Windows 10: Cannot unplug computer without it turning off? Fatal error???

TL;DR: 3 and a half year old Dell Inspiron turns off every time I unplug it and won't turn back on until I put it back on the charge. Computer says there's something wrong with my BIOS, but I have no clue how to tell what's wrong with it. Why is my computer doing this and how do I make it stop doing this?



Some backstory; I have had a Dell Inspiron 1500 since December of 2016, and it's been working great for those past 3 and a half years; fast, plenty of storage, ran some pretty graphically-intensive games as smoothly as I expected, and good battery life. It's been running Windows 10 ever since I got it, and the operating system has also been working as expected. Last night I had a virtual game night with some family members, and when I plugged in my computer I wanted to make extra sure it didn't run out of battery mid-Zoom meeting, I got some sort of odd message saying "this cord isn't supported by Dell" or somethin weird like that. Assuming it was just a glitch, I just ignored it and had a good time with my family. That night, I moved my computer into another room and kept it plugged in there overnight, and the next day today, May 3rd, 2020, I moved my laptop back into the room it was in originally. But then, I realized I needed to move it somewhere else, and then everything went wrong.


So, I went to unplug my Dell Inspiron 1500 from a wall plug and move it to a different room. Usually, this is not a problem in the slightest; the laptop functions like normal regardless of the plug. However, this time, it just immediately shut off. Thinking it was just a software glitch or something, I held down the power button for what I can only assume was between one and two minutes. The computer didn't turn back on.


At this point, I figured something was up, so I plugged it back in again, and after a particularly long log-in time, it went back to working as normal. But I still needed to move it to the other room, so I unplugged it and moved it. Just like last time, it turned off. I tried plugging and unplugging the laptop, only to receive the same results. I let the laptop sit unplugged for about 5-10 minutes, then held down the power for another two minutes, still didn't turn on. At this point, I started Googling, and it said something about replacing the battery? I had no clue what that meant, but I grabbed a screwdriver that miraculously managed to fit the screw at the bottom and went to town. Couldn't open it properly, because I have no experience with screwdrivers, so I just screwed it back in and hoped it worked. After turning it on again with the power cord in, and it came to some janky-looking screen. Can't remember what it said, all I remember is it was asking me to troubleshoot, and it looked less like something from the current Windows 10 and more like a super official programming thingy. I don't know, I don't program, I don't know how to describe it. Regardless, I asked it to troubleshoot, and it gave me a screen of colored bars.


The bars kinda looked like this, but there were more of them and in a few different colors. A prompt came up a few seconds after: did you see colored bars on your screen? Naturally, I answered yes, because there were colored bars on my screen. Then, it started doing some sort of analysis on my computer before turning to a screen that said there was a critical error and I needed to update my BIOS. Then, my computer started playing these horrible noises. I mean, these things were *loud*. My computer's volume was only set to 40 and it sounded like it was set to 100. I pressed a mute button in the lower right corner of the screen and the noises stopped, but I noticed my caps lock key was blinking. Like, you know how when you have caps lock on the little dot glows, and when you don't, it doesn't glow? It was alternating between glowing and not glowing. The screen was asking me if I wanted to continue testing, and my options were either "yes", "no", or "retry". I clicked yes, and the same things happened; colored bars, horrible ear-splitting noises, and those three options. This time, I pressed "no" and then "exit", and my computer booted up again like normal. However, it still turned off when unplugged, and only turned back on after I plugged the power cord back in. I Googled how to check my BIOS, checked it, and apparently it is version 1.8.1 and was last updated on August 15th, 2018. I cannot seem to find what BIOS version I am supposed to have, so as far as I know my BIOS is totally up to date.


So, with all that being said, what can I do to get my computer up and running without needing to constantly be plugged in?

:)

 

Fatal Error

I've been trying to format my system but right after it finishes formatting I get a Fatal Error during the Windows installation process. That Fatal Error is a Data Error (cyclic redundancy check). I know that it's because of my hard drives, but how do I fix this issue? I have 2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA II Hard Drives in RAID 0. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. *Smile

 

Windows 10 update fatal error

Hi,

In order to resolve your concern about fatal error C00000D4, we suggest that you follow the steps provided by
Deason Wu on this
link.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Fatal Error

Okay, I disabled RAID and now just formatting one of my hard drives. I will post back and let you know if I get another Fatal Error or if the Windows installation was a success.