# Are there fixes or hacks to get around Dell verifying charger is legit?I have a legit Dell charger!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 17, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479 "2012-07-17T02:39:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/1 "2012-07-17T02:39:52Z")
Dell has been torturing me with this bullsh_t for 18 months. Already cost me nearly a hundred bucks on a brand new Dell Charger. Used the dell Tag to order the charger. Blew another $50 on a laptop battery that refuses to charge because of Dell’s bullsh_t. :mad:
Every time the laptop is powered on I can the wonderful **Bios message** declaring I have an invalid charger. Press F1. **Anytime** the cord unplugs for a microsecond and I shove it back in; Windows informs me my laptop will not charge and it will run slower because I do not have a valid charger. Apparently the almighty Dell Gods aren’t happy.
For God’s sake and my sanity. Please point me to a software or bios hack to kill this bullsh\*t. Dell’s screwed me over enough buying a charger that didn’t fix the problem and the money I lost on a battery that Dell’s bios check refuses to charge.
I could grit my teeth and live with the stinking messages. What I can’t live with is a slower laptop that immediately goes into emergency shutdown/hibernate mode two minutes after the cord is unplugged.
Is there a generic charger for laptop batteries that will charge the battery pack outside the laptap? At least then I could bypass Dell and charge the battery. Dell can … Well this is GQ. 😃
If it matters, its a Dell Latitude 520 bought in 2007. Yes, it’s getting old and so am I. The next Laptop sure as heck won’t be a Dell.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/2 "2012-07-17T02:57:09Z")
Just to be clear…
the Dell’s bios message specifically says I don’t have a Dell Charger press F1. It’s basically accusing me of using a knockoff generic. I’ve searched the bios setting to shut this garbage off and so far no luck.
The laptop seems to run fine off the charger power. Windows pop up warning, says it will somehow degrade the speed for sinning against Dell. I’d swear it does seem a fraction slower but maybe a disk format and Windows installation will fix that?
Next win installation, I won’t be installing dell quickset. It has power management and battery management. That may be what the devils are using to slow down my laptop.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/3 "2012-07-17T03:02:23Z")
[Per this thread](http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/31893-Dell-non-official-charger-BIOS-mod) it’s not likely to be a BIOS mediated issue, but an embedded controller of some kind, so you are pretty much boned re a BIOS hack fixing things.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/4 "2012-07-17T03:10:30Z")
I posted too soon apparently it can be a BIOS issue on some DELL machines.
[http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?docid=266440](http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?docid=266440)
What is the BIOS version?
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/5 "2012-07-17T03:15:34Z")
Since you say you already bought a new “official” dell charger, maybe the charging socket has a loose connection on the motherboard. I think Dell uses a third wire in their power supplies to set the “official Dell charger” flag, as you can see in [this picture](http://img.teoriza.com/2010/08/cargador-clavija-dell-conector-189.jpg) there are clearly three conductors on the plug.
If the cover is easily removed, it might be worth having a look.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/6 "2012-07-17T03:17:05Z")
This is the last driverset for the power utilities on your model.
> **[Download Dell Latitude D520 QuickSet A39 for Windows 2K, Windows XP](https://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Other-DRIVERS-TOOLS/Others/Dell-Latitude-D520-QuickSet-A39.shtml)**
>
> Download Dell Latitude D520 QuickSet A39 - Other Drivers & Tools
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/7 "2012-07-17T03:46:15Z")
That link is for Dell Quickset which comes on Dell laptops factory installed. I reinstalled it the last time that I upgraded my HD and reinstalled Win xp.
This one may be a newer version of Quickset. I’ll check.
This was one reason I thought about not installing quickset. But, that doesn’t help with the laptop/start up bios message.
> [@](#):
>
> QuickSet provides the following features:
> Note: All features will not be available on all Operating Systems.
>
> POWER: Power management schemes, Battery resource information and health, Warning messages unsupported power-adapter/dock/battery scenarios are detected.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/8 "2012-07-17T04:02:51Z")
I’ll enter my service tag and see if there’s a newer bios. I’m at A08. I’ll check for anything newer.
that article mentioned F3 and that did shut up the bios message. Progress 😉
> [@astro](#):
>
> I posted too soon apparently it can be a BIOS issue on some DELL machines.
>
> [Support | Dell US](http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?docid=266440)
>
> What is the BIOS version?
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### Author:  [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/9 "2012-07-17T13:16:02Z")
Well this convinces me to never, ever, buy a Dell.
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### Author:  [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/10 "2012-07-17T15:15:22Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#):
>
> Well this convinces me to never, ever, buy a Dell.
I was thinking the same thing. Do they still do this? I was considering jumping on the Sputnik bandwagon.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/11 "2012-07-17T15:41:10Z")
Have you tried removing the battery and reinserting it after you got that message? I seem to recall something like that working for me with my Dell which I don’t use that often, and haven’t gotten that message in quite some time.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/12 "2012-07-17T15:45:10Z")
Aceplace57, can you tell us what Dell response is to why an authentic Dell charger is read as invalid?
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/13 "2012-07-17T19:29:36Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#):
>
> Well this convinces me to never, ever, buy a Dell.
Dell has to weigh the goodwill lost by verifying the charger is correct vs. the goodwill lost when one of their batteries explodes/catches fire from someone using a knockoff charger.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/14 "2012-07-18T00:54:55Z")
Dell’s tech said a Worn power receptacle. Someone above mentioned it might be loose on the motherboard. The laptop runs just fine off the AC power.
I hate replacing it because laptops today have those big ass widescreen lcd’s. But I guess it’s time for a new one.
It won’t be a Dell. That’s for certain.
I paid for the extended service contract for three years because laptops are so are hard to fix. Which got me through 2010. Naturally this happened in 2011.
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Aceplace57, can you tell us what Dell response is to why an authentic Dell charger is read as invalid?
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/15 "2012-07-18T04:34:51Z")
Just as a side note for eveyone beating on Dell re this adapter issue the machines this effects appear to be mainly circa 2005-2007. In practical terms they may work for basic stuff, but they are mostly doorstops at this point, and are multiple generations away from current Dell machines.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fixes-or-hacks-to-get-around-dell-verifying-charger-is-legit-i-have-a-legit-dell-charger/628479/16 "2012-07-18T12:30:50Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Just as a side note for eveyone beating on Dell re this adapter issue the machines this effects appear to be mainly circa 2005-2007. In practical terms they may work for basic stuff, but they are mostly doorstops at this point, and are multiple generations away from current Dell machines.
Heh. I bought my PowerBook G4 in 2005. It’s been a great little computer over the years, but the OS is no longer supported. Not a door stop, but I finally got tired of not being able to run new software and bought a MacBook Pro.
Interesting thing about the power on the G4: The plug never connected right since new. I’d have to fiddle with it to get a good connection. Only occasionally, but it always bugged me. The new computer has a nifty magnetic plug that is awesome.