Tech Dreamer

thanks man!
it worked for me and my computer
is as funtional as ever.

thanks again.

I have this issue and I never got a chance to resolve it and then my computer crashed because the battery didn’t charge dell told me. I don’t really believe that was the issue. I have only had the computer for 2 years and a battery not charging doesn’t seem like that would crash a computer. Have you had any other people with the same problem. Please let me know thanks Phaedra

Thanks so much for your advice, flashing the BIOS was the only fix for me also. Unfortunately, I ran into a slight problem in the middle of flashing though- could not complete due to error -144. After some research I found that this could easily be fixed by taking out my battery and re-flashing the BIOS (apparently it won’t complete the flash if the computer thinks you are running on battery power). My days of frustration are finally over, my battery is now happily charging away

Thanks again!

Hi guys and gals,

Glad I could help some of you.
Unfortunately for myself, my battery doesn’t hold the charge for more than 10 minutes.
The flashing of the BIOS got rid of the error but I’m still stuck with a battery that isn’t hold its charge.
Maybe I need to replace the battery.

If anyone has any advice that would help, please share it.

Thanks.

Here is how I solved this – hope this helps. My issue turned out to be 100% with the charger. It was frayed at the end that plugs into the computer.
All I ended up doing to solve this was 3 simple steps.
1. Get a new charger or borrow one from someone who has (2) like I did.
2. Un-install your battery by going to your control panel, system, hardware, device manager, click the + symbol next to the battery (should be the top or near the top of the tree.) the right click on the battery, then uninstall it. (No worries about doing this – the driver is in your xp or vista files). (Also, leave this app open you will need it again in a minute.)
Then take out your battery with the system on and leave it out for 5 seconds or so. Then re-insert the battery. Go back to the ‘batteries’ in the device manager, right click it and then choose ‘scan for hardware changes’ it will automatically add the battery that it just found and it will begin charging it.

Yea! I am so happy, I got my laptop and charging my battery back again!

Tom

My charger seems to be in order. Not frayed anywhere on the length of the cord. I will try the un-install and re-install that you suggested and see if it works.

I agree with Tom .
I installed a new battery and the error message went away. The replacement Dell Vostro 1000 Battery 6600mAH cost £65 and I found a good vendor to purchase it from http://www.batteries4laptop.co.uk after a google search.My battery went out at about 18 months.

Great, it worked on my laptop.

Thanx a Lot

your advice worked like a charm on my vostro 1000. thank you!

your advice is great and it worked. and my vostro 1000 is good. now

thanks

tube un problema del mismo mensaje pero para una dell inspiron 1501 rev 2.6.1, descargue la actualizacion del bios 2.6.3 (que es la unica que te da)la corri desde windows se reinicio y capichi funciono. gracias este foro fue de mucha utilidad aunque esta en ingles pero traduje la pagina y me sirvio mucho gracias de nuevo
suerte!!

Jamin, Muhammad and Shahid, I’m glad that you all were able to fix your Vostros. I’m glad that I could help.

Teacher, I’m not fluent in Spanish. Could you repost your comment in English please?
Thanks.

Teacher, I have translated your comment and I have realised that you were able to solve your problem. I am glad to hear this.
Your welcome.

Teacher, he traducido su comentario y he realizado que usted podía solucionar su problema. Me alegro alegre oír esto.
Su recepción.

Yes, it helps. Mine is a Dell Inspiron 1501. The “press any key to continue” no longer appear after that BIOS flash.

I’ve dell vostro 1000 and it suddenly stops charging today. I removed the battery and placed again but no use. I also un-installed thru device manager, again no use . When i removed the chargin, and battery is consumed but when i re plug the charger it shifts to ac-power but still no charging. Theres no notice at all that battery not working or not installed. Plz tell me if theres any solution

Jagy, I’m not sure what is wrong with your system but it looks like it is a physical problem relating to the battery.
If possible, try putting your battery in another Vostro 1000 (or compatible laptop) and see if it charges.
If it doesn’t, then it means your battery has to be replaced.
It seems that the factory installed batteries that come with the Vostro 1000 laptops do not last longer than 18 months in most instances.

DOES THIS WORK

I’m working on an Inspiron 1501 which gives random erroneous messages about the battery. After researching a bit I decided that flashing the bios might fix it. After two failed attempts to flash the bios (scary) I was finally able to get it done. My first attempt failed because I didn’t have sufficient rights to run the .exe. The second attempt failed because the machine thought it was running off of battery power. So, here’s what I learned from my experience/research:
+download the bios flash .exe directly to the root of C:\, not the desktop as Dell says
+Turn off UAC if running Vista or Win7
+As a last resort I turned off the Charter Security Suite just in case there was a battle going on behind the scenes that I couldn’t see
+I also had to remove the battery, due to the fact that even though it was plugged into the charger, it thought it was running off the battery
+Right click the bios flash .exe and select Run as Administrator
+Say a little prayer

You will know that it’s running successfully if, after the black terminal window opens then closes, a small dialog window opens that will display a list of tasks to be performed and then checks them off as they are accomplished. Ultimately the machine will reboot itself if everything went well.

The first two times I attempted it, all I saw happen was the black terminal window open and then shut. I finally got brave and looked in task manager and it showed that it was still running. I bet I waited an hour on the first attempt before I bailed and rebooted even though it showed it was still running in the process list. The second attempt I waited 20 minutes, and even though it showed two instances of it running in the application list I bailed and crossed my fingers hoping that it would live through it. There are several reports of folks turning their laptops into pretty door stops from attempting a bios flash.

So now, after this long winded post, I have to report that the bios flash did not fix my battery issue yet. Back to the drawing board…

It has worked for several persons who have tried it. However, if your battery’s life has “expired” then it won’t work. The only option would be to replace your battery.

Sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you Rob.

If possible, try putting your battery in another Vostro 1000 (or compatible laptop) and see if it charges.
If it doesn’t, then it means your battery has to be replaced.

Thank you so much, that worked perfectly.

Like many of you, my battery on my Vostro 1000 started to weaken substantially within 1 year and has been pretty much dead within 18 months just after the warranty. I have not tried to resurrect it through the tips many have indicated here as my battery power is less than 5 minutes if that.

Hence, I may need a new battery but where are the best deals? Amazon, Ebay? Any suggestions?

As well, where on earth do you change the battery? I am not a technical person so I am not prone to opening the back of my laptop on a daily basis

If you could share with me the steps to replace it, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you,
Paul Rose

Hello,

I have the same issue where I get the message on startup, that battery cannot be identified. Press F1 to continue.

Based on above recommendation, I downloaded the BIOS update and ran it.

But it fails saying that connect AC adapter and battery to flash the BIOS.

I even tried to run the BIOS as /forceit command but still it did not run the bios saying battery is not detected.

It is Inspiron 1545 and working just fine few days back. I am pass 1 year warranty so cannot send it back to Dell.

I am not sure what happened with the computer, but I almost tried everything.

Please, please help someone.

Hey Paul. There is a slide release on the underside of the laptop that you can just slide and the battery will easily come out. To replace with a new battery, simply slip your new battery into the spot with the side away from the lever going in first so that the side with the slide lever goes in last and it will snap into place. Hope this explanation is understandable.

Sunnyg…is your battery holding a charge? Was it holding a full charge before the error?