Inspiron 8200 - Bad battery or Laptop?

Recently I thought the batteries in my laptop had died as they simply
will not hold a charge. I resigned myself to using it on AC power
rather than costly battery replacement (BTW...are there 3rd party
batteries for this laptop rathen than OEM Dell?).

Now I find that with the batteries inserted the power pack will die at
boot up. I can see the green LED on the power pack adapter fade out,
the internal battery indicator on the laptop turns warning orange, and
the laptop dies due to power failure.

If I remove the batteries (and I also must remove the power cable,
then plug it back in for the green LED to re-light), and boot with AC
power only (no batteries installed) it comes up fine.

So...are the batteries shorted and killing the system, or is it
possible the power circuit has a problem causing this apparent
short-out?

TIA

Does the 8200 have dual batteries? One Battery? One battery and a floppy
drive in second slot?

I had same problem with my 8200 two years ago. I had dual batteries and
also have a floppy drive that plugs into one batterty slot (can either use
both batteries or one battery/floppy drive). With both batteries (with or
without AC power) my 8200 would also die at bootup. Took both batteries out
and could boot on AC power.

On the rear of the batteries are "check light" (I don't know what Dell calls
them) that allow you to determine the state of the batteries. Turned out
one of the batteries was dead, unchargable, stick it in the recycle bin, I
mean Dead. As long as that particular battery was inserted the 8200 would
not boot. Could still boot with the good battery in one slot and the floopy
drive in the other (would not boot with just one battery and an empty slot).

The only way around it was to use the good battery in one slot and the
floppy drive in the second slot. Would not boot with just one battery (good
or bad) and empty slot.

Check the 'health' of your battery by looking at the lights on the rear of
the battery. This should be explained in your owner's manual, otherwise
search the Dell site on how to do this.

Maybe someone can come up with a source other than Dell for the battery.
But if you only have one battery, I'm afraid you are going to have to buy
another or settle for AC power.

That's all I know from experience.


don



"Rivergoat" wrote in message
...
Recently I thought the batteries in my laptop had died as they simply
will not hold a charge. I resigned myself to using it on AC power
rather than costly battery replacement (BTW...are there 3rd party
batteries for this laptop rathen than OEM Dell?).

Now I find that with the batteries inserted the power pack will die at
boot up. I can see the green LED on the power pack adapter fade out,
the internal battery indicator on the laptop turns warning orange, and
the laptop dies due to power failure.

If I remove the batteries (and I also must remove the power cable,
then plug it back in for the green LED to re-light), and boot with AC
power only (no batteries installed) it comes up fine.

So...are the batteries shorted and killing the system, or is it
possible the power circuit has a problem causing this apparent
short-out?

TIA

"Rivergoat" wrote in message
...
(BTW...are there 3rd party
batteries for this laptop rathen than OEM Dell?).
TIA

Never used these guys myself. Have seen them recommended by folks who have.
http://www.pacificbattery.com/dell.html

--
D


I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details.

Remove shoes to E-mail.

Its not the battery, its the charger unit on the systemboard thats killing
the Ac battery you need a new systemboard
"HillBillyBuddhist" wrote in message
...

"Rivergoat" wrote in message
...
(BTW...are there 3rd party
batteries for this laptop rathen than OEM Dell?).
TIA

Never used these guys myself. Have seen them recommended by folks who
have.
http://www.pacificbattery.com/dell.html

--
D


I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details.

Remove shoes to E-mail.

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:14:46 -0500, "don"
wrote:

Does the 8200 have dual batteries? One Battery? One battery and a floppy
drive in second slot?
snip

Thanks for the info. I should have added....it has dual batteries, no
floppy drive as I've never really needed one (especially with the
memory sticks nowadays!). I've moved a few times over the past few
years...haven't a clue where my manual is, so I'll search the Dell
site...and check those status lights.

PS....

I checked the batteries themselves a moment ago. Never realized there
were supposed to be status lights as you mentioned. There are, of
course, none on either battery...they be dead as far as I can tell.

But as another poster said..."the system board needs replacing."
That's pretty extreme, I can only imagine what that would cost. I'd
rather spend the money on a new, much more lightweight laptop! But I'm
hoping it's more of a battery issue than a system board! In the
meantime I can take it to hot spots so long as I pull out both
batteries and use AC exclusively.

I did look at that after market battery site one suggested, that's a
possible alternative for new batteries. Hmmmm, dual batteries would
set me back $200....and what if that doesn't fix the problem???? Eeek.

I have to agree. A situation like this usually requires a motherboard
replacement or an external charger. Battery chargers frequently go
bad in laptops.

I cannot verify that this method works, but if others wish to save
their laptop's battery charger, try keeping the battery out and only
using AC power unless you wish to go someplace remote. I believe that
battery chargers frequently go bad due to the constant trickle charge
demand that the batteries require in order to maintain a fully charged
status. But that's mostly an opinion, not a fact backed up by
experiements. YMMV

Dan


On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 23:40:05 +0100, "Fixer"
wrote:

Its not the battery, its the charger unit on the systemboard thats killing
the Ac battery you need a new systemboard

Unlike the newer Dells, which have the charge circuitry on the
mainboard, this one does not.

Try parts-people.com - the DC charger board is probably a $30-40 part
(vs. several hundred for a mainboard).


Fixer wrote:
Its not the battery, its the charger unit on the systemboard thats killing
the Ac battery you need a new systemboard

I have an 8200 and it's battery died after about the first year. I had
similar symptoms to what you describe. I purchased a replacement from Dell
which came with a BIOS update that supposedly fixed something with the
charging routine, and I seem to get better life out of the new battery.

Beware of aftermarket cheap laptop batteries -- for a different laptop, I
bought a "reconditioned" one on Ebay and it was DOA.

I have just resigned myself to the fact that these laptop batteries will
need to be replaced every 18 months or so. That's why Dell only
warrantees them for a year, LOL.

-- Paul



"Rivergoat" wrote in message
...
Recently I thought the batteries in my laptop had died as they simply
will not hold a charge. I resigned myself to using it on AC power
rather than costly battery replacement (BTW...are there 3rd party
batteries for this laptop rathen than OEM Dell?).

Now I find that with the batteries inserted the power pack will die at
boot up. I can see the green LED on the power pack adapter fade out,
the internal battery indicator on the laptop turns warning orange, and
the laptop dies due to power failure.

If I remove the batteries (and I also must remove the power cable,
then plug it back in for the green LED to re-light), and boot with AC
power only (no batteries installed) it comes up fine.

So...are the batteries shorted and killing the system, or is it
possible the power circuit has a problem causing this apparent
short-out?

TIA