AC Adapter/not charging problem, please help...

Ok, I have read through these forums, and others, and have been unable to resolve this issue after trying like a million things. Here's my issue:

This is on a Dell Inspiron N4030 running Windows 8 Pro with Bios Revision A07.


On boot-up I get this message:


"The AC power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined.

The battery may not charge.

The system will adjust the performance to match the power available.

Please connect a Dell 65W AC adapter or greater for the best system performance.

Strike the F3 key (before F1 or F2 key) if you do not want to see this power warning message again.

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility."

If I strike F2 and go into the bios it says "AC adapter type unknown"

If I strike F1 to continue boot-up it boots into windows and then the battery indicator shows "Plugged in, Not charging"

In attempting to fix this issue I have:

1. Replaced the battery.

2. Replaced the motherboard

3. Replaced the Power Board

4. Swapped out the adapter with several other Dell adapters we have in the house (we have 6 Dell laptops). Adapter revisions used are A00, A01, and A02.

5. Did the whole rigamarole here: Plugged in, not charging Windows 7 solution : Jeffrey Palermo (.com)

6. Tried various combinations of plugging/unplugging at different intervals and at different speeds that I have read on multiple sites.

7. Reset the Bios by disconnecting the battery and AC adapter and the holding down the power button for 20 seconds.

Someone please, please help me.

Thank you everyone,

Alex

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Jesus Christ...............have you already swapped the motherboard and the adapter without finding the issue ?????

..........(if not its so damn easy you have a false connector....sometimes this connectors gets a bit loose if you have really bad luck.



ps...i had this issue one time (the pc didnt recognize the adapter) on an older xps laptop......but it went away after a clean install of windows...some sort of bug in my case

 

Ok, I'm in the same boat, I am not as tech savy as the above user nor the others that I have read the posts of; however I have re-installed windows 8.0 and let it upgrade to 8.1, I have updated the drivers and re-installed my programs (a bit to hastily) and still have a issue w/ the AC Adapter not being recognized.

Your other post had indicated going into the device manager and removing the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery which I did as well and scanned for new hardware however that did not resolve the issue either.

Any other ideas as the warranty is out and I've swapped the adapter two times without success with valid DELL adapters not generics.

Thanks.

 

Hi, the problem is not (Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Or Battery Or motherboard), but the real problem is a faulty PowerBoard, Power Connector or the AC Adapter.
Try to upgrade your BIOS to the latest version available first, then try another AC Adapter with the same FAMILY Model (PA-10 Or PA-12 Or PA-3E ....).
If it didn't solve your problem then your problem is PowerBoard or Power Connector related, replace the Power Connector or check the solder joints, if you're not familiar with this things then you have to stop and contact a qualified technician, good luck :thumbsup:

 

The centre pin on the power plug of Dell PSUs allows the computer to interrogate the PSU and find out the power rating.

If this pin is missing, broken, loose in the socket or some other defect that stops the computer from getting this information then you will get the message you have described. One of the side-effects is that the battery won't get charged whether the computer is on or off.

You have tried other PSUs so that should exclude the missing and broken options.

John