Main Battery problem ...none detected

jbctech · 06-04-03, 01:11 AM

I received my Dell Axim X5 Advanced today, began charging it for the long 4 hour stretch. After 4 hours, I took the power cable off of the Axim, and turned it on for the first time. I immediately got a message about the Main Battery Very Low. This puzzled me, so I went to Start | Settings | System | Power, to discover the unit's Main Battery status: "No Battery!!!" - NO BATTERY? This doesn't make sense...so, I removed the "Backup Battery" and thought I'd try starting the unit up on only the Main Battery. Even though it says "No Battery!!!" I am able to use the unit to play Solitaire for over 15 minutes. What is wrong? I've performed multiple hard resets, but I still get the same message. I'm able to use the unit fine, with the exception of the nagging, and programs like WMP8.5 who complain about battery power. I have A00 firmware, and wanted to upgrade to A03, but it won't continue because of my battery life -- even though I'm plugged into A/C. I called technical support - but they weren't much help....anybody else had/have this problem?

Thanks

Oblox · 06-04-03, 04:15 AM

Have you checked that the contacts on the battery/axim are ok, not dirty or blocked by anything? if not then id send it back to dell asap for a replacement.

commoved · 06-04-03, 10:54 PM

Specifically, gently clean the battery contacts with a clean eraser, then remove all the eraser bits. But in this case I think your battery charge detection circuit is no good. The fact that you can use your Ax for 15 minutes shows your battery contacts are probably fine. If the cleaning doesn't work, call Dell back again. Insist on a new replacement unit.

(I won't comment on how anybody could play solitaire for 15 minutes) :)

jbctech · 06-04-03, 10:59 PM

Yeah - I've tried the eraser...still doesn't work. It just doesn't make any sense why I can use the unit perfectly but the System's Battery Status shows "No Battery!!!" I wish there was some way to load A03 onto it...

About Solitaire - I'm not a big fan of that game, but it's the only thing I could do at the time to see if it would kill the battery after a minute or two. I ended up downloading withMP3 and played some MP3's last night -- it played for a couple hours with screen brightness turned 100%.

James

Jan BLiki · 06-05-03, 12:08 PM

Sounds like a bad battery or charger that is not working, try to put to power cable directly inside your Axim, if that is not working out then you should get DELL to replace your battery or total device...

jbctech · 06-08-03, 10:08 PM

Well - I doubt it's the battery nor the charger. Like I said, I'm able to use the unit fine - able to play MP3's for a couple hours with no problems. The only problem is that the software doesn't think there's a battery connected.

James