M17X Battery not charging - R2 owners, *test BIOS* available

Too bad.

I received my new mainboard yesterday, and it was installed by a nice and skilled (I have seen lots of bad techs at my door) tech. He tested it with me, and it was actually charging like it was supposed to.

But this morning the problem came back. I tried the remove-battery trick, and it did indeed work!

Oh, and not using the battery is not an option as I need to work on places without a wall socket sometimes...

So back to tech support it is. I will keep you all updated.

 

Sorry to hear that it didn't work and thanks for keeping us in the loop.

 

Glad to hear it worked for you as well.

 

I had the same problem a few times so I called tech support last night he updated the Bios again (which I already did) he said it was a known problem not sure when they are going to get it fixed.

This morning I used the battery again plugged in the adapter same thing battery not charging so I did what you suggested and pulled the battery and put it back in now the battery is charging again. This is better than having to shutdown, pull battery, unplug adatper and do the power drain.

Hopefully they get this fixed soon as not using the battery isn't an option.

 

Glad it worked for you too!! I guess I should write a little something for it & submit it to the mods as a sticky. Quick Fix for Battery not charging maybe...I may work on that today.

 

Not bumping but started having the same issue. So reading the Forum and found this tread so I am trying same trick the other people are tryed so I can get my issue fixed.

 

Are people getting the message that the power adapter is not recognized like in this thread?

A Dell forum member asked people with this problem if they were using the latest BIOS update.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/494454-power-adaptor-not-recognized.html

 

Well doing the unplug and pulling out the battery and Power on button work for me.

But last night was the frist time I had to use battery. I was useing it on Need for speed world. I went from Laptop Mode to HDMI to a 42 inch tv. Then notice the 6% not recharging.

So tonight I ran the battery down to 8%. Then went to this forum to found a fix. Now going to check the fn f2 works.

 

Mine stopped charging as well, and the Reset above fixed the issue, nothgin else would.

see how long it goes until it does it again now

I have the latest BIOS update as well.

 

My power adapter seems to be recognized just fine, that is to say that the laptop recognizes that it is plugged in. It simply refuses to start charging the battery about 50% of the time.

So far removing the battery while the machine is running on AC has worked to solve the problem more quickly than the full shut down, remove batt, hold power button method.

 

Bios A04 was suppose to fix a problem with battery. According to the bios notes: " Fix when battery is lower than 7.2V, the battery must need remove then insert then system just can check the battery exist issue."

Also batteries should be fully discharged and than fully charged but that is usually not the case with laptop batteries that remain connected to a charger all the time.

Scroll down the article to the point about how to calibrate your battery.

Choosing the right battery for portable computing

 

I know it's aggravating having to do this in the first place(& Dell SHOULD release a fix) but this is so much easier than the power drain method. Maybe we'll get A06 shortly & put an end to this unecessary method, as well as a fix for all the gpus/drivers.

 

I have this issue as well on my new m17x-r2. confirm removing and replacing battery while on AC power fixes it. Unsure what, if anything, fn+f2 does and have not been able to trace an explanation for the 3 different icons like an earlier poster in this thread (battery disabled is obvious, but what are the two others?).

Borderline unbelievable such an expensive laptop has issues charging its battery which must rank amongst the most fundamental tasks of a laptop. Shame on Dell and let's have a fix for this asap! Anyone know if Dell is aware of this issue and is actively working on it? This issue together with the sucky touchpad makes me wonder how an otherwise fantastic laptop can have such fundamental flaws, doesn't Dell test their products before launch? Dell's receptionist would discover these issues during a 30 min lunch break ffs.

 

I have the same issue, the way I do it is enter setup at boot, remove power cord (it's detected as 193W by the way), then plug it back in and it detects correctly at 240W, then it works.

I hope they fix this soon, it's annoying and feels like jump starting a Ferrari.

 

Just tried this and it worked. Plug laptop into ac power. Use fn+f2 to cycle to the battery icon that says Enabled, but is only half full. Shut laptop down. Leave for about 10-20 secs and then check the Alien head directly above the keyboard - if you have your computer setup to display a different LCD colour when charging, and when running on AC, it should be cycling between these two colours now. Restart laptop and it should be charging.

 

erm that sounds a lot more cumbersome than just taking out and putting back in the battery when on ac power, but up to you. important thing is that Dell fixes this issue for good!

 

Engineering is definitely still working on this - I hope to have an update soon.

 

I have Alienware m17x
and I also have the same problem....
my laptop is 2 weeks old!!!

what to do?

 

Is there anyone that can reproduce the AC adapter error message at POST (or battery won't charge issue) consistently and repeatedly with A06 BIOS for the M17xR2 or with A04 BIOS for the M17xR1? If so, are you close to Miami or would you be willing to send your system to our engineers (at our cost) for a couple days? Alternatively, I could set up an exchange for a like system?

Please PM me if so - they need hardware that consistently reproduces this issue. If your issue is intermittent, please don't PM as that won't be as helpful.

 

I've had the same problem before, and the cause was that the power outlet I plugged my laptop into, wasn't supplying the needed 240W. After I plugged it into another outlet the problem was solved, so maybe just try that first.

You can check the voltage your getting by going into the bios, on the first screen at the bottom there is a line "AC adapter type" and will show you if your charger is supplying the full 240W

 

P.S. I think you guys use different power supplies in the US, in that case, just make sure its supplying the appropriate voltage

 

I have an R1 with A04 and posted my solution to the problem a few post up, so if you do get your hands on a system, test my theory as well please.

 

hey, I just got M17x R2 last monday...and was wondering about the battery as it say 94% available (plugged in, not charging) is this the max it goes till?

I've tried removing and re-inputing the battery and it starts charging...but it seems it stops at 94%...guess theres no such thing as 100% charged? or even 99, 98, 97, 96, or 95? lol

just wondering...for a laptop that cost $4,500 you'd think it run without any problems.

 

Ring Dell for a replacement battery. Battery's have a 1yr limited warranty. Cheers.

 

Thanks, but I think that there is something else going on here. I've tried all of the various AC adpater and battery combinations and that doesn't seem to resolve 100%. I have a 100% failure capture coming in to engineering now, so hopefully they can figure out what is going on and resolve promptly...

 

and can they fix the adapter warning message - that I always get if I have disabled the adapter warnings in the BIOS.

I have the it plugged in / charging and when I boot up it tells me that running on batteries will cause the laptop to run on the integrated GPU, which of course is wrong,

 

Found that this always happened to me when Stealth Mode was on. Hit the Stealth Mode and click yes. See if you start charging. If not, press Stealth Mode once again and click Yes. Any luck? I as able to repro it every time. Does Stealth supposed to stop the battery from charging, cause it does?

 

Very interesting - I never use Stealth Mode but will try this. Flex or Delta PSU and what BIOS are you on?

 

Flex PSU and BIOS is A07.

 

This happened to me the other day i tried disabling/enabling the batt. then i unplugged the battery and replugged it back in and it started charging again.
Flex and A07

 

i got the dreaded message the other day on my very latest replacement system....its only a week old and is running a06 with a delta a/c.

Tech told me that this issue had been resolved in bios updates but i dont think it has. a07 doesnt offer anything for this issue, just cpu stepping.

Now, when i got this message on my system, i got the balloon message pop up from the task bar "non dell ac - will continue on battery wont charge" but seconds later, it started to charge!

I was also told that the "supposed" bios fix that addressed this issue was something to do with the detection of the power - somehow, the system was being overly specific on what to detect as a genuine power source because it has no tolerance in terms of wattage....basically, its gotta be 240w without any room either way....if it detects something else, it wont get recognised hence the message.

I was told that the fix had sorted this by allowing a greater margin for detection...

I mean, really, this is so stupid in the first place....i know dell dont want people buying a non dell adaptor because it will detract from profits when people require a new one! - i have NEVER owned a laptop or pc which is soooo proprietory about use of a kettle lead!

For god sake, scrap the technology behind this as it causes way too much hassle than its worth....

 

Good news, well sort of... I was able to capture a system from a customer here on the NB Forums that replicated the issue 100% of the time. I had this rapid captured to our engineering team and they have been able to reproduce the issue with the system and a variety of batteries/AC adapters. This should equate to a solution for all affected systems (M15 and M17x/M17xR2). Once I have more details, I will provide them here...

We'll get these issues fixed, even if it is just one at a time... Thanks for all the help and information about this one...

 

That IS good news!

Being a software developer I know it is very difficult if not impossible to solve a problem you cannot replicate.

Good luck on finding a solution!

 

Excellent.....as long as these issues get addressed and not brushhed under the carpet, i for one am a happy customer....nothing worse than being given the brush off....thanks again Brian, look forward to your feedback on this topic.

 

Another very good news!

 

Hi Brian,

I know real ETAs are an impossibility until you're just about through the gate, but would you guestimate that we're looking at days, weeks or months on this one?

 

i can't wait for this fix. I have this problem all the time. thanks Brian.

 

I actually started a thread about this the other day... my system is about 2 weeks old and it has happened to me 3 times. I did call Alienware and was told they know about it and it will be fixed in the next BIOS update. Which is contrary to what steviejones133 was told.

It is helpful to know it's happening to others... that way we should get a fix!

Sandy

 

Subscribing. My damn M17X does the same thing here and there.

 

Thanks and appreciate for your kind help Brian!

 

Any update on this fix? I am having the same issue on my 2 week old M17X R2. Was told by Tech Support to expect a fix in the bios.

 

This seems to be a pretty common issue. My new M17X R2 had this problem right out of the box. I received mine a little over a month ago. Other than this one issue, I am very pleased with this awesome machine.

The workaround is:

1.) Disconnect AC adapter
2.) Remove battery
3.) Hold down power button 30 seconds
4.) Reinstall battery
5.) Connect AC adapter (make sure it is plugged into the wall outlet first)

It is irritating to have to do this on a new product that is a flagship item. My Dell XPS M1730 that Dell replaced with this machine had similar (but far worse) issues. The instructions on Dell's Alienware support page are pretty much useless. Using the Fn/F2 to toggle the battery never has corrected this for me.

Hopefully Alienware will release an updated BIOS to correct this soon. I have disabled the warning in the BIOS, because it was also irritating to get the F1/F2 option during boot-up.

In the meanwhile, I have noticed a pattern that has helped me avoid having to do the power reset most of the time. (It used to be a daily ritual, and now it is only about once a week.) When running on battery power, reconnect the AC adapter before shutting down. Be sure the system tray icon status reads "plugged in/charging" before shutting down. Before powering up, plug in the AC adapter. In all cases, the AC adapter needs to be connected to a wall outlet and the blue tip lit up before connecting it to the machine.

Hope this helps some of you while we are waiting for a permanent solution.

For anyone that has not noticed, last month Dell released a number of updated drivers and a firmware update for the ATI 5870 video cards. A few of these were released a week or so after I received my system. I have installed all of the updates and my machine performs slightly better than before.

 

I have an XPS M1530 and it just cost me $427.66 to extend the warranty for 1 more year, but I do really like that machine. Dell is actually coming here tomorrow to replace its motherboard. Interesting they replaced your XPS with Alienware - I would be bummed if that happened - I use them for different reasons... they are totally different.

Where in the BIOS did you find to disable that beep with the warning.. I couldn't find it - and also find it irritating.

Glad you are happy with your replacement - I am new to Alienware but love it!

Sandy

 

Hi Sandy,

Go into the BIOS. Under the power menu you can find the A/C Adapter Warnings. Just disable it.

 

I have this problem too, but mine seems to be worse than for others.

My battery fails to charge for all available BIOS releases. Also, the tricks suggested on here do not help for me. I can only get past POST when the battery is out of the laptop and the AC Adapter is plugged in. In this case, I can only operate in low power (stealth) mode.

Still have warranty and I'm looking to send in the AC Adapter. However, the blue light does work and apparently it works sufficiently to operate low power mode. Could this still be a BIOS issue or can I send in my adapter to get a new one?

 

Thanks for clarifying! I did see that but thought it was a warning ONLY if you inserted a different adapter than the one from Dell. So, again, thanks for clarifying...

I gave you a rep!

Sandy

 

I get problem often too "plugged in, not charging".
For me it usually fixes itself after a while randomly.

The other day for example, it was like on 40% and not charging, came back a while later, and it got charged to 100% and the message was gone.

I noticed for me this issue happens when my laptop comes back from sleep mode. It may also have to do with power plug being unplugged then plugging it in. But i think it's always been an issue when its starting up from sleep mode.

 

Well this is how it starts It becomes permanent (ly irritating).
I would mostly do shutdown, but I also played with hibernate and nothing is really changing that.

 

what is the difference in the icons when pressing Fn + F2 ?

1) broken battery = don't charge battery

2) Full Battery = Charge battery ??????

3) almost empty battery = ??????

4) Thank You

 

Sleep mode is frequently problematic on many desktops and laptops. Over the years, I would estimate 50% or more of the computers I have owned or used at work (probably well over 20 in total) have had issues with awaking from sleep mode, and in the case of mobile computers, not charging after waking from sleep mode. Solution: don't use sleep mode if it makes your computer buggy. By shutting down completely, you will have a computer that ultimately performs better also. In sleep mode, data is stored to RAM. In the event of a complete loss of power, any data captured when going into sleep mode will be lost.

In hibernation mode, a file is written to the hard drive allowing a complete power down. When rebooting into Windows, data from that file is written back to RAM. In my experience, hibernation has been less buggy than sleep mode... although some people find similar issues albeit not as frequently as the case of sleep mode.