Are Dell Laptop Batteries That Finicky?

[easysurfer]

I was trying to use one of my laptops last night. It's a used Dell Latitude E5430, to be exact with MX-Linux as the system.

When I bought the laptop (used) I already new the battery was old and would need replacing eventually.

So, last night when trying to use (battery in, power cord plugged in) the laptop would just power on, screen on, then shut down. Then the screen wouldn't even go on and instead just power button go on briefly, then shut down.

I was thinking, maybe something with the video cable as I did replace the LCD screen months back. So, I try the power up, a few more times, still only power button lights up and then shuts down. So, I'm thinking, maybe something with that battery. So, I leave it charged awhile. The try to power up, and the screen does go on. Linux boots up, but then when I shut down, goes into a kernel panic. I end up cloning a HDD with MX-Linux (a working system, different laptop) and try again. Boots up, upon shut down, kernel panic.

So, I try, just the adapter, no battery. No luck. Still either power button lights, then shuts down. Surprising to me as I'd think adapter alone should work.

I decided to buy a new battery (third party as don't want to pay the price gouged Dell prices). Should arrive in a couple of days.

I've read that Dell's batteries has a chip in them. So the [-]crippling [/-] smarts built-in tries to steer consumers in buying their over-priced batteries.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have had a couple of Dell laptops over the years and with constant power to them, they both needed new batteries every couple of years. If I recall, I used aftermarket replacements and they worked fine.

My DW has one as her w*rk computer and it has had zero issues for the last 3 (almost 4 years) until a couple of weeks ago. She noticed that the bottom (near the mouse pad) was popped off. We took it apart to see what the deal was and the battery (which looked like a bag of sorts) was swollen. Her IT folks told us to immediately remove it and they would send a new one. I have never seen that before, but is a cautionary tale. Oh...once we removed it, the computer still worked...no battery required.

Edit: DW's computer is older, so not sure if the OPs computer would work the same, I would kind of doubt it how technology advances so quickly.

 

[easysurfer]

I have had a couple of Dell laptops over the years and with constant power to them, they both needed new batteries every couple of years. If I recall, I used aftermarket replacements and they worked fine.

My DW has one as her w*rk computer and it has had zero issues for the last 3 (almost 4 years) until a couple of weeks ago. She noticed that the bottom (near the mouse pad) was popped off. We took it apart to see what the deal was and the battery (which looked like a bag of sorts) was swollen. Her IT folks told us to immediately remove it and they would send a new one. I have never seen that before, but is a cautionary tale. Oh...once we removed it, the computer still worked...no battery required.

I just hope the issue of my laptop is only the battery. A head scratcher to me that just using the adapter without a battery did not work properly. Unless someone the kernel panic did something that stayed battery or not.

I like that model Dell and some other of their laptops because of the ease of self-servicing as taking off the back cover gives decent access to all the parts. Unlike my Lenovo Thinkpad where self-servicing practically involves taking the whole thing apart.

 

[braumeister]

So, I try, just the adapter, no battery. No luck. Still either power button lights, then shuts down. Surprising to me as I'd think adapter alone should work.

This is common with many gadgets. They're made to draw power only from the battery, so if that isn't in the circuit you're hosed. It's done because the power supply from the battery is reliably the same, whereas the power from a charger may not be.

 

[easysurfer]

This is common with many gadgets. They're made to draw power only from the battery, so if that isn't in the circuit you're hosed. It's done because the power supply from the battery is reliably the same, whereas the power from a charger may not be.

That's good to know. Does make more sense to me now too as the adapter is also a 3rd party adapter and not an inflated priced Dell one.

 

[Jerry1]

Well, I got burned on the car battery thread so this time I’m going to say it’s not the battery.

But seriously, when you tried to run it with the adapter alone, while it did not work, the lights did come on. If it wasn’t built to work without a battery installed, I’m not sure why anything would light up at all.

 

[USGrant1962]

That's a 7 year old laptop. The battery finally died and you ordered a new one. You'll be good to go.

 

[Sojourner]

The battery on my 7-year old Dell XPS laptop is still going strong, no problems whatsoever (knock on wood). At this point, if the battery started to show any signs of trouble I'd probably just get a new laptop, though. Seven years is a perfectly reasonable timeframe for a laptop refresh, IMHO.

 

[ERD50]

That's a 7 year old laptop. The battery finally died and you ordered a new one. You'll be good to go.

Right. Not sure why OP is saying "finicky"? Based on the info provided, it's almost certainly the battery.

The battery on my 7-year old Dell XPS laptop is still going strong, no problems whatsoever (knock on wood). At this point, if the battery started to show any signs of trouble I'd probably just get a new laptop, though. Seven years is a perfectly reasonable timeframe for a laptop refresh, IMHO.

Yes, but a 7 YO laptop will likely run just fine on a lighter-weight Linux - they are designed to not be resource hogs.

-ERD50

 

[W2R]

That's a 7 year old laptop. The battery finally died and you ordered a new one. You'll be good to go.

+1

Perfectly reasonable, you'll be good to go IMO. I have been using Dell laptops for years and (as you all probably know from my post count) I spend a great deal of time online, always plugged into power and not relying on the battery alone. Never had a battery falter or fail, not even once.

Also I do not use the same laptop for years and years like that because I absolutely love buying a new laptop; that's my favorite way to BTD. Seriously, what is more fun, a brand new faster-than-greased-lightning slick-as-snot Dell laptop ("Dude, it's a Dell!), or, oh, say, a new end table, toaster oven, or something? For me it's the new laptop.

 

[jim584672]

I was trying to use one of my laptops last night. It's a used Dell Latitude E5430, to be exact with MX-Linux as the system.

When I bought the laptop (used) I already new the battery was old and would need replacing eventually.

So, last night when trying to use (battery in, power cord plugged in) the laptop would just power on, screen on, then shut down. Then the screen wouldn't even go on and instead just power button go on briefly, then shut down.

I was thinking, maybe something with the video cable as I did replace the LCD screen months back. So, I try the power up, a few more times, still only power button lights up and then shuts down. So, I'm thinking, maybe something with that battery. So, I leave it charged awhile. The try to power up, and the screen does go on. Linux boots up, but then when I shut down, goes into a kernel panic. I end up cloning a HDD with MX-Linux (a working system, different laptop) and try again. Boots up, upon shut down, kernel panic.

So, I try, just the adapter, no battery. No luck. Still either power button lights, then shuts down. Surprising to me as I'd think adapter alone should work.

I decided to buy a new battery (third party as don't want to pay the price gouged Dell prices). Should arrive in a couple of days.

I've read that Dell's batteries has a chip in them. So the [-]crippling [/-] smarts built-in tries to steer consumers in buying their over-priced batteries.

Based on what you are describing it doesn't sound like a battery if it is doing the weirdness with it plugged in. I would try a different distro or Win 10 to make sure it isn't the OS giving the problem. Install from an iso/usb not cloned from another machine. I had an old Dell and it would appear to turn off mid way through booting, then hitting the power button would let it continue, repeat a few times and it would finally work. That was a hardware problem.

 

[easysurfer]

Based on what you are describing it doesn't sound like a battery if it is doing the weirdness with it plugged in. I would try a different distro or Win 10 to make sure it isn't the OS giving the problem. Install from an iso/usb not cloned from another machine. I had an old Dell and it would appear to turn off mid way through booting, then hitting the power button would let it continue, repeat a few times and it would finally work. That was a hardware problem.

I have/had the same symptoms you described on your Dell.

I thought in the past maybe a video connection was loose when I changed to LCD screen. But now think that actually is a symptom of the battery dying on me.

 

[Kerfuffle]

The only issues I've had with Dell batteries is on my old XPS which had a recall related to the battery. Basically there's some issue that makes the battery swell so much that the trackpad and space bar no longer function (they sit directly on top of the battery). I got one battery free of charge, and then replaced it three more times over the next several years until I bought a new XPS. So far, no troubles with the new one.

 

[ejman]

Just as a point of reference, my Dell Latitude E6440 works fine running MX-Linux without the battery installed. A cheap amazon non Dell battery is what I normally run in it- good for about 3-4 hours of normal use.

 

[ERD50]

Well, I got burned on the car battery thread so this time I’m going to say it’s not the battery.

But seriously, when you tried to run it with the adapter alone, while it did not work, the lights did come on. If it wasn’t built to work without a battery installed, I’m not sure why anything would light up at all.

I was a little fuzzy on whether a laptop should be expected to work w/o the battery installed. Similar to the car starter thread, I was thinking the battery was expected to be there, to provide a load to the charger, and provide a burst current that the charger might not be capable of.

But the internet seems to show plenty of examples (even from an HP manual) that you can run w/o a battery. And like you say, if it wasn't allowed, it shouldn't even turn on to begin with.

But... it was also mentioned that you have to have a very good connection on that charger. One could have a marginal connection that might drop the voltage too low if the laptop drew more than average current for a time (which could cause the CPU to reset and kernel panic). But the battery would cover for that loss. So a user might not realize the charger connection was marginal until they tried running w/o the battery.

Or, it might be the Bendix .

-ERD50

 

[jim584672]

Laptops work fine with no battery and only plugged in.

 

[target2019]

I did have a laptop that would not run without battery. (May have been a Powerbook.) But I can't think of any recent HP or Dell notebook that would not run without battery, but it is not something I'm real familiar with.

If you don't get a replacement OEM battery it will be hit or miss on battery life and runtime for the battery. Hope it's a hit.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking you may be running into BIOS battery failure.

 

[easysurfer]

I did have a laptop that would not run without battery. (May have been a Powerbook.) But I can't think of any recent HP or Dell notebook that would not run without battery, but it is not something I'm real familiar with.

If you don't get a replacement OEM battery it will be hit or miss on battery life and runtime for the battery. Hope it's a hit.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking you may be running into BIOS battery failure.

I do know the OEM laptop battery is weak.

I did notice getting asked to reset the date/time. So if the regular battery doesn't make things work, then like you said, maybe the bios battery.

As I wait for the battery to arrive tomorrow, later today I'm going to try and start up laptop again with power adapter only, no HDD. See what more mysteries I can run into .

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The only issues I've had with Dell batteries is on my old XPS which had a recall related to the battery. Basically there's some issue that makes the battery swell so much that the trackpad and space bar no longer function (they sit directly on top of the battery). I got one battery free of charge, and then replaced it three more times over the next several years until I bought a new XPS. So far, no troubles with the new one.

This was the same as my DW's Dell. The IT folks she talked to said it was a fairly common problem but they hadn't heard of any fires or significant issues other that what you mentioned. Nonetheless, it does illustrate that there *can* be issues with these batteries that could be a bigger deal.

 

[braumeister]

some issue that makes the battery swell so much that the trackpad and space bar no longer function (they sit directly on top of the battery).

Same thing happened to my previous MacBook Pro. I was mystified by the problem but when I took it in to the Apple store they knew immediately what it was. Put in a new battery and all was well.

This can be dangerous and even lead to a fire, which is why they don't let you put lithium ion batteries in your checked bag on airplanes.

 

[easysurfer]

Went ahead and tried using laptop, no battery, no hdd. Just power adapter.

Power button just flickers for about 1/2 second then goes off.

Will see tomorrow what the new, 3rd party battery does, if anything.

 

[badatmath]

Well as a data point my w*rk swaps out laptops every 3 years. The last Dells had a high number of bulging batteries. I had kind of assumed it was due to people leaving them in hot cars or something but not sure. I do not recall what model it was or anything.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Well as a data point my w*rk swaps out laptops every 3 years. The last Dells had a high number of bulging batteries. I had kind of assumed it was due to people leaving them in hot cars or something but not sure. I do not recall what model it was or anything.

Just one case here, but my DWs Dell (had bulging battery) doesn't go in the car and never has (security requirement of her employer). Only thing that I think may have been an issue is that it's constantly plugged in and powered.

 

[easysurfer]

An update on my new laptop battery.

Think I found the culprit on the laptop crashing/hanging.

I do need a new battery. Got that today and it runs well.

But the sudden stopping looks like not a power issue but a bad ram module. I forgot that Dell has a hardware diagnostic thing that I can initial with pressing the F12 key. Should have done that before even buying the battery.

The diagnostic froze/turned of screen while running, checking one of the ram modules. Other checks out fine.

That's what I get for buying the cheap stuff .

 

[Jerry1]

Thanks for the update. I had a bad ram module once. Thankfully, the computer ran pretty well and I had a friend that’s super smart and directed me right to a ram checking program and sure enough, that was the issue.

However, the important thing is that you’re back up and running (or will be) and I’m break even on my diagnostics prognostications (wasn’t the battery).