Dell XPS M1330 Battery not charging on AC power

Did getting a new adapter fix the problem? Does it still say AC adapter cannot be determined? My dell laptop battery is -new 2 months old-but it's not getting recharged because the pc can no longer identify the battery. ( Delete or Edit)

• This is a helpful post from a tech forum. I've researched and found others think this is the root cause of this common frustrating problem.

I've found many, many loyal Dell customers online currently dealing with this "AC adaptor/battery not charging" 'design flaw' in Dell laptops. I finally found the answer I'd suspected all along:

The cause is a faulty adapter 'design flaw' Dell should take responsibility for!

When Dell knew of the problem they should have notified all customers and offered a recall or at least a permanent solution. But it seems to me instead, Dell just sits on a large stock of those faulty adapters and is handing them out to anyone within warranty. When your laptop warranty runs out you're forced to by the correct (90W or higher) sold by 'Dell'. And that's only if you catch the problem before it fries your motherboard.

Here's why the AC Adapters / Motherboards for a range of DELL Laptops keep dying on so many good customers:

The design of the hardware circuitry for identification of the DELL AC Adapter is seriously flawed. The root cause is the use of an UNSHIELDED cable between the controller chip on the Mother board and the ID chip pin in the AC adapter.

This unshielded lead acts as an ANTENNA and easily picks up electromagnetic pollution going straight to the chip circuitry. The hardware circuitry is not hardened to deal with electromagnetic fields.

Consequently this energy is dissipated in the chips on each end of the lead ruining either one chip or both chips if the electromagnetic spike was powerful enough.

So use warranty to the max, this is a serious design fault. If outside warranty consider using a shielded lead or try to stay away from strong electromagnetic fields / switching.

I honestly believe Dell was fully aware of the problem when they sent me a faulty adapter for the $998.00 laptop I purchased. But Dell will lose in the end as my family will no longer buy from them.

Here's the full story of the Dell Antenna that many customers are slowly becoming aware of:

http://www.laptop-junction.com/toast/...

Spread the word! This is a profit racket for Dell. And I was a very loyal customer, bought 5 Dells and got my brother to by all Dells for his family and office. This is an outrage! ( Delete or Edit)

Hey MJD..
Sounds like a very bad experience with that M1330.. I have one similar to yours and your comment sounds scary in my ears.. how long have you used the M1330. Mine was purchased July 2008. So far I haven't experienced any problems at all except for the AC adapter which has failed once. ( Delete or Edit)

No, definitely not adapter as my hubby has the same laptop and adapter, and both mine and his work on his laptop with my battery in it. Wish it was that easy...! ( Delete or Edit)

I also have experienced similar problems to those above. I have gone through two Dell chargers, new motherboard, battery, you name it. I also paid a ton of money for a universal charger and now that's not working either. The AC adapter is definitely not the problem here. Please, someone start a class action lawsuit! Living with a laptop that doesn't charge makes for a very poor quality of life! ( Delete or Edit)

I also have experienced similar problems to those above. I have gone through two Dell chargers, new motherboard, battery, you name it. I also paid a ton of money for a universal charger and now that's not working either. The AC adapter is definitely not the problem here. Please, someone start a class action lawsuit! Living with a laptop that doesn't charge makes for a very poor quality of life! ( Delete or Edit)

My dear, you can't be "held for libel" by mentioning that a certain brand worked and another one didn't. A charge of libel requires many things, first among them that you are not speaking truthfully (truth is an excellent defense against libel and slander). Secondly, if it is your opinion that dell's adapter sucks, that's also protected speech.

If your dell adapter is a piece of crap, and a different brand's not, then telling us that would never in a million years get you charged with libel. IANAL, but you can rest easy sharing your opinions as long as they are not intentionally false and defamatory. In fact, if you bought an adapter that works, please share the brand so the rest of us can buy it, too! We just want our dells to work again. :) ( Delete or Edit)

I may be wrong, but I think you mean Watts (power) instead of Hertz (frequency). And in that case, it's not so much a matter of a lower wattage powering the battery at all. Having a 50-60W charger as opposed to a 65W charger would only have a slightly slower charge time for your battery. Think of it this way: a charger with less power will still charge your battery, but it will just do it in less time. And actually, having a charger that emits less power can be good, because the metals will not heat up as much and your battery will likely last longer.

I'm not saying that your battery charged with the 65-watt adapter, and that may very well be the solution that works for you. But based on my experience with electricity, that should only be a temporary solution.

What I ultimately found was that my motherboard had completely died (which I am told is nearly to impossible to replace, yourself). When I went to take out the hard drive recently, I found that something had created a spark near the hard drive bay which landed on the heatsink (that, or the heatsink actually started turning black close to some exposed copper wires near a circuit, which I suppose is my motherboard).

I remain skeptical of Dell's disposition of the matter. It has been roughly a year and countless others have experienced the same issues (as you can see by the sheer volume of replies in this thread as well as many others) with their batteries, motherboards, adapters, graphics cards, etc.

A few months ago, I went on Dell's website in a mock attempt to purchase an XPS laptop similar to the M1330. I have been told that Dell's batteries are covered under a different warranty from the laptop (which is 1 year from the date they are made). I thoroughly read every piece of information on every page as I went through the purchase process, and nowhere did I see anything that stated their batteries operate under a different warranty than their laptops. They need to stand up for the defects that come with their products. If they did, I would have more readily suggested Dell products to my friends and family, but I am adamantly opposed to Dell. I honestly cannot believe this many people have replied to this thread (just think about how many don't even know about this website or care less to register!) yet Dell sits and does nothing. It truly is a sad day when we fork over $1000+ for a laptop only to use it for a year. The real sad part is that I had many crucial documents for school and work on that laptop which has cost me money in the short-run and the long-run. ( Delete or Edit)

I recommend replacing the adaptor as soon as trouble shows up because the breaking wires could be causing a bad power connection to the computer, which can be harmful to components and data. ( Delete or Edit)

Correction: The hex shaped connector has three connections-the outer contact is ground, inside the ground connector is the +19v contact and the center pin is the data pin. If the wire breaks to the data pin, the computer will not recognize the adaptor and will not charge the battery, but it will still power up the computer if the ground and 19v wires are not broken. ( Delete or Edit)

Dell told me they just couldn't determine if it was a bad motherboard they just put in my xps m1330. Does anyone know if they have any other kind? ( Delete or Edit)