Battery not detected Aspire 3820

TomasK
TomasK Member Posts: 11

Tinkerer

edited November 2023 in 2019 Archives

"Battery not detected" using new battery. I have tried several brands of new batteries but none are detected. The old battery is worn out and only holds 40 minutes and the "battery power level meter" is not measuring the old one properly. For the new batteries I have tried all fixes I know: depleting, restarting, plugging in and out, uninstalling and re-installing "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery. Also tried to reach BIOS and such settings, but after updating to Win10 two years ago there is no way to override Windows using F2, F3 or F8 or what ever keys. Smiley Sad

 

Any ideas? Much appreciated. 

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    You said earlier>>>I've replaced the battery once before, a few years ago. That was also failing until I had to go back to Acer and make sure to buy an exact copy of the original battery (Double the price).>>>You could not expect to connect that to the change of battery, but it did not stop until I got the exact original Acer battery.>>>

     

    I think we have 2 issues, either or both of which ***might*** be responsible. (1) Win10 is NOT fully backward-compatible with your mainboard's chipset. Not unusual for older laptops. (2) The old & new embedded battery controllers are different. Not unusual either.

     

    So we seem to be forced to try two undesirable things because neither is a guaranteed fix. (1) Re-set your 3820 to a factory-fresh Win7 state. (2) Keep Win10 and continue to look for an exact battery replacement.

     

    Jack E/NJ

     

     

     

       

    Jack E/NJ

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>"Battery not detected" using new battery. >>>The old battery is worn out and only holds 40 minutes and the "battery power level meter" is not measuring the old one properly.>>>

     

    When you now plug in the old battery again, do you still get "battery not detected" error like with the new batteries? Jack E/NJ  

     

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    The old battery shows up, charges and works as "normally". Still being worn out of course and the meter is not measuring properly. It is like the old battery have "trained" the computer to measure the old battery's slowly failing capacity so well that now the computer can't detect the properties of new batteries.

     

    Thanks a lot for trying to help! Kind regards Tomas

     

     

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>The old battery shows up, charges and works as "normally".>>>It is like the old battery have "trained" the computer>>>

     

    Heh-heh. That's certainly a creative diagnosis! 8^).

     

    The part number for a new battery should be BT.00607.128. Price should be about $20 USD.

     

    If necessary, you can try to calibrate a new battery by googling "calibrate battery" "windows 7" "acer" with the quotes.

     

    Jack E/NJ

     

     

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for the advice. I'm in Sweden so I've been hesitant to buy this tricky item from abroad since there usually is no money-back or return shipping possible. It will be lost money. But now I've tried three different brands that does not work, and I think all retailers source from the same places regardless of where I am, incl UK. Most of them run affiliate programs on top of someone else's core. I need to do some trick with the computer to make this work, there is probably nothing wrong with the batteries. I'm on Win10 but I suppose there is some battery calibrating function there too. But what is most annoying is that with Win10 I can no longer access the "Acer core system" using F2 (F3?). Windows takes command from the start and boots up all the way. I can't stop it to reach the lower level battery control settings.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>But what is most annoying is that with Win10 I can no longer access the "Acer core system" using F2 (F3?). >>>

     

    That should not be the case. You must first press and hold the power button for about 5 secs till the machine completely shuts off power. Then press the power button again one time to re-start the machine. Then immediately start tapping the F2 key even before the ACER logo screen appears. The BIOS menu ("ACER core system") should appear. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Thanks, that worked. However, I expected to find some battery settings in there, but there are none.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    That would not be in the BIOS menu.

     

    But try this. Open Device Manager. Click on battery. Then uninstall the MS battery control driver. Then shutdown Windows normally. Make sure the power is completely off again. Then install the new battery. Press the power button one time to re-start the machine. Allow Windows to automatically re-detect the battery and re-install the missing driver. Report back.  Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    No luck. But there are two battery drivers. The "Microsoft ACPI-compliant Control Method Battery" I've tried to mess with several times over the past week, since it is a common advice found on internet. But the other driver is named "Microsoft AC Adapter", and since no one ever has mentioned that one I have not dared touching it. Should I uninstall both at the same time, and restart etc?

     

    Thanks for helping me! /Tomas

    (PS. I've replaced the battery once before, a few years ago. That was also failing until I had to go back to Acer and make sure to buy an exact copy of the original battery (Double the price). But now its been discontinued by Acer, so I have to find another maker. At that replacement the battery bugged in another way making the laptop behave in mysterious ways. You could not expect to connect that to the change of battery, but it did not stop until I got the exact original Acer battery.)

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>Should I uninstall both at the same time, and restart etc?>>>

     

    No harm in trying to uninstall both, cold re-boot and let Windows do its thing. They're only driver software. But you first might want to try letting Windows search for the best drivers for both while connected if you haven't tried to do so already. If Windows says the best driver is already installed, then try uninstalling them both to see what happens. BTW, the original battery with the ACER part# was made by Panasonic.

     

    >>>I've replaced the battery once before, a few years ago.>>>

    Was that under Win7?

     

    Jack E/NJ

     

     

       

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Imagine it could be so complicated just to change battery. Should be plug'n-play. Sorry this is such a lenghty process. Impressed and greatfull that you still hang in there.

     

    All drivers are uninstalled, re-installed, updated, Windows has confirmed all drivers are Ok, etc etc. Pulling battery in and out, standing on one leg pressing the keys backwards with my nose, looking out for black cats etc. ;-) Still no sign of the battery. Last time I replaced the battery it perhaps was under Win 7, in 2014-2015 give or take. But I don't really remember. It was tricky allready then.

     

    Does the laptop have some small internal capacitor or some button cell battery that also has to be OK or in sync with the battery? But then again, the old battery works. On HP it seems to be something in BIOS you can try to fix battery issues, but not on found on Acer.

     

    Running out of ideas. I doubt that even an original part will work. Starting to get conspiracy theories that the 3820 is secretly set to self-destruct on the second battery change. :-)

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>> But then again, the old battery works.>>>

     

    OK. With only the old battery connected, does Device Manager show any driver issues with ***any*** of the listed devices? Then only with a new battery connected, does Device Manager show anything different? Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    All drivers report normal status and updated drivers. BUT digging into details, there are two anomalies I don't know if they could impact this. With the old battery I can see under "System Devices" (roughly translated from Swedish), the "System timer" reports that there is no driver installed at location Intel(R) HM55 Express Chipset LPC Interface Controller - 3B09.

     

    On the tab "Activities" it says: "Unit was migrated", with details:

    Device ACPI\PNP0100\4&27d0f770&0 was migrated.

    Last Device Instance Id: ACPI\PNP0100\4&27d0f770&0
    Class Guid: {4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
    Location Path:
    Migration Rank: 0x0
    Present: true

     

    And also on the same tab but next row it says "Device was configured (machine.inf)", with details:

    Device ACPI\PNP0100\4&27d0f770&0 was configured.

    Driver Name: machine.inf
    Class Guid: {4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
    Driver Date: 06/21/2006
    Driver Version: 10.0.15063.0
    Driver Provider: Microsoft
    Driver Section: NO_DRV_X
    Driver Rank: 0xFF0002
    Matching Device Id: *PNP0100
    Outranked Drivers:
    Device Updated: false
    Parent Device: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B09&SUBSYS_03641025&REV_05\3&11583659&1&F8

     

    Also, further down under the expanded "System devices" is an item named "Older device", odd nameing. This item also reports roughly the same activity as above: "Device was migrated", "Device was configured (machine.inf), with details such as:

     

    Device ACPI\INT0800\4&27d0f770&0 was migrated.

    Last Device Instance Id: ACPI\INT0800\4&27d0f770&0
    Class Guid: {4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
    Location Path:
    Migration Rank: 0x0
    Present: true

     

    Respectively:

    Device ACPI\INT0800\4&27d0f770&0 was configured.

    Driver Name: machine.inf
    Class Guid: {4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
    Driver Date: 06/21/2006
    Driver Version: 10.0.15063.0
    Driver Provider: Microsoft
    Driver Section: NO_DRV_MEM
    Driver Rank: 0xFF0002
    Matching Device Id: *INT0800
    Outranked Drivers:
    Device Updated: false
    Parent Device: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B09&SUBSYS_03641025&REV_05\3&11583659&1&F8

     

    All four activities/incidents are recorded on August 10 at the very same second. It was roughly that day I started replacing batteries.

     

    Seems it may have something to do with this. Should I just ask it to update the driver? (Strange it asks to update rather than install. What seems to be a roll-back option is disabled, so "update" is the only option.)

     

    BR Tomas

     

     

     

     

     

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>there are two anomalies>>>With the old battery I can see under "System Devices" (roughly translated from Swedish), the "System timer" reports that there is no driver installed at location Intel(R) HM55 Express Chipset LPC Interface Controller>>> further down under the expanded "System devices" is an item named "Older device">>>All four activities/incidents are recorded on August 10 at the very same second. It was roughly that day I started replacing batteries>>>

     

    I have 3 questions. (1) Are the system "anomalies" highlighted as driver issues? (2) Do they only appear with the old battery pack? (3) Do the old and new battery packs have approximately the same specs (amp-hrs or watt-hrs and voltage) ? Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    (1)

    No they are not highlighted as driver issues.

    (Device Manager reports the same with old and new batteries. Same missing drivers for both, but none of them are highlighted as a problem. There are no red crosses anywhere, I had to into and read all the drivers to make sure and these are the only two that seemed a bit odd.)

     

    (2)

    Appears with both batteries.

     

    (3)

    Battery specs are the same.

    I've been picky in choosing them not only using the retailers search engine but tripple checking and also buying the most expensive ones. The current one is 60 USD while mean market is 30 USD, but the old one was actually 120 USD, while all others at the market then where 40 USD. But it was the only one that worked. The same company that sold me the working 120 USD is still around and can get me a new one at 180 USD and it will take a month to get it.

     

    Specs old (but not the original which was a very large battery):

    Manufacutrer: Simplo

    Part AS10B7E

    11,1 V

    6000mAh/66Wh

     

    Specs new:

    Manufacturer: Camerin Sino (but i've tried several makes)

    11,1 V

    4400mAh/48,8 Wh

     

    But I'ver tried with anything between 10,8 - 11,1 and 4400mAh - 6000 mAh

     

    BR Tomas

     

     

     

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>Intel(R) HM55 Express Chipset LPC Interface Controller>>>Same missing drivers for both>>>

     

    I'm guessing that the regulators embedded in the old & new batteries are different. From your descriptions, I'm also guessing the newer regulators might be dumber than the old ones. So I think you might be on the right track on trying to re-install the Win7 Intel interface controller so the system can make up for this lack of battery interface intelligence. Go to https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers. Enter either your SNID or 3820T model number and download the chipset driver. You might want to try to run it in Win7 compatibility mode if possible. Jack E/NJ      

     

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    I don't know how to "run it in Win7 compatibility mode".

    I downloaded the driver and hit setup.exe, restarted, but nothing new happened.

    Old battery still works, new battery still not detected.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer

    >>>I downloaded the driver and hit setup.exe, restarted, but nothing new happened>>>

     

    Right click on setup.exe. Left click properties. Choose "compatibility" dropdown. Try to run in Win7 compatibility mode to see what happens. Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Ran something that fixed compatibility but nothing changed.

     

    Do I have to put the folder "Chipset_Intel_9.1.1.1025_Win7x86x64" in a particular location? After hitting .exe with no success, should I uninstall and delete to be able to try another setting?

     

    (It does not exactly look like you explained and of course it starts asking unknown questions. I tried all combinations going through the Compatibility Problem Solver. Nothing.)

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    You said earlier>>>I've replaced the battery once before, a few years ago. That was also failing until I had to go back to Acer and make sure to buy an exact copy of the original battery (Double the price).>>>You could not expect to connect that to the change of battery, but it did not stop until I got the exact original Acer battery.>>>

     

    I think we have 2 issues, either or both of which ***might*** be responsible. (1) Win10 is NOT fully backward-compatible with your mainboard's chipset. Not unusual for older laptops. (2) The old & new embedded battery controllers are different. Not unusual either.

     

    So we seem to be forced to try two undesirable things because neither is a guaranteed fix. (1) Re-set your 3820 to a factory-fresh Win7 state. (2) Keep Win10 and continue to look for an exact battery replacement.

     

    Jack E/NJ

     

     

     

       

    Jack E/NJ

  • TomasK
    TomasK Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Thanks, so this is the end of the road. I don't want to roll back to previous Win, whatever version that was, can't remember. Win10 upgrade solved some other issues and made this old laptop happy again. I'll get the super-expensive Acer battery at approx 150 USD. But still not sure if that will work either... And I'm not due for a new laptop yet, I don't need a more powerfull laptop since most is just internet browsing.

     

    Thanks a lot for trying to solve this tricky issue! Very impressive. Even though we hoped it would be easier. Thanks!