Hi, I've had a recent problem with my Inspiron 1501. When I turn it on, it says something along the lines of "unable to identify battery, press any key to continue". I believe this means that the battery id chip has failed and dell wants me to buy another battery. As I have been unhappy with dell's build quality I will not buy their products, and am wondering if there is a way to stop this warning as it means I cannot just press the power button and wait for a bit, I have to press it, wait 10 seconds or so, then press another key. The funny thing is the battery functions perfectly, although only for 2 hours now because its a year or two old. I am using ubuntu if that makes a difference, though I am sure it does not as the warning is part of the bios boot sequence. I am prepared to replace just the controller chip if I can get hold of another old battery with a working chip if it would help. I would really appreciate some help, this is getting to be a real pain.
Unless there's an option to disable the massage in the BIOS (couldn't see one last time I looked - I was lookign for the power adapter not the batter mind). Otherwise you've answered your own question - New battery (so long as its the bit on the battery not the board). If you know anyone with the same fitting battery, try that, if the message goes away, you know its your battery not the machine.
