Laptop won't charge.

[PDW1964]

Hello all. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop which won't charge up the battery. It continues to operate when it is plugged in but wont charge like it used to.
When you click on the battery icon , it says " 0% availale. plugged in not charging".
Is it a problem with the laptop, the lead or the battery?
Any thoughts gratefully recieved.
Thank you.

[HowardKennitby]

how old is the battery?

[ChuckFickens]

The battery has died. either replace the battery or just carry on using it plugged in to the mains only.

[PDW1964]

Hi Howard. Battery is same age as the laptop. About 2 1/2 years.
Thanks

[muff13]

I have the same kind of laptop as you and about the same age. While my battery did not die completely as yours appears to have done, it stopped holding the charge for any length of time. Once I bought a new battery (off ebay rather than from Dell) the difference was obvious. I think it is time you replaced yours too.

[Psybbo]

Running down the battery completely at least once a week lengthen its life

[furrypusscat]

My battery died much sooner than that but I was at fault by using mains all the time and not removing battery. My laptop states exactly as yours does but I continue using mains as I always use it where power is readily available so don't need to bother buying a new battery.

[Dell-Vidur]

Hi,
My name is Vidur and I work for the Social Media and Community Team at Dell. It appears to be a problem with the battery. Since it’s about 2 years old, it seems that it has reached its end of its life. However you can perform the following steps to confirm the battery health.
Please check in case you have battery health meter installed.
To initiate BHM go to: C:/Program Files/Dell/Quickset/battery.exe
If it is not installed then download quickset from dell resource cd or you can download the application from www.support.dell.com
You can also refer to the following link for more information on the battery issues:
Tips to Improve Battery Life on Dell Laptop : http://dell.to/JGx5JY
Laptop Battery FAQ : http://dell.to/iQsukS
Hope this information might help you to resolve the problem.
Thanks,
Dell-Vidur A

[Mick-Talbot]

I have the same problem with a acer aspire one ....but the battery indication says that the battery is 100% full. :0/

[tamborine]

beware ebay china cheapos that die after 2weeks

[PDW1964]

Thanks to all for your replies. I have now bought a replacement battery but this new one still won't charge when the lap top is plugged in. Fender - tried your idea but it made no difference at all! Vidur - I have fount the Dell Battery Meter and this suggests that my battery is performing normally. Is this what you meant or is there another diagnostic tool that I cant find? Thanks

[Hammer]

It could be the charger. Dell chargers have an extra wire connecting to the laptop which connects to a chip in the charger and tells the laptop that the charger is a genuine Dell one. If this extra wire is cracked or the chip dies then it will operate on mains power but not charge the battery, though you should get a pop up message telling you this. Do you know anyone else with a Dell laptop so you can try their charger?