to become warm when it's charged and used. The battery exhaust much faster under the high temperature, you should avoid using your laptop battery in shady and cool place. Hit the battery, and other acts will also accelerate depletion of battery.

http://www.bestlaptopbattery.co.uk/dell/inspiron-1525.htm
So, pay attention to your battery as much as possible.

bertina
March 2010

same problem. dell inspiron 1525, 'plugged in not charging' although VERY RARELY it charges, like once every 2 months or so for NO reason! ! this is how i no that it is not a fault with the battery or charger. tried the blowing thing, didnt work for me and ofcourse, not covered by warranty!!

My brother has a dell as well and his will only work when it isnt plugged into the charger! he has to charge it u all the time and then use it!! how annoying for both of us!! and a few days ago our dell computer crashed....................... we will never ever buy a dell ANYTHING again!!

annoyed at dell
March 2010

blowing into where the charger goes works! i tried Kay Mccleans idea which was recently posted and tried it and it worked straight away! and only a few days ago i bought a battery thinking it was the battery gahhh thats 50 dollars down the drain...

kelsey.
March 2010

My charger powered the laptop but wouldn't charge it. Contacted Dell with this and after looking at the BIOS remotely they concluded it was a motherboard problem and could be fixed for £300+ with 3yr warranty or £200+ without warranty. I borrowed a friends Dell charger and hey presto it works. Bought a new Dell charger off the internet for £25 and battery charging perfectly!!

Some old cynic
March 2010

Dell 1525 Updated Bios
Then used compressed air to clean Power socket ,Then cleaned PSU Plug with Lighter Fuel .Dryed out Plug .
All ok

Tony 508
March 2010

Hey I just started having this problem, and simulaneously solved it (so far), by following some advice. I cleaned off the metal jack that goes into the back of the computer, then I blew in the back of the computer, THEN I tried to bend the tiny little wire inside the male end of the jack that goes into the computer. It's supposed to come straight out of the center of the jack, and is protected by the metal and plastic round part around it. I figured by bending it ever so slightly (don't bend it very much or it won't fit back into the tiny hole it's supposed to go into) it might make a connection where it didn't before. Anyway, something worked so I'm sure that the problem is the metal parts of the jack getting worn out or dirty. That's at least what it was for me.

Peace

OH I have a Dell Inspiron 8500, so it might be different for you

Ziphy
March 2010

Replaced charger for my daughters Dell. Now working fine so far.

Kanicky
February 2010

Same here, I'm getting a sinking feeling as I read these posts. Bought a new battery (£35) and a new charger (£11) but neither have helped. Lap top also over heats and so the fan runs like crazy all the time. Only had it for just under 18 months and it wasn't cheap! Looks like we'll need to buy a new one as i don't know about motherboards and the like. I promise you it won't be a Dell. We had a Dell TV for about 8 months and the switch broke with a replacement costing almost as much as the TV itself. If anyone wants the TV it's in our attic...

Lulu
February 2010

well my girlfriend has the same laptop dell inspiron 1525 and for awhile its been saying plugged in, not charging. recently we bought a new charger at first it didnt work. then she blew into it and it charged some how. now after she unplugged it to bring it downstairs 2 days ago it wont even charge anymore. her battery is at 0%. cant even try the bios update cuz it asks for a batter with a 10% or more charge. IDK when she got the laptop, im assuming 2008 since it has windows vista. so the warranty is probably gone. thanks for the help guys but seems a new motherboard is the only way.

Robert
February 2010

I have had quite a few problems with chargers due to the fact that my puppy has chewed the tiniest hole in the leads so tried everything but had that much hassle found that its easiest to just replace them. On my 4th for this laptop and only had it a year. A very fast and cheap place to get them is at a company ive found on here called coywood at http://www.coywood.co.uk hope this helps

Oli 66
February 2010

I have the inspiron 1530 - and have the same problem, battery not charging. It seems this is so well documented its all over the web.
My laptop is 18 months old now, so out of warranty. If I have to replace the motherboard and the battery and there is still no guarantee that this will solve the problem, then I might as well buy another computer as shell out - and it certainly wont be a Dell. I have numerous other problems with it also. The whole thing stinks!

Zuleika
February 2010

I was thinking of buying a new laptop. After reading this forum, I can tell you, it won't be a Dell.

William 123
February 2010

Blowing in to where the charger goes really does work

thanks guys

Kay Mcclean
February 2010

This is a well known problem with this line of laptop. There is a bad resister on the motherboard that burns out. Once it does, the battery will no longer charge. You charger is fine, you battery is fine, its the motherboard that is bad. If you have a warranty, send it back for service. If not, which seems most people will be in this boat, your only choice is to purchase a new motherboard from Dell (do not buy them from eBay unless they specifically mention the battery charging problem has been fixed on it). Some boards in this line do not have this problem, be thankful if you are one of them. This is not a DELL problem, this is a ASUS problem, as they manufacture Dell's motherboard's. Apparently ASUS got a bad run of resistors.

Eric from NY
February 2010

Blowing on the battery, removing the battery, unplugging the charger 30 times...These all seem to work sporadically at best. Blowing on my battery worked once. I have come to a conclusion after some testing that when my 1525 says plugged in not charging, it will not start charging again UNTIL the battery is COMPLETELY DEAD. Since it tries to shut down automatically at about 3%, we try to plug it in to keep it going. That keeps the battery from draining all the way down. Even when the battery says 0% it still may not really be all the way dead.
Try this:
Restart the computer and hold down f2 to get on to the bios. Let is sit until the screen shuts down, then the battery is completely dead. Plug it in and it may start charging. It worked for me twice but after i restart the computer again it is back to the same old problem. So, I will continue to kill the battery each time it gets low by letting it sit at the bios screen.

I would love to know if this works for anyone else.

My theory on all the other remedies like blowing on the battery... I think that at some point one of those remedies work because coincidentally the battery happens to be completely dead.

Ken Rada
February 2010

Hi I had the same problem n my dad said it sounded like a connection problem Ive been using an electrical spray as i think it could be a dust problem. The name of the product im using is Unicorn Tek-no, but i think any good electrical spray will do the trick it seems to do the trick

Alex
February 2010

Dell numbers:
1-877-576-3355
1-800-433-9005 (fee based support)
1-800-385-3355
1-888-560-8324
1-800-624-9896
1-800-234-1490

dm
February 2010

The AC Adapter connects to a DC Power Jack that is soldered to a small circuit board. The circuit board is attached to the Motherboard with 3 small screws. If they should become loose, or the connection not tight to the MB, this could cause loss of charging signal back to adapter or motherboard. I just replaced a broken DC Power jack, and after replacement, and re-seating the power circuit board tightly to the mbd., all is well. The connector between the two boards, if tilted could disallow proper connections that may be significant to charging circuit.

Mike B.
February 2010

Hi there, I think Dell gets a lot of stick considering that they provide a good warranty if you get it and they will sort your problem out at your house! Now I don't work for them but I was a Dell engineer for a good while and they are only as reliable as any other brand (just with the better warranty).
People don't seem to understand that all batteries have a shelf life so if its not holding its charge at all anymore after a couple of years then I wouldnt be surprised! if you have it constantly on charge when you are using it it will kill your battery quicker... however if your charger isnt being recognised and you've tried another charger then chances are the little board where the charger plugs in is broken. Not through design fault I might add, if you knock the power cable or put it under stress while its connected to your laptop it will break that little board and it will stop charging! granted some are weaker than others but it can be fixed at a cost unless you have the warranty if so a guy will come to your house and fix it for you usually depending which one it is!

but back to the thread poster it sounds like that little board is damaged and just give them a ring and it will be fixed, should take about half an hour!

Jimmy
February 2010

From the looks of it many of these posts still have laptops that run. My Dell Inspiron 1525 started showing the "plugged in, not charging" a few short months after i got it, and shortly after that it would only rely on the power cord to even power up, but now it won't even turn on when plugged in. It has been awhile of not having a laptop and it is terrible. I will never purchase another dell computer! Has anyone had this issue??? I need help :(

Samantha
February 2010

Awesome! Thanks for the tip OP! I blew on the battery, no luck, power jack, no luck, blew into the power adapter (in between the wall outlet and the computer) and poof! It works! Thanks again!!!!

j-dub
January 2010

google "inbuilt obsolescence" and learn that hardware is only designed to last out a period of time, interesting reading.

Fred
January 2010

I've a Dell 1525 which has stopped powering up a few months back. It's out of warranty so I just left it in a cupboard. Thought I'd try it yesterday and it booted up fine?? Now it wont power up again.

When I plug AC adapter in there is no lights at all untill about 2-3 mins then Battery light turns blue. Thats it no life at all when I try to power it up.

Is this related to the battery charge thing or is it bad contacts on switch board. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Jim
January 2010

I have tried all of the solutions listed with the exception of replacing the adapter. This is the next step that I will take and then after that, I will have to resolve to use my computer plugged in, replace the motherboard on my own dime (warranty has expired) or purchase a new laptop. I am surprised that this is so widespread. I do not think I will purchase another Dell laptop. The last Dell that I had the screen fell off of the laptop.

Viv
January 2010

I have an inspiron 1525 and the motherboard and charger been replaced once but the battery is still the original. It's about 2 years old and i have now got this problem. Battery shows as 8% and not charging.
After stripping it down (needlessly) and finding no obvious faults I came to this website. I'd like to thank those of you who gave some advice which lead me to this possible solution:

If you have the battery at a low level and it's not charging then i think i might have worked out what might be the problem:

First flash the BIOS to Revision A17 (or later if available)
Then power off and turn on the laptop with AC adaptor plugged in, hit F2 to go into BIOS and go to Battery Info.

If you can see 'AC Adapter 65w' at the bottom then there shouldn't be anything wrong with your power supply or the laptop. If it says 'Unknown' then there's a problem with your motherboard or the AC adapter.

What i did was unplug the power at this point and allowed the battery to run flat and the machine to turn off. Then i plugged it back in and turned it back on. I went into BIOS and watched as the battery began to charge. All was going well until it got to 6% then it would charge no more (smacks of knackered battery doesn't it?) well i repeated the process letting the battery run flat and charging it up. So far i am up to 38% after 5 cycles

KB
January 2010

Simple answer. Don't buy from Dell. My 1525 quit charging right after warranty expired-Batt not charging. Tried everything here- nothing works. That means motherboard. Do you guys really think they didn't know that was going to happen? I believe it was programed in. My Toshiba is 12 years old and still works. Same battery and charger. Dell has over 40,000 complaints about the battery issue. Obviously planned. Technology is getting better, not worse. They just know how to make them only last so long. What they forgot was people go with what works, not with what breaks. Tell all your friends and siblings.

Kobe
January 2010

I am having the same problem with my new Inspiron 10v notebook (actually a disappointing present from Santa to my son) and I have tried many times to contact a real person at Dell without success. Does anyone have a number for a customer services department that actually works? I really regret Santa bringing Dell into my erstwhile happy home!! Never ever again!

Aine
January 2010

I also had the problem; I replaced the battery - and the problem remains

Thomas
January 2010

I wanted thank the people who suggested blowing on the battery. It may not be a permanent solution and I did not believe that it would work but I have now got an almost fully charged battery after having several weeks of it not charging. It must be bad contacts on the battery, hurrah and ta.

Mary
January 2010

well i have been trying to clean out the terminals and the port but no luck!

Fawn Doggett
January 2010

I cannot believe it...Had this problem for ages & took out the battery and blew very hard on the little terminals. Put it back in and now working fine....I Love you person that thought of this & you can have my babies!!!

Martin the Fireman
January 2010

I have an XPS M1730, and bought 2 batteries and 2 chargers with the system. I have had 2 batteries that would not charge for at least the past 9 months.

On a long shot, I pulled the battery out and blew on the contacts, and put it back in.

I am surprised! It is actually charging again. Who-da-thunk?!

Mike
January 2010

the problem is the motherboard the connection for the charger port is very very fragile so u best bet is to replace the motherboard if u call dell there are more then happy to help u and they give u insurence if u dont have a warrenty its only 90.00$ a year

chris
January 2010

I have windows 7 and i had to buy a new ac adapter because it was falling apart. So I received the new one and now it 'battery not detected plugged in not charging, need 65 w battery'. So i went to the old one still says it with that one. I contacted the place that I bought my new one and now I'm waiting for a another one from that provider.

I have also tried taking the battery out and restarting the computer. I have also reset the Bios but nothing is working.

Any other adivce?
I have had this problem before with other computers I have had. I always get Dell.

I have a Dell 1525 Windows 7.

Fawn Doggett
January 2010

iv had a battery problem for a while now

i got the Dell 1525 inspiron last christmas and after 6 months once i shut the computer down it would turn on again unless i flipped it upside down, removed the battery, put the battery back in, turned it on , connect the power cable

it still does this !!!!

anyone help me ???

Scott
January 2010

I have the same problem, and because of it getting unplugged and losing power all the time, my hard drive died (while this could be for another reason i feel it is attributed to constant abrubt powerdowns)

So i bought a new HD, and a New battery, and new adapter.

However, both the new adapter and battery dont change a thing. So im basically screwed

Tom
January 2010

Add me to the list of people with this problem. I have had my Inspiron 1525 for 2 years and have had no issues until now. It stopped recharging last week, then recharged once and hasn't recharged. Hovering at 76%. Waiting for a new adapter to see if this solves the problem.

Totally frustrating....

Janice
January 2010

mine was doing the same and i actually wiggled the ac adapter and it started charging guess i need a new charger good luck tho

ali
January 2010

I am having some issues w/ my battery as well. It seems to charge just fine, but the next time I turn my laptop on, it is completely dead. Any suggestions???

Amanda
January 2010

I have a Dell Inspiron 1521. I've had it for almost 3yrs and was suprised that the battery wasn't charging, since I just used the computer and never had trouble before. It works just fine plugged up, but if the power cord is removed, it shuts off. I checked Dell's website and it wasn't any help. I came across this site and read where someone stated to take off the battery and blow in it and put it back. It sounded weird, but said what the hell and gave it a try. It actually worked!!!! I went from having a charge of 1% to currently 15% and it's still charging. Thanks for the tip!

Tychelle
January 2010

Wow... one of the methods here actually worked! Some of the methods, like blowing into the charger, etc., were only temporary solutions for me(and by temporary I mean for about 5 seconds). I tried the method that Tracy suggested, and it worked! Glad to have my laptop back now.

Jon
January 2010

My battery quit charging back in July 2009, about 2 weeks after my year warranty expired. Same story as everyone else, I tried EVERYTHING except a voodoo curse against Dell. Got desperate and called Dell/India and wasted 20 min of my life. Soon after that my updates from Windows update (I have Vista SP 1) refused to install. I debated throwing the thing away b/c I couldn't use it as a laptop and had to turn it off completely before moving it around (hibernate would never work either, even though I messed with the update settings on Win Update).

This past weekend I tried again - googled searches about error codes that kept coming up in when updates tried to install and one suggested turning off my virus software. I have Norton 360. I turned off the firewall and various settings and tried all the Microsoft suggestions (ha ha) like upgrading to SP2, windows update installer, etc nothing worked. I briefly considered if Windows 7 might be an option, but didn't want to spend $120 on a program that I wouldn't need if I ended up buying another laptop (NOT DELL!) or netbook. I turned the Norton firewall back on but that was it, not the rest of the settings. Then glory be - my Windows Update all of a sudden had 60 updates, including IE 8, SP2 and a bunch of security updates. They ALL installed, and this morning my battery is 100% charged. I have NOOO idea what I did. Obviously the problem with this 1525 was not the motherboard or circuit chips or power cord or hardware it had to have been the freaking Norton security software settings and incompatibility with something in Vista. I don't know how long this battery thing will last, who knows maybe its transient and I will have a dead battery that doesn't charge by tonight, but now that its charged I will at least update the bios like one post suggested.

AZ Mom in IA
January 2010

mine went like that then i plugged it in with out turning on laptop. and kept switching plug on and off about 15 to 20 times. and then i noticed charging light on.
hope this helps

nufc2008
January 2010

!!!!PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!

After much time and talks with DELL- I solved the problem myself.
My battery stopped charging while still under warranty. I contacted Dell, they 1st mailed me a replacement Power Supply, thinking that was the problem. It wasn't. They then told me that the motherboard would need to be replaced. Since I bought it through Best Buy- I had to go through the Geek Squad geeks who said there would be at least a 2 week waiting period for the motherboard to arrive-AND my laptop must remain in their possession. Since it was currently my only pc, I had to decline-(I could not go for 2 weeks w/out access to the internet while searching for a job). I decided to tough it out and only use it while attached to an outlet...
Now the warranty is out. The Replacement Power Supply DELL sent was starting to deteriorate. Finally after taping with electrical tape for a few months it completely stopped working. Now i couldn't even use my laptop at all!

I went to Radio Shack. I bought a universal laptop power supply. Dell was listed on the box but only 1520 ad 1521 NOT 1525. I tried it anyway. Now I can not only use my laptop, but IT ALSO CHARGES! I am disappointed in DELL for this. I did not get the full use of my laptop while still under warranty- now the monitor is breaking off!!

Dr. Solution
January 2010

Pulling out the battery while plugged in and blowing it out and putting it back in seemed to work for me. Thanks for that answer!

Cory Lindsey
January 2010

Report it to the Better Business Bureau because so many have complain of this problem and Dell has refused to recall this battery as it is defective even a new one. In order to get their attention we need to file a complaint of this product that Dell refused to acknowlege. Buying a new one only set you up for more problems down the line because the product is defective.

Linda A
December 2009

I have bought two battery replacements...after my dell wouldn't work. Then, my power cord went out. I bought a new powercord. That's the only way I'm able to have power. It says the battery is plugged in but not charging. FOR THE 3rd TIME!! Help!!! BUT, when i put in the replacement battery for the first time, it charged it up. I unplugged it, it drained down, plugged it back in. Plugged in not charging. I have 0% availabilty now...and the sparky sound someone heard..thats what happend when my power cord was going out. NEVER BUY FROM DELL...BUT DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SOLUTIONS??

KATINA
December 2009

I fixed mine,

while still on in windows 7 with AC adapter connected,
removed battery waited 10 sec then plugged battery back in to laptop it started charging.
:)

Steve MTS Leicester
December 2009

yeah, I blew into the battery also and it worked, it's charging, this is actually the 3rd time it's happened to me, so getting a new battery seems like the best thing to do,

Maxx
December 2009

I have had this problem for a few weeks now. My daughter got a Dell laptop for Christmas so I put my battery in her machine and it charged it. I just put it back in my laptop and got the same message so I tried the blowing trick (on the bit that plugs into the laptop and the bit it plugs into) and hey presto. Battery is now plugged in and charging. Thank you to everyone who suggested it. I had just priced up a new adaptor and battery at Amazon so I feel very chuffed.

Gill
December 2009

i have had the problem for almost a year it has been to geek squad 2 times and no fix i am sending it back after the holidays again to be the third time. if they don't do it the 4th time i get a brand new one. so its a pain cuz they take it for a week and a half.

ken
December 2009

Omg .. I have an inspiron 1525 and i have the same problem it just wont charge so i rang a guy and he sed its the battery on the bac of the laptop u can take it out you are supose to get a new one

Sarah McDunnagh
December 2009

I tried all the posts on the site and had no luck. upgraded BIOS - no luck. New battery - no luck. I brought home my AC adapter from my DELL at work and the darn thing is charging ! Don't know why but this fixed it. It may not be long term but for now it is working.

Mark S
December 2009

I have an Inspiron 1525. This started happening to me when my old battery (TYPE M911G) outlived its usefulness and I bought a brand new TYPE GW240 (rating 14.8V) battery.

My old adapter for the M911G type battery (which Dell dont produce anymore) was a 45W adapter and so was giving this problem. I did everything recommended on this site including blowing in the power plug, restarting dismantling etc, installing a new BIOS without success.

In the end I bought a 90W adapter and that worked immediately.

You gotta remember that this is a hardware problem not a software one. Accordingly, it was the compatibility between the adapter and the battery that matters most.

Shahid J
December 2009

Please reivew Laptop Battery Blogs:
http://www.aussie-battery.com/aussie-battery.com_battery_blog.htm

Laptop Battery Store:toppower.co.uk
December 2009

i think i'm lucky ... i bought dell inspiron about 19 months ago and it was doing very good, no problem at all, till the problem of plugged in but not charging appeared today ...i was surperised because the battery never have a problem at all..i found this page and tried many times to remove the battery and apply it again and blowing at the plug many times without any use.. i just gave up and started to contact to get an original dell battery I made a desiprate last try and blow at the plug... guess what!! it did work...
thank you for this page it helped me alot

eman
December 2009

Unplugged and replugged the charger quickly 2 or three times from the back of the laptop (

mntnflyr4fun
December 2009

The whole "Blow on the adapter" and "Take the battery out and hold down the power button for 10 seconds" solutions are utter rubbish.

The fault is in the charging circuit and needs to be repaired by a professional.

Why the hell do people make this crap up?

Jack
November 2009

nothing has worked from the above, my battery is brand new, i have contacted watchdog

harry
November 2009

Don't Buy a Dell.
Same problem as everyone else. Nothing seems to fix it.

Tman
November 2009

The Inspiron 1525, like any laptop, has a charging circuit. I repair motherboards at the circuit level, and have seen many of them go bad. In earlier Dell models, I have seen this circuit damaged from heat. Quick fixes may be a temporary solution, but it unlikely to hold up. I'm not telling you to disassemble your machines at home and look for problems, you'll likely create new ones. I just want you to be aware of the fact that there have been problems with Dell charging circuits in the past. To be fair, Dell doesn't manufacture the chipsets
that often fail. As always, before shipping your computer anywhere for repair, always check the obvious. Try another charger. Try another battery. Make sure the contacts are clean (use some rubbing alcohol on a tooth brush to clean your contacts). A lot of this is common sense. If you've tried everything that you are equipped to do, and still haven't resolved your problem, Google Precision Division. If I can answer a question or two, I will.

PrecisionDivisiondotcom
November 2009

Hi,

I have the same problem with my Dell Inspiron 1525 too. I think you need to hire a lawyer and go after Dell. Their laptops are bad. I bought 3 in past 4 years and 2 of them batteries are bad...really bad. They do not charge battery. I kept complaining for 6 months and they sent me the cords instead of battery replacement. The problems did not fix, and now they are not under warranty because they've been expired.

Need help to get a good lawyer for this. Anyone else having the same problems?

Mike

Mike
November 2009

THANK YOU so much, tried the power button 10 sec trick worked a charm. :]

John
November 2009

Where are you meant to blow in? I have tried the socket where you put in the charger into the laptop. I also tried blowing in the charger...nothing is working! it only started doin this yesterday wil charging it over night work?

Jenz
November 2009

Thanks to whoever came up with blowing into the CHARGER because it works a charm trust me give it a go before you start phoning dell or anything.

Dan
November 2009

I have the exact same problem!
I called DELL and got a new battery (for a cost), put it in + plugged in my laptop but the only improvement was that the battery charged had gone up to 10% but it STILL wasn't charging.
So called DELL again and told them what had happened they said take it back to the shop and there (accompanied by the bill) I was given a new laptop (updated version) and all my files downloaded and put on the new one and then deleted from the old computer.
My new laptop works perfectly =]

THE ANSWER IN SHORT:
Take it back to the shop or website supplier (you can find out who from the website!)

GOOD LUCK
X

Vicky..
November 2009

Wow. today waws the first time i had this error come up as plugged in not charging and found this site, did the blow trick, and wahlah! charging again. thank you! just hope it lasts!

zombie juice
November 2009

I hate Dell. Anyway, I have the same problem - "plugged in, not charging". So, I tried the blowing in the plug idea and I also tried the unplug at the computer and plug back in. I did both around the same time, so I'm not sure which worked (probably the blowing air into the plug). Now it's charging again...so, that seems to work, but I still hate Dell.

John
November 2009

I called Dell and was told to turn the computer off and when I turned in back on to press f2 until the blue screen came up. When it came up I had to look at battery. I showed how the battery was charging but down at the bottom it had a comment about the ac adapter. My ac adapter was unidentified (I had purchased a generic one when my dell one's wires got sliced). Dell sent me a new one (for a charge) and I plugged it in and it started charging immediately. I was told if this didn't work then I would need a new motherboard.

Tracey
November 2009

i am on the ph. w a dell rep. & he just told me that the battery should be fully charged and then the charger SHOULD BE REMOVED from the computer b/c otherwise it will fry the battery AND it only has a charging capacity of 300 (charges). WHY WAS I NOT TOLD THIS? DID ANY1 ELSE KNOW THIS? I KNOW IT HAS TO DO W $.brilliant people r designing these things & running these companies. if computers r capable of SO many things, why r they not as user friendly/fixable. it is so frustrating. i just wish i was a computer tech & understood all this stuff.

sb
October 2009

i've had a slightly different problem. my battery won't charge and it doesn't even recognize that a charger is plugged into it. some times it works. some times it doesn't. but the adapter itself makes a strange static electricity noise whenever any of the wires on it are bumped. anyone else have that problem?

i wrote this on the last dell i'll ever buy
October 2009

My laptop is the same problem! I borrowed a battery from my friend to try , that means my battery is bad .so , I have to buy a brand new one (replacement Inspiron 1525 Battery) , and I found a good vendor to purchase it from www.batteries4laptop.co.uk after a google search.

Fanny
October 2009

I was thinking I had a problem with a driver when I had this problem. Needless to say, I was not happy. I saw all the positive responses to the "blowing" technique.. as juvenile as it sounded, it totally worked!! I'm thinking about looking into getting a rubber stopper or something that'll block dust and dirt from getting into the computer when it's not plugged in (which often it's not when I use it for school.) Thanks so much!!

Krys
October 2009

We have this problem on a Dell 6400,
tried all the blowing stuff but that didn't work.

However I have a Dell Latitude for work, so I borrowed the adapter from that, and that charges fine.

So I'm going to buy a new adapter for mine.

Cheers,

Tony Lovick
October 2009

I have cured the problem by removing the ac power supply from the mains. Waited until green light went out then plugged back into mains. Hey presto the laptop recognises the ac adaptor and charges normally.

Try it might work for you as well.

Stuart Robertson
September 2009

I had the same problem. I called Dell and they sent me a new adapter. The new adapter didn't work. I ended up sending my laptop to Dell. Dell replaced my motherboard which was causing the battery not to charge. It seems that this particular laptop is notorious for the battery not charging properly. Thankfully, my laptop battery is charging like it should. Also my laptop is still under warranty, so there was no cost for me.

Dell user
September 2009

My husband and I bought Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops in August 2008. My husband's laptop had this problem with the battery not charging. So he sent it into Dell since it was still under warranty, and they fixed it and it works fine now. I believe they had to change the motherboard.

Unfortunately mind is now having the problem, and of course the warranty is up now. But what makes me most mad is that a couple months ago, before my warranty went out, I sent my laptop in to have the USB ports repaired. They fixed the USB ports, but sent me back my laptop with a fried hard drive. So I called them, and they had to send me a new hard drive. I had to re-install everything. So my computer worked fine for a couple months, but then right after my warranty expired, I started getting the dreaded "plugged in, not charging" error.

I've tried everything posted here - from taking out the battery, to blowing in the ports, and both of those are only temporary fixes. I have to keep doing it to get my battery charged. I've tried putting in a new battery, and using a different adapter, but nothing works.

I will never buy another Dell computer ever again!

Lallybroch
September 2009

Unbelievable... For anyone else that had an original Nintendo system this has got to be hilarious.. I just blew a few times on the connection points when the battery goes and now it charges without a problem... I never knew why this made my nintendo games work when i was a kid and I have no odea why this works 15 years later on a laptop...

Aaron M
September 2009

I have similar problem and tried some of the tips from this great forum. Unfortunately, it did not work. My laptop is also long out of warranty, so cant really afford to call dell or buy a new motherboard. Probably makes more sense to go ahead and buy a new laptop. My battery shows 100% charged in the control panel. However, whenever I unplug the AC adapater the computer goes off as if there is no battery or it is completey drained. There are four or 5 switches on the battery that upon pressing lights up perfectly as if fully charged. But still it is not working with the battery. Very frustrated. before this the DVD writer went out, then the shift key. What a mess!

Zak
September 2009

Blowing didn't work, but then I had immediate success buy upping my blowing power: I used a can of compressed air to clean the adapter port and plug.

usa
September 2009

Darn Inspiron 1525, so pretty, soo many issues!
Have tried all variations of unpluging.. switching on and off and all that.. nothing is working. Is there anything else that could work?

Kate
September 2009

may be you need a new laptop battery,last week i just bought one from www.goodlaptopbattery.co.uk,it works very well! you can try ,i believe not cost you too much money indeed

yokio
September 2009

has anybody thought about going to watchdog about this problem? we`ve had a new motherboard and a month after the parts warranty ran out exactly the same problem,i refuse to pay the £300 to get a new motherboard,it feels like its a great way for dell to make money on a relatively cheap laptop!

sara
September 2009

well i've tried EVERYTHING recommended in this thread to no avail... MUCH APPRECIATION to all participants.... next thing is to call DELL and berate and badger them until I hopefully get something free out of them, like a new adapter or battery.

There is much propaganda on the net that Dell knowingly provides poor batteries and adapters.... i'm beginning to believe it....

I will DEFINITELY post anything useful I find out.

Tony from Lafayette, LA
September 2009

had the same problem.. just fixed it now.
Shut the computer down.
unplug and remove battery.
press power button 10 seconds. wait a little
plug back and replace battery.
start computer

there you go! everything is back to normal.

HAde
September 2009

I tried everything and it wouldn't work until I tried what David B suggested:

" I tried taking out the power lead while the PC was running and quickly plugging it back in in the 2 seconds I get before it dies. Lo and behold - the charging light came on and I am up to 5% and increasing as I type."

As I write it has now steadily increased to 36% and increasing.

I don't know how long will this work but I am hopeful and it has resolved my problem for the time being.

J. M.
September 2009

I had the same problem with the battery not charging as eveyone else. I tried everything everyone has ever suggested on this and all related blogs. I blew in the adapter until I was blue in the face. I shut off the computer, removed the power source and the battery, held down the power button for 10 seconds, etc.. I tried the "F2" option, I played with the BIOS, I even disabled the power adapter in the device manager and let XP re-establish the drivers. I tried it all, nothing worked for me until.... I simply replaced my 65W power adapter with a 90W power adapter and it works fine now. Go figure... I don't know if this will help anyone else but I sincerly hope so. Good luck!!!

Bob
September 2009

This is ridiculous - I saw all the "blow on the adapter" comments thinking it was a joke but it actually worked. Amazing!

Lucy
September 2009

OMG! You have got to be kidding me...I blew in the adapter and the computer, the adapter and the battery is working fine!

"seriously, the guy who said to blow in the adapter, you are a god :) it works perfectly now, whereas other things haven't :)"

Thank you.

Ray
September 2009

how is the resetting ment to work with no ac power and battery at the same time?
have the same problem tried reinstalling new updated bios but it does not operate if battery power lower than 10%...my battery on 0% i am starting to get so frustraded with mager corporate companies steeling from us all the time..had less than a year yet apparantly from what dell website tells me warranty is out-- HATE YOU DELL

Angelo
September 2009

Hey have dell laptop that stopped charging and now any ideas?

NANDO
August 2009

I have the same "plugged in, not charging" problem on 1525. My problem is even more serious. The problem exists even with the power supply plugged in. The labtop will shut down by itself quite often. Appreciate if you have any ideas!

Linda
August 2009

I had the same problem I tried everything and It didn't work. But then I found the program Batterycare on the net. I downloaded it, in the begining the problem was still existing, but after I restarted the computer, battery started to charge. I has been good for a month so far. I suugest you to download this program I hope it is gonna work for you too. http://batterycare.bkspot.com/en/download.html

kortan
August 2009

seriously, the guy who said to blow in the adapter, you are a god :) it works perfectly now, whereas other things haven't :)

Caz
August 2009

Blowed on the end of the adapter cable and that worked a treat. The modern equivalent of hitting the tv to get a better picture. technology eh!

Works fine now

Sean
August 2009

I followed wayne’s instructions from March 2009: I found this on another website.

There is something wrong with *********** board, to check this out, upon turning the computer on keep tapping on F2 under BIOS check "Battery Info" if it shows AC ADAPTER UNKNOWN and the BATTERY is IDLE it means *********** board needs to be replaced. if you are still under warranty call dell for a mother board replacement.

I called Dell, they told me I have to have mother board replace. Hope this helps.

Sure enough, this is what the problem is for me. So, basically I’ll get 3 more years out of this thing, with replacing the motherboard every year, before having to hawk it! Excellent job, Dell! YOU SUCK!!! Never, ever buying from them again! And if there’s ever to be a lawsuit because of this issue (which there damn well better be!), you can sure as hell bet my name will be on that list of recipients for monetary damages! SAME ON YOU DELL!

Magnus
August 2009

I also tried a lot of things (new adaptor and battery), this didnt work. I also tried the "blow in the end of the adapter cable and also where the connection meets the computer" and it worked!

michelle
August 2009

I have recently noticed that my Inspiron doesn't always charge when connected, read all the answers below and tried everything, my son has the same model so I was lucky enough to swap batteries and chargers to no avail. I agree with Andi that the problem is with the motherboard connection and if you "wiggle" the connector at the point of contact then it will start charging. A bit frustrating and would have thought that Dell could have sorted this.

RobWyn
August 2009

I tried a lot of things, nothing worked. Then I just tried the simple "blow in the end of the adapter cable" and it worked! I'm now charging!

andi
August 2009

Also have the problem. Searched the web and noticed someone said the connector on the motherboard gets loose. So I tried jiggling the cord/connector where it plugs in the computer and BINGO ! it started charging. Don't know how long I can keep doing this until the motherboard connector gives out ... but worth trying ...

Newportbob
August 2009

Ok, so, I had this exact same problem. I had done many different things yesterday and the day before and today I noticed it was charging again so I don't know which one worked, but I hope one of these helps someone! I have:
-Gone to support.dell.com and downloaded the newest BIOS then restarted.
-Got latest windows updates, restarted.
-Turned off took out battery, held down power button for ten slow seconds, put battery in, started it up.
-Unplugged, shut down computer, left battery out for ten minutes, put in battery, turned on.

I am assuming it was the BIOS and getting the updates, but it didn't work until after this whole process so....I dunno, just thought I would share.

Katie
August 2009

I received a new battery from Dell (under warranty) cause the original did not last too long (45 minutes on average). This new battery would not charge at all. I called Dell (SIGH) and they told me I needed a new motherboard. For some strange reason I did not believe him, and I'm no computer expert. I told him the original battery charges fine but the new one you sent to replace it won't, so how could it be the MB. He still insisted that it was the MB. Thankfully I found this website and tried many methods with not much success. After many attempts, I figured I'd try scanning this page one more time for another method when I noticed that the new battery all of a sudden started to charge. Please try all methods before sending your computer to Dell for repairs. Thanks to everyone who brainstormed ideas and posted them on this page to help me solve this ridiculous problem. My next computer will NOT be a Dell.

Tom the Teacher
August 2009

I had the same problem with the plugged in, not charging. I tried my boyfriends adapter and it worked. It must be my adapter. I have found if I charge it with his adapter and then plug my adapter in afterwards, it keeps it from loosing charge, but doesnt charge it on its own. WEIRD!!!

My first laptop
August 2009

Same problem with DELL Inspiron 1525
plugged in, not charging

Mike O.
August 2009

computer 2008-9-1 buy new .

chingchan
July 2009

try plugging it into different outlets in the wall

steven
July 2009

Its say unknown ac and i already had a new mother board.Tryed all tips.

The midlel bit in the charger seems pushed back

BoredGammer120
July 2009

wow, i tried this and it worked first time!!! thanks!

crystal
July 2009

OK, since yesterday i've put in a NEW battery, updated BIOS, installed serv. pk. 2, updated every driver out there and nothing changed. i called dell again today, the guy had me shut down and restart, upon initial reboot (during BIOS screen) press F2. on that screen he had me check battery-AC adaptor, it showed NO AC ADAPTER found, he told me my adaptor is failing. A new adaptor is on the way.....i'll let you know.

Ron
July 2009

Hey, it's Ron...AGAIN, i've been here before with the
"Not Charging" issue. Since then i've purchased a new battery and it said the same thing. After MORE research i've come to realize it's a windows Vista problem. I've upgraded everything i could find, including service pack 2, NOTHING my guess is microsoft does not have a fix for this

Ron, July 2009
July 2009

i had the same issue so i just uncharged the battery to 50 precent or lower. unplugged the cable leading to the computer, blew in the top of the cable and plugged it back in in a hurry, then i took the pronged cable plugged in my power adaptor, unplugged it , waited 5 seconds, plugged it back in and,

WALA IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!

Andrew S.
July 2009

1. Shut down
2. Unplug
3. Remove battery
4. While battery is out, hold down power button about 10 seconds.
5. Wait a couple of minutes
6. Replace battery
7. Plug in
8. Turn computer back on

works gr88888888 thaxxxxxxxxxxxx

sanjiv
July 2009

hey i had the same problem for about a month or so, and i tossed it on my bed, thjen turned it on and it is somehow charging now! idk what happened but, im not complaining

steve
June 2009

Dell!!! Sucks.... Never go... For it.... My advice... IBM Thinkpad... R65 Rocks!!!!!

Pramod...
June 2009

Best solution is.... switch to Macintosh. Dell sucks!

Mac User
June 2009

I tried what others tried and it worked for me as well. Here are the instructions again:

1. Shut down
2. Unplug
3. Remove battery
4. While battery is out, hold down power button about 10 seconds.
5. Wait a couple of minutes
6. Replace battery
7. Plug in
8. Turn computer back on

When I shut down my computer my Battery indicator said "3% plugged in, not charging". When I turned it back on it said "50% plugged in, charging". It is now up to 76% and still going!

Another note: For me, it wasn't a windows problem because I booted into linux when it stopped working and it didn't charge there either. I don't know what the 8 steps listed above did (maybe a soft reset for the bios?) but I am glad it worked!

Good luck everyone!

Jared Carter
June 2009

I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 laptop, and the battery has not been working for months.
An orange light on the front, next to the green power light flashes continuously, but the battery does not take any charge.
The windows xp control panel cannot see the battery, and the Battery Info in the BIOS firmware says it is not installed.
I have tried the methods listed in the forum to do with holding down on/off switch 10 secs, etc, to no avail.
So I am now bidding for a new battery on ebay in case this one is duff.
My local computer shop cannot help - they say Dell seem to have their own agenda, and the parts are always more expensive.
I am amazed that so many people experience the same problem, whether it's caused by a motherboard misfunction or adaptor failure. Surely it's up to Dell to sort this out as it is obviously a design problem. The battery is an important feature when buying a laptop, and us users should not have to rely on expensive warranties in this case.

Chris
June 2009

Same problem with the 1525, Plugged in but not charging. Bought in December. First repair was in January. They said it was the adapter hard drive. Got it back and it worked until April. Same issue. They had me send it in and when they got it they refused to fix it under the warranty saying that I dropped it. They were more than happy to harrass me about buying an extended warranty for it. What good is a warranty if you make up stories so you don't have to repair the issue? I tried the unplug, remove battery, hold power button method as described above. It didn't work. I'm going to report Dell to the Better Business Bureau. I suggest others do the same. They are selling lemon laptops.

mlinto
June 2009

how do you fix as i hv got the same problem and tryed taking the battery out and hold ing down the power button but its still the same if any one knows will thry please post on here :)

glassy
June 2009

I followed Tracy's advice (Feb 2009) and it is now charging. Thanks!

1. Shut down
2. Unplug
3. Remove battery
4. While battery is out, hold down power button about 10 seconds.
5. Replace battery
6. Turn comp back on
7. Wait one minute
8. Plug in

Vera
May 2009

I have been having this problem for MONTHS, of course, not even 2 days after my warranty expired. I tried the Rosie method, didn't work, bought a new battery, didn't work, and I then thought it was the motherboard. I took it to Best Buy to see if they could charge it, which the battery took when they used their adapter. Turns out I just needed to get a new adapter. So, I finally bought a genuine Dell adapter (after my original AND replacement one both took a dump!) and it STILL WASN'T CHARGING!
I came back on this forum, and saw Sagerella's method (with the added pushing of the power button when the laptop is unplugged and the battery is taken out), and it's been charging PERFECTLY fine since!!!
Before I did that, I did go into Device Manager, clicked on the Battery tab and disabled the Microsoft AC Adapter. Then I would click the Action tab, select Scan for Hardware Changes and it will re-install the AC Adapter option.
I hope any of this helps! And thank you Sagerella for your post!!!

Kate Venture
May 2009

OMG. i had this problem for a week now. i listened to TAYLOR's answer, and it worked! the f irst couple times it didnt, and i was just thinking that my laptop was broken! :(. i told myself, im going to try one more time, if it doesnt work, then :(. i did it, and the battery light turned on. i got hyped up, and waited for the icon at the bottom to load. it loaded, and I WAS SOOO HAPPY! it said its charging! i odnt know how it works. basically, i just did this

1. turn off
2.unplug
3.take battery on the bottoom of the laptop out
4.put battery back in
5.put plug back in
6.turn on

it didnt work the first few times, it did after :).

some people are saying to take the plug out and turn it on according to just the battery. that doesnt make sense, because the point is that there IS NO BATTERY! lol
in fact, the battery right now, says...
6 % available, plugged in, charging :D

YES! :D

Sagerella
May 2009

Your adapter is operating as it was desisgned. Dell specifications require that third party adapters do not charge the batteries.

Bummer
May 2009

I've had to take mine into the repairers - it is just out of the warranty period. This is after trying all the suggested fixes I could find online: unplugging, taking out the battery and letting it cool, etc.

After they had a look, I was told the charging circuit on the motherboard is blown, so nothing to be done! Apparently it's a known design fault with this model, replacement battery or adapter won't solve the problem in my case, very disappointed with Dell quality on this...

Anne
May 2009

I've had two motherboards and two AC adapters replaced (both under warranty) and am still having this problem. I'll have to try the suggestions here. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

KT
May 2009

I had the same problem, but the "Rosie" fix didn't work for me.
Purely by chance and frustration I tried taking out the power lead while the PC was running and quickly plugging it back in in the 2 seconds I get before it dies. Lo and behold - the charging light came on and I am up to 5% and increasing as I type.

David B
April 2009

it seems everyone has the problem and no body has reported a solution... is there a solution?

crypterman
April 2009

Tried the method where I took the battery out, and that seemed to work for a few days. I've been somewhat frantically doing it again today, as it once again stopped charging.

I really hope its not a motherboard issue. As a college student, I can't really afford to be without my computer(especially since Finals week is in less than 5 weeks).

Just got it April/May, so its under warranty,so I'm not worried there. That's one positive.

Andy Duke
April 2009

lmao this is brilliant. I have my own technique :D however guys I'm sorry to say my laptop no longer works with this technique. and now I've rang up dell and discovered that my warrantee ran out about 2 weeks ago and the woman told me it was my AC adapter that’s the problem but I'm sceptical from what other people have said. I may just buy the extended warrantee which I'm hating after the argument I had with the woman at dell, but my dad said he would pay for it for me (as I am a poor poor student) so hopefully things will work out. Some people have said it’s a problem with the motherboard or something which is apparently 200 odd quid to buy so it’s probably worth ringing up dell if you still have your warrantee to see if they can sort it out. I've have also had problems with my hard drive and it has had to be replaced so if anyone if reading this and trying to decide whether to buy a dell or not don't. Yes they look nice and are affordable but that's only because their components are cheap. I now want a Sony Viao because they are beautiful..... but a lil on the expensive side me thinks......

Rosie
April 2009

rosie's method..try it out..back-read and learn the easy technique..

jay
March 2009

would anybody tell me what is roise method to resolve the problem......my battery is not charging and the remaining charge is only 2% now so can't stand 2 restart on battery itself.......anyway pls tell me what is roise methode exactly

Jeevan
March 2009

Hey, it's Ron again, I had the "not charging" issue and you'll see I've posted here before, I did the Rosie method and it worked somewhat. My battery did charge to 100%, however the same problem exists. If i unplug, the battery wears down in record time and if using it while plugged in it does not charge. I'm gonna buy a new battery.

ron
March 2009

I found this on another website.

There is something wrong with *********** board, to check this out, upon turning the computer on keep tapping on F2 under BIOS check "Battery Info" if it shows AC ADAPTER UNKNOWN and the BATTERY is IDLE it means *********** board needs to be replaced. if you are still under warranty call dell for a mother board replacement.

I called Dell, they told me I have to have mother board replace. Hope this helps.

wayne
March 2009

This worked for me as well. Super easy fix, thank you very much!!

Shannon
March 2009

same story for me. the 'rosie" method worked and i'm charging up right now after discovering my problem 30 minutes ago. definitely try this before blowing more cash on adaptors and batteries.

thanks a bunch! i was envisioning at least a month of down time and spending at least the value of the computer just to get it running!

matt
March 2009

I had the same problem - "plugged in, not charging", no charge light on front of laptop even though AC light was on. Started to panic but tried Tracey and Rosie's technique and it worked a charm! Lights is on and charge symbol is back! Thanks guys! You are lifesavers! :D x

Abi
March 2009

I had same issue, battery not charging, i did what rosie suggested, unplug, remove batt, press power button :10 sec. replace batt, power up & wait 1 min before plugging in. VIOLA! it resolved my problem, i am charging like it's brand new! THANKS!!!

ron, feb. 2009
February 2009

I happened to have 2 ac adapters. One charges the battery and the other doesn't. Since adapters are cheaper then batteries - hope this helps some of you.
I have a Dell inspiron 9300.

EFD
February 2009

Nice there is a discussion about this, im getting this currently aswell..i got 1525 aswell.. checked further into the settings, says battery status - idle =/ i had Sony Vaio (got rid of it since the net would'nt work

But its kinda annoying that i have to sit with my laptop in one place making the electricity bill go higher to keep the laptop turned on...rang dell, and im getting a new AC adapter, if that does'nt work, ima sue dell for inconvienient (spell check) waste of electricity...(if thats possible)

Dez
February 2009

Here's what worked for me...slight variation on Rosie's suggestion. Thanks Rosie!

1. Shut down
2. Unplug
3. Remove battery
4. While battery is out, hold down power button about 10 seconds.
5. Replace battery
6. Turn comp back on
7. Wait one minute
8. Plug in

After this my battery began charging again. Good luck guys!

Tracy
February 2009

I have an identical problem with my Dell Inspiron netbook, and have had this problem since it was new a couple of months ago.
Any simple fixes?

MonsoonMally
February 2009

It's amazing how many people have the same issue as I do. I have been through about six AC Adapters since we purchased our first Dell a couple of years ago. It really pays to get the warranty because you'll need it!

Our newer Inspiron 1525 displayed "plugged in, not charging" and only seems to want to charge to 30%. This is a serious inconvenience, i'm just glad it happened within the warranty. I'll absolutely purchase the warranty extension if I can.

KVast
January 2009

It worked for me also. Thanks Taylor..

Chethana
January 2009

call them up....i did and it seemed it is a very common problem for them, u will probably will have to change the AC adapter. I am yet to receive mine after 1 week though.

Rahul
January 2009

wooop! ive had the problem since saturday (its tuesday now) and i had gone to my granparents and on the way home my ipod ran out so i was listening to music via my laptop. however the battery proceeded to run out abou 10 minutes from home so wen i got home i plugged it in an left it for about 2 hours. i then unplugged it and went to look some stuff up in the living room while watching tv and it started coming up saying that there was hardly any battery left. which confused me so i plugged it back in and at that point it came up with "plugged in, not charging". so ive been tried to fix it since saturady now and its been doing my head in and today i found this discussion board and dun dun dun! "Taylor" wrote how they turned the computer off, unplugged the laptop from the mains, and then, running just on the battery, turned the computer back on, waited until the screen loaded to the desktop and then plugged the mains back in and its now charging! yay! i had tried taking the battery out etc etc before but not the the same pattern as Taylor advised but its works! yay! im so happy now! im going back to uni on sunday and i was dreading having to send it off to get fixed because i have all the work i need on here for uni. Taylor, whoever you are, i love you!

Rosie
January 2009

Same issue here. Nothing I can do to make it start charging. Took the laptop apart and made sure all connections were correct and everything was soldered right - it was. Called Dell, got a new charger, same thing still occurs. They now say I need a new motherboard, and it will be 600 dollars. That's nice since my model is on clearance right now for 599 on Dell's site. Typing this from my Sony Vaio that works oh-so-nice. Never will I purchase anything else from Dell.

Jay U. Dee
December 2008

Ok, I see that nobody posts a follow up message after their problem is resolved, so here is a first:

called up DELL and they were trying to decide whether it is the AC adapter or the battery that requires replacing when my battery started charging again.....

I guess it happened when i started the lap ( in one of the numerous times that was i asked to so) on battery only and pluggged in the AC adapter when windows had stared.

funny eh?? i guess its just a BIOS software hitch!!

Best of luck!!

Rahul
December 2008

Hey I am having the same problem. The only thing I can add hee is it happened after I dropped my laptop ( may be 1 ft only) so though it says AC adapter problem, it is probably something to with the motherboard side (plug in point). Lets see, I'll call them up in the morning and find out.....it looks like a common problem though!

Rahul
December 2008

I just had the same problem. I woke up this morning and even though my laptop had been charging all night, it was completely dead. The adaptor light was on and everything, but the light on the laptop wasn't. I got on Dell.com and asked customer support on the chat line, but they said that that wasn't there job...that made me angry to say the least. Anyway, I ended up turning the computer off, unplugging the charger, and taking the battery out. I put it back in and then turned the laptop on. It started right up and oddly enough said that it had a full battery...it was really weird but I'm not complaining.

Taylor
December 2008

i know yes..what should i do? i got a new laptop for xmas 2008..(the dell 1525) it says it is charged 100%, but then when i go on it for half an hour or so..it says battery dead? what do i do??:(

rach
December 2008

Hi i bought 2 dell 1525 laptops one blue one pink for my daughter and son in may , now one is not charging while on the mains charger shows (on mains power not charging)i swapped the batteries round and made no difference (so not the battery) and the mains charger works on the other laptop with both batteries definitely something wrong with machine:(

del boy
December 2008

Try to change properties of your Network adapters. It helped me. dont remember what properties exactly but try change all that are related to power and power management. I tied several times before it started to charge. also dont forget to restart PC after changing setings or disconect and connect charger to laptop again if there is power left in your battery.

Rolkis
November 2008

The problem is that the AC power pack has three pins . the middle pin is the control pin its how the laptop knows what adaptor u are using. what happends is that this middle pin does not make contact with the motherboard , giving u "AC ADAPTOR CANNOT BE DETERMINED. YOUR LAPTOP MAY NOT CHARGE AND THE SYSTEM WILL OPERATE SLOWER". For more help in getting laptop repaired email Ortizlaptoprepair@yahoo.com

NYCOrtizlaptoprepair
November 2008

have the same prob... i went thru 2 charging adapters and a new battery and still have 0% on my current battery.. jeez this charging issue is driving me mad..

frankie S
November 2008

Hey, I was ha same problem with my inspiron. I figured out that I was using the wrong charger cord thing because I was using my brothers and he has a different laptop than me. So what I'm saying is to use the original charger cord thing :D

Kelli
November 2008

sir Battery not charging new Dell inspiron1525 Dual-core help

Saliem
October 2008

turn off laptop. remove battery. then replace again. turn back on laptop. that helped mine.

dusk
October 2008

i got the laptop 1525 as a birthday gift opened did all the bits and bobs to it and just got so angry because the laptop wouldnt charge, the adaptor light was on but the charging light on the laptop was not working, got the laptop from tesco direct should i ask for a replacement?

queen a
September 2008

I have two dell inspiration at home, they both are only 3 months old,one of it has the same problem,the battery icon said it's plugged in but not charging.I brought it back to Bestbuy and they checked it and said my battery is no good.I told them there is nothing wrong with my laptop because when I plug in with my other 1525's charger in this laptop,it will charge every time and I have tried it for more than a week and that "not charging" problem never show up.But they insist the problem is my battery and won't replace the charger,I think probably because battery is not covered in the warranty! I'm going to buy a replacement charger on Ebay,and hopefully find one for less. Anyone out there have the same problem, trust me,don't let them send your dell back for replacement of whatever they said causing the problem(they told me my lap's motherboard need to be changed at the beginning!), first try (borrow)a new charger,it will (not 100% but likely) solve your problem.

Dennis
August 2008

this is the biggest head ache i've ever had.
have been sent new!! adaptor and battery neither fixed problem
am lossing my mind over this if you see a dell laptop smashed on the motorway you'll know i lost the battle

arhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Kevin
August 2008

I have the same problem, fortunately mine is still under warranty, i went onto Dell's website and had an online chat with one of their assistants. They've told me the motherboard, battery and adapter all need to be replaced even though there's nothing wrong with the laptop itself, they're sending an engineer round with a bag of bits

Kev
August 2008

i read somewhere it could be different plugs.
It does it with mine sometimes, i have to turn the laptop off and the plug, wait about 1 minute for the charger to cool down then plug it in somewhere else.

anon
August 2008

i have the same exact problem with my 1525 and mines about two months old..something's just not right.
if you find a solution please let me know.

Hannah
August 2008

Charlotte,

Rang Dell. They're sending me a new adaptor, and suggested I reinstall the drivers etc with the CDs that came with the laptop.

Hope this helps.

Danny Murphy
July 2008

Thanks Charlotte; if you could post on here & let me know what they say that would be great.

Danny

Daniel Murphy
June 2008

i have the same problem also, i think im going to have to ring dell and see what they have to say as i can't figure out how to fix the problem myself

Charlotte
June 2008