Vostro 3578 Battery Error

If the battery isn't the issue, the charge circuit on the mainboard is -- whether you want to spend the money to replace the board on a system this old is something you'll have to consider.  Before doing so, compare the cost of a (perhaps newer) used system, as it may not cost much more  and will cost less if you have to pay a labor charge for the board replacement).

@ejn63​ The thing is, though, that I still get this error when I power the system on from the battery alone, with no charger connected.

  If I ignore the error Windows will tell me the amount of charge in the battery (33% remaining) and the 'Battery Info. View' utility tells me that it is a Dell 991XP53 battery with a serial number of 44853, so there is clearly full communication going on.
  If I then plug in the charger, the Windows charging icon appears and Battery Info View tells me that the system is running on AC power. The battery charge doesn't increase, however.
So I don't see any evidence of an obvious fault, just that the laptop is behaving weirdly!

Does the system correctly identify the AC adapter (F2 at powerup to check) or  does it show unknown?  Note:  the system will run on AC with an unrecognized adapter, but the battery will not charge, so you must check in setup.

The BIOS says 'Health: Not a Dell Battery' (which is wrong) and 'AC adapter = 130W' (which is correct).

That points back to the mainboard, but given the age of the system, if these are "OEM" batteries, they've either been rebult or they're very old.  On the battery itself is a PPID string with the Dell part number including the manufacture date.  Post that string (or a readable photo of it) and someone can help you decipher the age of the battery.

Would that be the one that says KR-0991XP-75507-535-C0K2-A00 ? There's no obvious sign that the battery has ever been opened up and rebuilt. I have tried two other, identical batteries with exactly the same result, and this battery worked fine in both of those other laptops.

That battery is over 10 years old if it's OEM -- made in March 2015.  

Hi.

That’s a tricky one  but you’ve already done great troubleshooting. 👏

Since you’ve tested multiple OEM Dell batteries, reset and updated the BIOS, and confirmed that Windows detects charge levels, the issue likely isn’t with the battery itself or the charging circuit.

Here are the most probable causes and next steps:

1. Battery authentication line issue (SDA/SCL pin):
   The battery communicates with the motherboard via a data line. If there’s oxidation, dirt, or a bent pin in the battery connector, the BIOS might fail to “identify” it even though Windows reads basic info.
   → Try gently cleaning the battery contacts with isopropyl alcohol and inspect for bent pins.

2. Motherboard-side battery ID chip or circuit fault:
   Dell laptops have a small circuit that verifies the battery ID. If that IC or trace is damaged, the BIOS throws that error even when the battery works normally.
   → Unfortunately, this would require a board-level repair or motherboard replacement.

3. BIOS persistent flag:
   Sometimes the BIOS holds a bad battery ID flag.
   → Try a full power drain reset: remove battery + AC, hold the power button for 30 seconds, reconnect, and boot.

4. Power adapter mismatch:
   Some Dell systems misbehave if the charger wattage or ID pin isn’t detected.
   → Use a genuine Dell charger with a working center pin; even though the issue happens on battery, this can still influence BIOS checks.

If everything else checks out, it’s likely a hardware fault on the motherboard’s battery ID circuit  not user-fixable but repairable by a technician.

The battery certainly isn't new, and it isn't the one that came with the laptop, but it is in good condition. I can't remember the exact details, but from memory it still has around 75% of its original storage capacity remaining.

 - The computer and battery can clearly communicate, as BatteryInfoView can read and display data from the battery.

 - Apart from power and the serial communication lines (see above) the only other signal provided by the battery is the 'Battery Present' line. That has to working correctly or we would get 'Battery not detected' errors - which we dont. (I've just proved this by isolating the connector, and that's exactly what happened).
 - I've reset the BIOS (left it with no mains, battery or coin cell power for several hours) and it makes no difference

 - We know that the BIOS correctly detects a Dell 130W power adaptor.

So I'm still no nearer to understanding why it's doing this!