Dell Latitude laptop disabling charger

Question

My Dell Latitude E5510 running Windows 7, seemingly random disables the charger/adaptor. After unplugging the charger from the socket, waiting a few seconds and plugging it back in, it works fine (sometimes only for a few seconds, sometimes until fully charged).

This behaviour is not dependent on the adaptor (I tried a different Dell-adaptor) and is not displayed when the laptop is in sleep-mode or powered-off (it charges OK). I.e. the operating system/power management/... is actively disabling the charger (control-led on charger goes out).

Googeling on for this issue gives little help. A single post describes similar symptoms, with the diagnosis being that the charger was incorrectly seen by power management as a NIC, and disabled. No solution posted however.

Changing the power management settings however does not ameliorate the situation, and I do not know how to request a log of power management-related events on Windows.

Any suggestions on diagnosis/possible fixes are welcome.

Answer 1

Try this:

1. Disconnect AC
2. Shutdown
3. Remove battery
4. Connect AC
5. Startup
6. Open Device Manager
7. Click the plus (+) sign next to Batteries category, right-click all of the "Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery" listings, and select Uninstall In the "Confirm Device Uninstall" dialog box, click OK. (it’s ok if you only have 1 of these).
8. Click the plus (+) sign next to System Devices. Right-click the “ACPI Fixed Features Button" and select Uninstall. In the "Confirm Device Uninstall" dialog box, click OK.
9. Shutdown
10. Disconnect AC
11. Insert battery
12. Connect AC
13. Startup