deeferL

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deeferL

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March 11th, 2015 05:00

Venue 11 Pro 7140 travel keyboard problem

Hi. I have a Venue 11 pro 7140 and have recently added the travel keyboard.

I've found a problem though which I'm hoping for some help with.

When I plug the tablet into the keyboard the power light flashes white once then 4 short amber flashes then repeats indefinitely. Checking the power meter app also shows battery 2 as not present.

I can use the mouse and keyboard but nothing I do seems to help with the flashing problem. When I connect the tablet to the ac charger with the keyboard attached the light just flashes amber. I've also attempted to separately charge the keyboard using the power adapter directly connected to it's micro USB port for about 6 hours and it has made no difference.

Any help on what could be the problem and what the flashing means is appreciated.

Darren.

  • d8smt

    13 Posts

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    Posted January 4th, 2016 09:00

    OK, pleased to say I've solved this myself.

    I accessed my 7140 Bios, and saw that the Bios did recognise the two batteries present, even though the Windows10 OS did not. It showed both the battery of the tablet & the battery slice (i.e. mobile keyboard battery) charging. under the 23W power adaptor. So the Bios clearly recognises a second battery.

    I changed all the power & battery settings (eg from Adaptive charging, power on lid close, etc) that I could find to another value.

    I rebooted the device, reentered Bios, and set all the settings back to what they originally were.

    Re-booting into Windows 10, it now recognisees both the 7140 battery & the battery slice in the mobile keyboard. It also charges & uses both batteries.

    QED.

  • Kloko

    2 Posts

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    Posted January 5th, 2016 10:00

    Hi guys,

    We had the same problems - not detected keyboard battery in Win 10 probably due to flat battery.

    Reocommanation to charge it directly via keyboard USB or tablet USB failed but finally we have found that completely drained battery is possible to recharge ONLY when the tablet is put to keyboard and switched off (not hibernate), Then charging of keyboard starts via AC adaptor plugged into tablet USB. When charging starts you can see both batteries in BIOS (and in Win10 too).

  • Kloko

    2 Posts

    21590

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    Posted January 5th, 2016 11:00

    Hi guys,

    We have found that completely drained battery is possible to recharge only when the tablet is put to keyboard and switched off (not hibernate), Then charging of keyboard starts via AC adaptor plugged into tablet micro USB. When charging starts you can see both batteries in BIOS and in Win10 too.

    Marek

  • jose_shiru

    1 Message

    21590

    1

    Posted January 16th, 2016 13:00

    The solution for the described issue in my case was disconnect the tablet's battery and the turn on the tablet with the keyboard connect. After that, the battery of the keyboard was detected.

    What I tried before:

    • Update my BIOS to the last version (A16 I think).
    • Change the C- state in the BIOS.
    • Change the charge  mode to Express.
    • Open the Keyboard, disconnect the internal battery, then run Windows and finally connect the battery again.
    • Charge the Keyboard directly to the charger.

    Symptoms:

    • Keyboard's battery was not detected.
    • When I charged the keyboard directly to the charger, then the LED turned on only for 30 seconds.
    • Dell energy management shows a message about it can't communicate with the battery.

    Hope this can help you.

    Best, 

    Jose.

  • DELL-Brian B

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    828 Posts

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    Posted March 11th, 2015 08:00

    Hi. I have a Venue 11 pro 7140 and have recently added the travel keyboard.

    I've found a problem though which I'm hoping for some help with.

    When I plug the tablet into the keyboard the power light flashes white once then 4 short amber flashes then repeats indefinitely. Checking the power meter app also shows battery 2 as not present.

    I can use the mouse and keyboard but nothing I do seems to help with the flashing problem. When I connect the tablet to the ac charger with the keyboard attached the light just flashes amber. I've also attempted to separately charge the keyboard using the power adapter directly connected to it's micro USB port for about 6 hours and it has made no difference.

    Any help on what could be the problem and what the flashing means is appreciated.

    Darren.

    This most likely means that the travel keyboard battery is dead.   Because it is dead, the tablet can't identify it and thus won't charge it.   To resolve this, undock your tablet and then plug the AC adapter directly into the charge port on the dock (in the hinge area where the bottom of the tablet would normally be).   Charge it up for 20-30 minutes.   After this, it should have enough charge that the tablet can identify it and thus charge it through the tablet.   To avoid this, don't allow the dock battery to completely deplete.

  • deeferL

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    Posted March 11th, 2015 15:00

    Hi Brian. Thanks for the response.

    As mentioned I have attempted to separately charge the keyboard with the power adapter directly connected to it's micro USB port. I have allowed it to charge overnight before again docking it to the tablet.

    This made no change to the battery presence in the power meter or the flashing lights.

    I haven' been able to find any information on what the single white flash followed by 4 quick amber flashes mean. Do you have any info on this?

    Thanks

    Darren

  • ScottDy9000

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    Posted June 30th, 2015 13:00

    I have a similar issue.  I just received the keyboard with battery and it will not show up in windows and Dell battery manager says it's not detected.  I have attempted to charge the keyboard using it's micro usb port.  When I first plug it in after about 20 seconds the white light on the side of the keyboard lights for 30 seconds then goes out.  I left it over night and I can't tell if it's charged (it's still not showing up in windows).

    I have the i3 model with A15 BIOS.  The keyboard is A02

  • jc1201

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    Posted July 16th, 2015 16:00

    Hi Brian

    I am having the exact issue as the rest of the people in this forum. Really not impressed by this. Hopefully you will have some solution to this as I am sure this information will be of help to other people.

    thanks

  • h6w

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    Posted July 21st, 2015 08:00

    +1 to that.  I picked up an ex-demo unit that is also showing these symptoms.  Tried lots of charging, but it always flashes white once and amber 4 times forever.

  • d1guts

    1 Message

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    Posted October 23rd, 2015 13:00

    Hi Brian,

    I just received a replacement keyboard from support. What I noticed with my initial keyboard battery is that I have no control over keeping a token charge in the keyboard. I start the day with a full charge, and the keyboard discharges first until it hits 0%, then the tablet battery kicks in.

    I understand in principle that discharging the battery leads to its degradation over time. Is there a way to prevent it from discharging? Or is it a sign of a faulty keyboard that it discharges completely?

    Thank you.

    Be well,

    Daniel A Gutstein