plugged in, not charging

Dell 1720, 250 gb hd, 3 gb mem, toys, etc
This dell came through with vista home premium, 32 bit. Over the past 3 + years some issues have surfaced and reinstallation became necessary. Of the recent past I decided to dump vista and install windows 7 ultimate. It could be a coincidence but since I installed the win7, I have experienced a charging problem. The computer runs fine, with minor exceptions, plugged in with or without the battery. I have run all of the diagnostics from dells support console and third party software as well. The system checks out completely.

I called dell and spend hours over the course of a few days with them. In the end, they want me to to send it to them for a new mobo. I checked all of the drivers from the dell site an have everything installed correctly. Dell wants $495 for the repair. For a few dollars more I can buy a newer model with a faster chip and more features.

What I don't get with dell, since this is not the first time I have had issues with them (2 mobos on my 5150 which is now fried), is why they place the charging circuit on the mobo and not as a separate component. The charging circuit only charges the battery and feeds information back on the status of the power supply. $500 is a lot of money to fix a battery charger. Instead, I am going to yank the mobo and send it to a tech to repair the board. It will be cheaper, when you know what you are looking for. In the meantime I can continue on one of my other computers. The point is, this is only another of dells screw ups that they don't want to take responsibility for.

Recent threads on many boards like this one, have revealed the same and simular issues entitled "plugged in, not charging" named after the message in the box below the battery and plug icon.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

i havent been on an inspiron in a while, but from googling, do u have a "battery charging" button? like on the XPS theres a fn+F2 button that enables that kind of thing i think. also in bios, my xps has an option for that.

it seems like
how to mend it .com - Battery not charging on a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop?
has some answers.

but imo, id just get a new laptop instead of sending it for repairs. Theyre relatively cheap for something way more powerful than ur inspiron.

 

Make sure it's not your AC adapter? Or your battery?

The plugged in/not charging business can be caused by bad adapters, bad power jacks, bad motherboards, or even bad batteries...

 

Have you tried a known good battery and known good Dell 90 watt AC adapter?

Also charging issues are quite complicated as stated above, you could have power circuitry issues with your motherboard. You could also have a defective charging port, which cost like 3 bucks and a solder job.

Or you could test your battery/AC adapter on a known working 1720.

 

Update: I have checked out the ac adapter, I have a spare battery that works, the diagnostics say both batteries are good and working, show charge percentage, the battery light indicator is not lit, I wriggled the plug in the back of the computer thinking it could be a broken solder joint, the computer runs with the battery out and plugged in so it is not the mobo as such, it is the charging circuit located on the mobo according to dell. The computer is responding correctly and works in every way except that the battery is not charging.

As I previously stated, I am not willing to give dell $495 for a refurbished mobo just to fix a charging circuit. There has to be someone around who knows exactly where that circuit is on the mobo and resolder it or replace the charging component. Sooner or later I will take this apart myself and look at it. I justs don't have the time right now, BUT, I have another computer to work on in case this one dies. I back up my work every day right now so I don't loose my files, etc.

Thanks for all of the suggestions but I have been that route already. But keep bring more on please. Maybe some one out there can hit the right button.

 

You could just replace the entire motherboard or ship it out to a repair shop that specializes with board level repair. You can replace the motherboard same day, but it is possible you may need to reinstall your OS.