"The AC power adapter type cannot be determined. Your system will operate slower and the battery will not charge."

Hi David: Upon replacing my battery (both batteries from Dell), the new one suddenly gave me the exact message. I never had this message with the old battery. I pretty much ignored it, mainly because I didn't feel like dealing with more BS. Anyway, the battery completely stopped charging. When I called Dell, they said I needed a new adaptor. The new 90W adapter SOLVED the problem. I'm furious that Dell KNOWS this is their design flaw and refused to pay for the new adaptor.

Dave, this is obviously a well known problem by Dell. I recently purchased
a Studio 1537 which began giving this message after a week. Dell said it
was the power supply and sent me a new one. The second one worked
properly for a week and the problem resurfaced. Now Dell wants me to send the laptop back to replace the motherbard. I will not but another Dell
computer after this. I just feel that in the interest of Dell wanting to force
people into buying their power supplies they inconvience the customer they are going to lose business. I probably would not have a problem puchasing The Dell accessories if things worked correctly..I purchased an Acer mini for travel at the same time spent a thousand dollars less and have no problems at all. I amnot even sure that they actually know what the problem really is- they just inconvience the customer while they are trying to figure it out.

I am really angry about this. My computer started saying this before, but now i can't even fix it. I just want to actually be able to use my computer without all this hassle. If anyone can help please do so.

I brought two laptops from dell last year. 1720 and 1525. Both of them is nothing but garbage. Before the warranty ran out, both had lots of problems. After the warranty ran out, even more problems. The chargers don't charge the batterty and lots of crashes. I will never buy another dell.

I am having the same error message and I just bought a new battery. I was transferred 4 times, just to be told, for them to troubleshoot the problem they would have to charge me because my warranty expired!
I will never ever buy another dell and I will not recommend them to anyone.
I guess I will buy a new adapter to see if that works...if not, I'm chucking this thing...not worth the hassel.

I have the exact same problem only it is with the original adapter It started doing that around the 9 month mark. I have had nothing but trouble.

Also does anyone else have the power adapter fall out every time you move? It is so loose and has been from the very beginning I have talked to others about that and they have the same problem. Dell told me there was nothing they could do about it either.
Also I kept getting the message ( The AC power adapter type cannot be determined. Your system will operate slower and the battery will not charge.) for several months it has been doing this but still worked. Now the battery is completely dead so when the adapter falls out of the back it shuts down instantly and you lose everything and it takes 10 minutes before it reboots everything. After spending $1300. on an inspiron 1720 laptop, I expected some help and at the very least a replacement for a known faulty item. Reputable companies send out a recall and customer service is important. I am very disappointed in my purchase and regret ever buying a dell. I will not purchase another nor will anyone in my family. Word of mouth is pretty powerful. Good customer service makes all the difference! We have an old toshiba laptop that is over 5 years old and have never had one issue with the power adapter or battery. The way the economy is you would think that a company would want to keep customers loyal and coming back not sending them away in droves.

I have the same problem: it is not charging the battery with either the 65W nor the 90W charger.The bios is A09, the newest.

Same problem here. I have the 64w I think it is, I don't want to unplug it again, as I'm down to zero percent battery power. Reading about how many people have this problem is infuriating and frustrating because I don't like dealing with dell on the phone. I'm going to try the live help and probably have to wait for a new adapter. Sometimes changing outlets worked, for awhile, but not anymore.