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Dell Inspiron 1420 14.1" laptop, released in June 2008. Identified as the 1420 on the bezel above the keyboard, available in 8 different colors.

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Battery light flashing amber

I found an old Dell Inspiron 1420 and have been repairing it slowly over the last month or two. Recently I purchased this replacement charger for it as the laptop wouldn’t charge on my existing one designed for an HP laptop. With this new charger the “non-genuine adapter” message goes away and the computer reports it’s trying to charge the battery but it appears to remain uncharged no mater how long it’s plugged in. The bios says it is unable to communicate with the battery. The battery light on the laptop will blink amber forever when the laptop is plugged in on the new charger. I’m unsure what this means but my best guess is given the laptops age the battery is bad and will need to be replaced, but I wanted to double check before I order a new battery.

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  • Does the laptop work fine on just the charger?
  • By the way the LED is amber not orange.
  • From Dell - “Blinking amber indicates that the system board cannot start initialization or in an S3 power state. There is a power problem, a device may be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed.”
  • Have you run the Dell Diagnostics yet ? Tap the F12 key at the Dell splash screen on start-up. Choose Diagnostics from the menu.
  • If all works fine with the battery removed with just the charger, and with the information you have given, I would suggest that the battery is dead. I would also suggest getting a genuine DELL battery, if you can.
  • Don’t forget to check voltage on CMOS battery as well - should be 3V.
  • I can’t remember if that model uses IDE or SATA hard drive interface.
  • https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-p...

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The laptop works fine on just the charger and even with the battery inserted if on the charger. I have not run the diagnostics test yet, I will try that now. Also I'm 99% sure the CMOS battery is dead as the bios seems to forget my settings, I just haven't replaced it yet. HDD interface is SATA, I put an SSD in it.

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Hi Josh @herorareheart ,

SATA SSD is good on these old systems.

So yes replace CMOS first and then go from there. They are very inexpensive - like $2 or $3. Get a good brand.

I tend to be optimistic about these old laptops - unless water has been spilt on them. Batteries don't respond well if they haven't been charged for a lone time.

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A new CMOS battery fixed the BIOS forgetting things issue as expected and the diagnostic test has confirmed that this battery is just totally dead. Unfortunately due to the age of this laptop my best option is a 3rd party battery, but as long as I go with a company with a decent reputation I should be fine.

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To answer the SATA question, these are SATA but they fall under the Dell SATA I>II transition, and lack SATA III support flat out. These are a walking question mark :/. I get a drive with full B/C for the suspect 2007/2008 Dells. On the known models like the D6X20/30 series (SATA II), I can get a CS900 for it and be done with it. The Core 2 Inspiron series remained a question in 2007, and partway through 2008. The early Core 2 stuff is usually suspect, but ~2008 is when Dell began to add the SATA II Option ROM to their entire lineup. The Sandy Bridge era officially ended the question mark problem as they all support SATA III.

Usually when the laptop is from this era, or an early E series like the E6X00/10 and in some cases the E6X20, the battery is tired. It can also point to a communication error, or a permanent failure flag.

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@herorareheart

Good to hear!

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The battery is knackered. My Dell does the same until it kicks in and starts to charge, I need a new battery too. Before you start thinking the worst, buy a new battery.

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