Power adaptor not recognized?????

@Elkay:
hey mate, can you elaborate a little on the two different 240W adapters issue ?
just out of interest ..

 

One of the 240W adapters is made by Flextronics, the other by Delta. Other than a very slight difference to the way the blue LED glows on the end of the plug, you would need to read the label on the bottom to tell the difference between the two.

 

I got a felxtronics one.....is that any better or worse than thhe other?

 

thanks!
i have the flextronics one, can you confirm the Delta adapter also has the "power adapter not recognized" issue ?

 

I've noticed no difference in the two. Both get damn hot with hardcore gaming haha.

 

Both have the issue. The problem is in the BIOS, not the adapters.

 

best not to have it propped up on a can of petrol then huh?

 

Hmm.. it's Independence Day weekend here..

 

better run on battery power for a few days then LOL

 

I started getting that annoying message about a month ago on my M17x R1. I never had that error before ( and I have it for almost a year now) I has the original Bios ( A02 I think, though not completely sure) and right after I updated to the latest A05 I started getting the infamous message. I thought It could be my adapter starting to "break" but now It sounds like a problem with latest bios' since this problem keeps popping in the forum. Wish I'd never made the Bios update

It happens so often that I almost automatically press F2 ( to start Bios setup) right after that press F9 to load defaults and inmediately press F10 to save and exit. That way I don't start Windows with battery power (and stealth mode style performance) Sometimes I get the Osd message on Windows so I unplug and plug again and It works fine after that BUT man is that annoying!!!

I'm kinda getting used to the: (on boot) F2->F9->F10 Then (in Windows): unplug ->plug method but hope for a new Bios update to fix this nonsense...

 

Just flash back to A03..

 

quick fix.... plug the power brick into the wall wit 20 seconds befor pluging it into the laptop. this has worked for me and i havent had the error msg for 3 weeks now. this gives the brick time to get to full power.... according to a dell tech in coasta rica.

 

It didn't work for me, neither did the power drain, I still get the warning message during POST and the battery doesn't charge (with the OSD warning about the adapter on Windows) unless I deactivate the warning from BIOS.

 

@Elkay Is it possible? Is it safe? That could be a solution.


@Dirtydan I'm gonna check if it "Only" happens when the adapter has not had enough time to get enough and stable power. Maybe that could be a solution too but have to check if that's what's happening.

Thanks for both tips...

 

AAARRGGGHHH!!!!!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water........just got the message again....non dell a/c and battery not charging....

This occurred after running my battery down as low as it would go for the very 1st time (it got to 7% and said it will hibernate if not connected to the juice).

So, what d'ya do in that situation?...you grab your trusty (or in this case, not so trusty) power supply and plug the little beggar in and that should be that eh?...............oh NO! .... bing, message still comes up not charging......disconnected and reconnected a/c....still no joy.....toggled Fn/F2...still nothing....just running on a/c and no battery charge.

So, flip the little beauty over, whip out the battery, flip it back over, finger on the power for 20 secs, back over again she goes (and she is fairly hefty as you will all know so my arms are aching at this point lol) whip the battery back in, flip it over for the last time, reconnect the juice....turn it on...boots with same message!!!!!!! - non dell a/c.

So, shut down, restart and yes it starts to accept a charge.....

This is NO WAY for a high end laptop to perform....i mean, it is afterall , a laptop....designed to be portable and yes, suprisingly enough, run on a battery....all of which is well and good but it AINT NO GOOD if the battery wont bloody well charge is it!

Getting really hacked off with it now............Especially when you think that it is supposed to be a PORTABLE LAPTOP.....it doesnt matter if its the "all singing mother of gaming" laptops or "budget joe's bargain corner celeron M" laptop....both need battery power and how the hell are you supposed to charge this thing efficiently / reliably when the sodding thing doesnt know when its plugged in to charge or not! - its pathetic on Dell's behalf.

This probem coupled with the farce that is the driver issue with the crossfire 5870 (another winge altogether although many of you are aware of this issue also) makes me really think .... was this the wisest move spending two and a half thousand POUNDS not DOLLARS on an alienware laptop....my eagerness and hopes and aspirations for this latop purchase are very rapidly dwindling......

I shall now dismount my soapbox. LOL

(Oh, BTW, hope you guys across the pond from me are having a great Independance weekend - hopefully battery worry free!!)

 

I went on the dell website it doesn't have the Bios A03, where would I find it?

 

try this to the letter please

 

Thanks very much for that, i havent tried it yet but i will. I appreciate your solution, however, the point still remains, for something so simple, on such an expensive laptop, we shouldnt have to be searching for solutions for something so simple as charging a battery!

 

i agree, but at least there IS a solution

 

Thanks (sorry dont know your name!).....as its late, i will give it a go tomorrow...i did try the other remedy suggested of leaving the a/c "warm up" but that did no good....all i want is for it to charge and recognise its charging when i plug it it...not asking too much for a laptop LOL

BTW my three battery icons are: disabled, one with enabled and green bars showing status, the othe is always full with blue bars........

 

blue is the one I am referring to

 

Ok , cheers, next time it crops up i will try it. Thanks alot for the advice....if it keeps on though, I will be in touch with Dell for a good ole moan and complain.

 

Been reading over this thread a bit - have you guys tried uninstalling OSD and if so, do you still get that message? Perhaps its an OSD issue?

 

OSD is unrelated, BatBoy. On my R1 I got the message at the BIOS POST screen, so it's completely unrelated to Windows or anything running in it. I've yet to have a problem with my R2 on A05, I never run on battery power though and that's where most people see the boot problem. Seeing as that's happening at the Windows logo right on boot when it dies, I'm sure OSD hasn't had a chance to load anything at that point. Haven't gotten around to testing that out yet, though.

 

Just to recap on the problem am experiencing with regards to this......ihave intemittently got the message on boot that power adaptor is "non dell" and "will continue on battery power"...this is when i boot with the genuine dell flextronics a/c adaptor plugged in......

I get the standard boot warning on boot with battery that i should "connect a/c for optimium performance".....F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup.....

Ok, so if i enter setup, i can disable warnings (not something i really want to do) or if i press F1, it continues and when i then connect a/c, its not recognised.....this is very random as sometimes it does recognise and starts to charge and sometimes it doesnt - which really bugs me.

I am running A05 and OSD 113 which came installed shipped with my laptop...

Just withhin the last 5 minutes, I booted on a.c after connecting thhe adaptor and turning on the juice, (all witin 5-10 seconds) and got the message "non- dell"........its taken me the time to write this post, reconnect the ac (which had remained turned on at the socket but not plugged in at the rear) and whilst up and running, i reconnected the "already powered up charger" to the rear, and it took 5-10 seconds but the taskbar icon started to show "charging" which it wont do on boot or from a "cold"ac supply.

Take what you want from this, but from my view, its totally unacceptable to have such a sporadic charging problem....i expect to plug n play not mess about, wait for things to warm up or maybe possibly work.......

I WILL be intouch with Dell in the morning as i have had enough of this already....my laptop is less than 3 weeks old!!!!

 

Hi Stevie

The laptop uses a "one-wire" communication as a century to prevent unauthorized chargers from damanging the computer. A sensor measure the voltage and current and if it is within the voltage/current spec it lets it pass. The 'one-wire protocol provides Dell a way to be sure that you're using an adapter that they approve of. This protocol was originally designed for short distances - say between chips on a board, but in this case it is being stretched by the distance between the charger and the laptop. The signaling protocol is sensitive to the transmission characteristics of the conductors. If the conductors in the cable or connectors are degraded a bit the signaling protocol may fail. You are probably getting a red herring sometimes due to your local power source. Maybe your power combined with your charger may be just on the brink of the acceptable tolerances. I would push Dell to send you a new charger and if that doesn't work a new laptop. I remember we were talking about special plugs and power bars last week. Any extra circuit between you and the wall socket will possibly throw a wrench at the sensor. Compared to us you are running high voltage and lower frequency. Dell being a global company with one charger for all nations is probably at the root of this problem. Maybe a new charger will have slightly different tolerances and this will be more to you liking. I know for home theatres in North America some people buy products like MONSTER Voltage regulators. That seems a little over the top in your case. Probably certain times of the day there are different demands on the power grid and this to may cause some fluxuations.

 

Back again to report on my continuing problem!

I spoke to a Dell AW tech yesterday and explained the problems that i have been having regarding the intermittent charging and non charging and also the non-dell a/c adaptor messages.

Basically, went through a few things such as power drain etc (all of which i had done prior to this and told him of that too)....he was aware of the issue and said that there was a fix and asked if he could call me back in 10 mins so he could get the right info......

Call came back, no fix! - basically, the only advice to stop the problem that he gave me was to (prior to connecting the a/c adaptor to the back of the laptop) i should plug in at the wall, leave the pack to "warm up" for about 30 seconds and then try it.

I have been doing so over the last 24 hrs and it doesnt really seem to fully make the problem go....it helps, but i dont think its a 100% solution....

I am going to speak to someone later and have been told that a new adaptor can be sent out F.O.C so i am hoping that that may solve it.....who knows!!

UPDATE: Spoke to Dell again, they have said they are aware of a few incidents of this happening...he is gonna send out a new complete a/c kit/pack/leads....(i have flextronics atm, gonna get a Delta one this time as i said i was aware there were 2 available for the M17x) - see how i go with the new one, if still persistent, he said will have to look at the motherboard being the problem.

He also admitted that i shouldnt have to wait for the a/c to warm up for it to be recognised, it should be immediate with no errors incurred from a "cold" adapator.....all very disconcerting for my 1st AW that is less than 3 weeks old!

 

Hi Stevie

a) Interesting point about the adaptor heating up but don't you just leave the charger plugged in 24/7? I thought I remember you saying this was a desktop replacement. In theory having it in a warmed stated does make sense. I leave mine plugged in 24/7.

b) I have two Flextronics AC adaptors. One at home and one at my office. The stainless steel on the adaptor tip on one does have a bit of faint discoloring. I think getting another FOC is a very good idea. You never know if you have a batter solder joint or poor conduction.

c) Make sure they give you the right Wattage. There is also a 140watt but that won't work on your system.

d) You could have a bad solder joint inside the laptop as well and that is why they may eventually change the MB. I think your 7 (business) day return period is up but if anyone else is plauged with this problem I would just send it back and reorder a new one.

P.S. Have you tried using a different jack in your home, one that is supplying fewer appliances/lights/electronics? You can turn off the notifications in the bios but that doesn't fix the problem.

 

Hi Falcon.

Regarding leaving it plugged in 24/7, no i dont do that...i mean when its shut down, i disconnect it from the wall and at the back of the laptop. I have always done this as safe practice incaseof lightening or unwanted surges (im a safety freak LOL) and although it is a DTR, i dont see the point in leaving it permanently plugged in as its no much hassle to plug it back in when i want to use it.
I have been trying the adaptor is several states, boot warm and cold boot from a/c and from plugging in whilst on battery....the messages are intermittent and dont really correlate 100% with any of the above (basically it happens regardless and sporadically) although it hasnt happened much of late.

The Dell tech guy said he would get another a/c out to me ASAP, he took the model no. off the back of my flextronics and i said "are you gonna send me the same one? - i have heard that there is a Delta version available?"
He checked and said would give me the other make as was showing two compatable adaptors in stock for the M17x...I will make sure i get the 240w version as i have dual 5870's.

He said he would follow up on the new a/c in a short while and if i was still having problems, he seemed to think that it may be the MB or something like that....and that if that was the case, they would look at that then but to be honest, i dont want a new laptop having to have such repairs at less than 3 weeks old - i would be insisting on a replacement if this carries on after the new a.c (assuming it doesnt work)

Havent tried another socket, although its on a ring main that isnt very heavily loaded or anything and have recently had all new electrics in the house to bring them up to electrical regulations so i assume it cant be anything to do with wall outlets.

I dont want to turn off any notifications as it will just mask the problem and i need to get to the bottom of it so here's hoping i do shortly!!! - watch this space!

 

For the Alienware owner who has everything:

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator v2.5

Not sure if this works Stevie or if it is Windows 7 64 compatible but it looks interesting. Have not tried it or read any reviews on it.

Also not sure if this would work on laptop PSU.

 

Interesting....havent run it myself but surely Dell should know how much power the M17x requires and should make adaptors accordingly....i have still been testing out the adaptor supplied with my pc, eg. this morning, plugged it in to the wall, then without delay into the laptop (no warm up time allowed) and booted up.

No problems, no message about non dell and charging as it should..

This, to me anyway, kinda defeats the logic that the ac pack needs to warm up to stabilise the power supplied to the laptop.
Someone mentioned in a thread about a problem with bios recognizing the power as Dell-power (that sounds kinda like puppy power from scooby doo) but who knows!

 

UPDATE:

Got my new a/c adaptor today from Dell (must say, pleased on how quick it came....only got ordered yesterday so really pleased with efficiency of delivery)

On a bad note, the courier said i had to return the original when i was told i could keep it (as a spare maybe) but not the case.
I did have the choice of keeping the power lead for the original (which i did) as the courier said he had to take the old a/c away before he could leave the new one..


So, that happened, got the new a/c and new lead...kept the old power lead....courier left.....but left me with a power lead for a different country! (rounded 3pin not square UK 3 pin) - good job i kept the original power lead eh!!!

Well, phoned Dell to winge....another lead on its way...checked compatability of the new a/c with the old power lead....was told would be fine....it is.

Gone through a bit of testing and thus far, i have NOT had any error messages or non-dell warnings and it has charged/worked straight away without warming up or acclimatising. Seems maybe that the flextronics once i had was duff.....keeping my fingers crossed it carries on working like this!

Have also checked the wattage and on boot from battery, F2 toi go to setup and power options shows that when plugged in it shows 240w...unplugging it then goes to nothing obviously and repluggin it, goes back to 240w so looking good so far!!!

 

Right, just a quick update on my situation that may be of use to others in a similar one.

Dell sent me a replacement a/c (unfortunately the wron power lead with it but thats gonna get sorted) and it seems to have cured any problems regarding battery not charging or non-dell adaptor messages. I had a Flextronics adaptor supplied with my new M17x-R2 and thanks to this forum, realised that there was an alternate available (Delta).

This is thhe adaptor that i now have and like i say, its working so far without having to warm up or anything else.....straight out the box so to speak!

The AW tech guy phoned me today to see how i was getting on with it (which i thought was really good customer rapport) and i told him things were looking good so far but i would like to continue testing it out over a week or so and not just a few days.

He did say that this problem had been raised several times and other users were having the same problem as myself....consequently, dell had begun to take note of this issue and he said to me that all of the incidents raised so far about this problem were indicative of a faulty Flextronice adaptor....no incidents occured with the alternative Delta adaptor.

So, what can we take from this? - seems clear to me that the culprit can be a dodgy Flextronics power adaptor and not necessarily a motherboard issue or anything else..

Just thought this may help someone else out as i know it did my head in with a brand new machine but glad it looks like its sorted now.....fingers crossed.

Thanks everyone for their input (especially Falcon and Elkay for alerting me to the fact that there was an alternative - thanks guys) and maybe someone can close this thread now LOL

 

Please don't close it yet. I updated my bios and same thing is happening to me. Called tech support and was told to look for a bios update. That hasn't happened yet so tomorrow I'm gonna check my PS and see if it's flextronics.

Anyway, some people still need this info....

 

I think it's a crap shoot. I had both adapters with my R1 and both did it. Others have reported Delta and having the issue, too.

 

Sorry, youre right about that.....

FYI, my new adaptor (Delta) is working fine...updated bios to A06 and still fine....
My only other prob now is to sort out my "misfiring" crossfire 5870's (doing my head in this laptop and its only 3 wks old)

 

Have you had your battery replaced by support for this issue or not yet?

 

No, I am running on my original battery. It's operating normally except for when it stops charging.

 

For those of you who are continuing to experience problems with AC adapter errors or battery not charging with A05 or A06 BIOS (either at POST or in the OS or OSD), can you please contact technical support and ask for a battery replacement? If this does not resolve your problem, please shoot me a PM with your service tag so I can dig into it a bit more... If you are running a BIOS earlier than A05, please try A06 before doing so.

 

Brian,

As the original pposter of this thread , i would be really interested to hear whhat you have to say about this issue to satisfy my own curiosity as to whty this was happening.

I am in the uk, my original ac was a flextronics, my current one is a delta which seems to be ok but its only a few days old with no errors so far.

Look forward to your reply post when you get the chance,

Steve.

 

I am having the non-charging going into stealth mode issue with A06 on my M17x. Can anybody provide me the part number for the delta charger?

 

I am not sure the part number but if you need a quick fix, turn the laptop off, disconnect the AC, remove the battery, and hold the power button down for 15 seconds. Replace the battery, and AC and start as normal. The not charging happened to me once and the above method solved the problem. Hasn't happened since.

 

When i spoke to Dell to get a replacement for my Flextronics, he hasked me for the long number listed in the white sticker on the back of the adaptor.
This is found next to the square "barcode"......

The number on the back of my new Delta is as follows:

CN-0J211H-48661-03M-096H-A02

I would recommend checking your existing one first to see if you already have this as i am not sure if this is just a generic marking but its what i was asked to provide...

I had to ask the Dell tech guy for the Delta version....i think he was just going to send out another Flextronics one to me but after reading replies here, I thought i would ask for the alternative.
As it turns out, havent had any issues since and i am running A06 and OSD 113.

I hope this helps you out.....if you want anything else off my current adaptor, let me know.

 

Just spoke with AW technical support and they told me to wait for the BIOS update.

 

Apologies for the lack of consistency from support. I send them message after message about how to handle problems, but I just can't get through to everyone I guess. Engineering believes that A05 BIOS resolves this issue completely. I can clearly see that some people are still having problems with A05 or A06, so this is why I have asked that you ask for a battery replacement from support. If this doesn't fix the problem, I'll go back to engineering and ask for an alternate solution, but I need some hard data first...

 

If you need anything from me , just ask......i can probably give you lots on this issue!

 

A05 bios didn't fix it for me, I have now updated the BIOS to A06, hopefully this will fix the problem othewise I will have to call tech support for a battery replacement.

 

Hmmm, I just started to set up my benchmarking disk and appear to be having the same problem. Don't think I say the problem though with my original HDD that shipped with the facotry image. Though I could be wrong.

 

Ive been running A06 now for a few days with my new Delta adaptor and havent had the message/issue re-occur.....even the Dell technician that i spoke to about my replacement adaptor told me that all known issues that he knew of were connected to Flextronics adaptors.....again, i dont know how true that is or wether or not people with Delta adaptors are expereincing the same problems....would be good to know.....

 

I have the drivers CD from when the laptop shipped. Would that have an older BIOS on it that I could use? It originally shipped with Vista on it and now has Windows 7. Would that cause a problem?