# Dell Laptops - Plugged in Not Charging [INFO]



## aaronmarsh632

Hi,

I hear this quite often regards dell laptops. Basically you plug the laptop into the mains and the laptop will power with the charger but not actually charge the battery.

This is because the Original Dell chargers have a chip in them and the laptop checks for this chip to see if it is a compatible charger, voltage, ampage and wattage wise.

On the base of the laptops it will say 'For use with adapter PA-xx' where xx is a number eg 21. If you are using an Original dell charger with a different PA number or you are using a replacement non-dell charger which doesn't have the chip inside, this is why the batteries wont charge. They will take the power because the charger is physically putting the charge through the laptop, but the laptop firmware will not allow the battery to take a charge.

If you are going to buy a replacement charger then make sure you buy the correct one with the matching model number or make sure if you are buying a generic charger that it has the chip inside. For example I have a dell inspiron 1545 which says for use with adapter pa-21, so if I was to look on ebay for a replacement charger rather than search for 'dell inspiron 1545 charger', I would search for 'dell pa-21 charger' then check the listing to make sure it has the chip. You may find that some of the really cheap 1's usually from china dont have the chip and therefore wont charge your battery - so be carefull.

Based on the information I have just given you, if you have a dell laptop with the correct charger and it is still powering the laptop but not charging the battery then it is possible that either the charger, battery or laptop may have a fault.

This is as far as my knowledge goes on the subject, I think I have covered everything you need to know about it but if anyone has anything to expand on the topic then you are welcome to comment.

Thanks


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## kay12

I have a dell inspiron 1764 and i'm using a PA-12 replacement adapter (because the original charger and 2nd replacement charger have already stopped working within 6 months) and I was having this same problem. However, I took out the battery and put it back in and it started to charge again instead of just holding the power. I hope this helps anyone with the same problem.


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## The secret 7

My Battery shows 100% but suggests replacing the battery .The battery runs down in about 30mins . So i have purchased a new battery which now says "plugged in ,not charging. I have updated the BIOS .
When I reboot I get a message that the battery has not been identified so will not charge. This seems nothing to do with mother boards or chipped chargers would you not think .


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## abdul_farooq3

I have a DELL INSPIRON 9200, HAVING PA-10 adapter When conected says Pluged in, not charging.


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## GZ

There is another cause for the "Plugged in not charging".

On most newer Dell laptops there is a thin center pin in the DC plug. This can become bent, dislodged and/or broken. The thin pin is the data connection that allows the power adapter and laptop to "talk" to each other. If the laptop can't "talk" to the charger it will not allow it to charge the battery. The reason the power adapter can still be used to run the laptop is that it is still providing the required wattage to the machine.

With aftermarket/generic replacement batteries it is similar. The battery has circuits inside and it talks to the laptop. If the laptop (BIOS) doesn't recognize the battery as a compatible battery, it will not allow it to charge. I have seen this happen most often in Dell and HP laptops.

Please, if you have an issue you want help with, start your own thread by clicking the "New Thread" button at the top of the forum. Include any and all information about your problem, including the computer's model number and the P/N of any external component you are having issue with.


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## aaronmarsh632

Hi,

Also on some of the dell's after battery replacement I have seen them charge when the laptop is not on but as soon as windows boots it says not charging again. you could try this just to see what happens. Also did you buy an original or generic battery? Also you could check the bios to see if there are any options speific to the battery charging although usually they just have some form of calabration at the most - worth a look tho.


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## minitarget

I have a Inspiron 1545 with the same problem. HAD i mean. I just ordered a new power supply from Hong Kong, dealextreme.com. It Costs 13 usd and free shipping. It takes a while to get stuff from them , but it will show up. Plugged it in, got a message at startup that pc dont recognize the supply, pressed F1 and it started, AND its charging again, yeaaaah  This is the link for the one i bought... : Replacement Power Supply Adapter for Dell Laptop (7.4 x 5.0mm) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme


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## aaronmarsh632

kwl, thnx for sharing the link. If you live in the UK like me you can get the power adapters from here Welcome to Breckland Computer Services - Derehams Best Value Computer Shop - 01362 852188 - Norfolk - Mobile Phone Unlocking there is no online shop yet but you can buy over the phone or go in store. They aren't the ones like you get on ebay they have the strong quality ends.

Also If you get the message everytime you boot regards the PSU not being recognized you can usually turn it off in bios so it doesn't check (This is pretty much just a dell thing, you dont really see it with other brands)


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## timmi4sa

I have just noticed that the battery was not charging when I docked my Dell i5 based laptop after returning from a business trip. 

I would imagine that this was caused by the difference in power supply models (smaller portable vs. bulky one connected to the docking station) used during a single session. By single session I mean that I have Suspended my Windows 7, but never fully shut it down for a week. 

My workaround: Hibernate Windows and remove the battery, press Power button to discharge (not sure if this is truly necessary), insert the battery, start the laptop. Once the Windows session is restored the battery will start charging.

(Please note that both power supplies have been received in one carton with my laptop)


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## oldbear

i have purchased many dell computers, but this issue will prevent me from ever buying another. my last dell computer was an alienware m17x. i spend nearly $6000 on this machine. if i unplug it for any time at all it goes into this plugged in but not charging bs. then i have to shutdown the computer, pull out the battery, unplug the computer, put them all back and hold down the start button for 20 seconds. sometimes i have to do this 3 or 4 times. 

i have gone to a number of spots for a solution. those who have complained to dell have had motherboards replaced, chargers replaced and gone through he ll with this. all dell has to do is disable this stupid function. but no they keep it on with some idea of protecting the computer and more likely insuring they get the replacement business. 

well i am so unhappy about this i never even quoted dell on my last two computer purchases and will never quote them again.


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## cjdelphi

I don't know anything about this laptop or how it charges, but certain companies are fussy on the way a device charges, for example, i can charge a phone using USB, simply 5v and it charges the phone, so i figured if i used a regulated power supply i'd be able to build a charger for a nokia phone..

So i used an LM317T regulator to output a nice constant 5v, guess what, still no charge after further digging, it turns out unless it has a constant current, nokia's wont charge, you have to put a specific resistor to give precisely the current needed, which came as a bit of a shock if i'm honest while my samsung galaxy charged just fine from the 5v supply.

so you might find there's an extra pin which has to have a 300ohm resistor across or something stupid just so that the circuity will then charge the battery, why i have no idea, with the higher current devices like laptops maybe it's there to protect the lithium ion batteries exploding... 

I'd love to know why manufacturers do this myself.


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## midnightsparkle

hi everyone

i have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop and a dell 90w charger a few days ago i got a message when i turned on the laptop saying the AC adaptor type and wotage could not be deturmaned and now all i get is pluged in, not chargeing i have had this charger ever since i got the laptop i had to replase the battery when i first got it due to an error and the battery ran down in 30mins but after i got the new battery everything worked perfectly until about 2-3 days ago when i got the message 
can someone please help me


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## aaronmarsh632

midnightsparkle said:


> hi everyone
> 
> i have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop and a dell 90w charger a few days ago i got a message when i turned on the laptop saying the AC adaptor type and wotage could not be deturmaned and now all i get is pluged in, not chargeing i have had this charger ever since i got the laptop i had to replase the battery when i first got it due to an error and the battery ran down in 30mins but after i got the new battery everything worked perfectly until about 2-3 days ago when i got the message
> can someone please help me


Hi,

It's possible that your charger has developed a fault, I'd recommend borrowing a charger from someone if possible (the same 1) or take it to a computer shop and ask them to check your laptop with another charger (not a universal - a dell 1 with the same PA number or a chipped generic for your model laptop) If it is the charger that is the problem you can simply replace it. If you're not bothered about using the laptop on the battery at all, you can just disable the warning message in the BIOS and continue to use it - Note your battery will eventually stop holding a charge if it's not used for so long.


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## akorpija

My work-around/solution to this goes like this:

Unplug charger from laptop/wall. Disconnect the cable attached to the power supply (you know, there are two parts to the charger itself). Allow the green light to fade completely. Attach the one half to your computer. Attach the other half to the wall. Now reattach the cable to the power supply. It'll do it's little sizzle, and VOILA, it should now start charging. 

I know, this might not be the best, it might cause a short or something. So do this all at your own discretion, as I do not condone nor suggest anyone but myself to do this.


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## americandan

Hi! Just reg just to give my quick input on how I *think* i resolved my issue with this though I am not sure how or why it did this.
I too had the plugged in, not charging issue. I bought new extended battery to see maybe it was a fault in the battery processor (i bought a "new" one and it just wouldn't charge before). So with 2 extended batteries that has gone flat, my only option was to get on ebay and "made an offer" for the external battery charger to charge the 2 batteries. In a few days, it arrived. I proceeded to charge the batteries and somehow, my Studio 1537 decided to charge again as it nothing every went wrong.
I am not saying this is a solution (though it might be a mobo issue for some) but for for me, getting the external battery charger is now a back-up if and when it acts up again (cross fingers it doesn't). My 1537 is, however, 5 years old but has not given me any issues until this. 
I hope this input could help everyone with this issue now (and hopefully in the future google search). Even if it doesn't work for everyone, at least you'll have an external charger to have a way to charge your battery.
Good luck! 

Dan


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## wheat

akorpija said:


> My work-around/solution to this goes like this:
> 
> Unplug charger from laptop/wall. Disconnect the cable attached to the power supply (you know, there are two parts to the charger itself). Allow the green light to fade completely. Attach the one half to your computer. Attach the other half to the wall. Now reattach the cable to the power supply. It'll do it's little sizzle, and VOILA, it should now start charging.
> 
> I know, this might not be the best, it might cause a short or something. So do this all at your own discretion, as I do not condone nor suggest anyone but myself to do this.


Thanks--my Dell Inspiron N5040 was showing "plugged in, not charging", so I followed your directions, and now it shows "plugged in, charging"! No negative consequences so far--your suggestion seems to be a good one.


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## djbolivia

I found a solution which might help a lot of people here. 

My battery stopped charging a few weeks ago. I thought it might be a problem where my BIOS needed to be flashed, but luckily, I ran into problems there. When I tried to run it directly from Windows, it wouldn't go ahead because I got a "battery under 10%" warning. I wanted to bypass this so I created a bootable disk on a USB key and was going to update the BIOS from that with the /forceit command, but it wouldn't let me run in DOS mode, because it is a Windows executable. I was getting pretty frustrated, because I had already tried a new charger and that didn't help, and I was fairly certain that the battery was actually good.

Anyway, I ended up taking my laptop apart and discovered that there is a tiny silver screw which helps hold the power connector in place inside the laptop. Somehow, mine snapped. Possibly when I was trying to use the laptop in a bouncing safari van one day, and smacked the power cord when it was plugged in. Anyway, this silver screw was still intact, but the tiny loop of metal that was holding the connector to the chassis/case of the laptop had sheared. The connector receptacle appear to still be in approximately the same place, so when I plugged in, the laptop was getting power. But it was really set back about a millimeter. This setback was just enough so the pin in the end of the power cord didn't completely enter the connector, and thus didn't get to the connection point which allowed for charging to take place.
I ended up re-seating the connector where it should be and then using crazy glue to fix it in place, and put the laptop case back together. After I did that and plugged in my power cord, the battery started charging immediately.

If you're going crazy because of this situation, try taking your laptop case apart (carefully!) and plug your power cord in so that it is completely attached to the connection receptacle, and see if that helps. You might not need to flash your BIOS !!

If this solution solves your problems, do me a favor and share a link to one of my pages on some of your social media. You can find me by doing a Google search for DJ Bolivia.

Good luck with your repairs ...

- Jonathan


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