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simone54's avatar

Why isn't my battery charging on Laptop?

Asked by simone54 (7413 points ) December 3rd, 2008

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501. It seems like the battery isn’t charging. I’ll be using for hours with the AC plugged in but when take it off to go portable the battery is DEAD. Why is the problem (I hate Dells)

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10 Answers

dynamicduo's avatar

Is the battery external, can you take it off? If so, take it off and put it back on to ensure the contacts are touching properly. If you have another battery, try charging and using that one. Otherwise, I’d give Dell a call. I agree, Dell computers are quite shitty indeed, I’ve always built my own desktops and am using a Thinkpad laptop which is solid as a tank. I’ll never buy a Dell.

simone54's avatar

This is will be my last.

I had a hard drive completely crash out of nowhere after four months of it being brand new. They sent me another Hard Drive. Then that one crashed in a month.

dynamicduo's avatar

Building your own computer can seem like a daunting task, but it’s well worth it to understand not only how it works, but to be able to repair it and not be ripped off by going to the Geek Squad or any other computer repair brand place that’s not a mom and pop shop. Plus you can have a computer that lasts years and years with today’s motherboards. Lots of colleges here in Canada offer night classes on how to build a computer, the hands-on education is really awesome in eliminating any technology fear you may have. I’m sure there are similar courses in the States. Plus, once you’re done, you can help repair other people’s computers too, and share in the computery love :)

Sadly laptops aren’t really equal to desktops in that one can’t build a laptop from the base up easily… but if you’re at home a lot anyway, combine a solid desktop with a netbook and you have a killer combo! Even throw a little file server onto the desktop so you can save and access your home files through the netbook’s wifi… oh yes.

La_chica_gomela's avatar

I have the same laptop, and I love it. I’ve had it for almost 3 years.

My battery died too, after two years. I had the extended life 9 hour, and I just went on ebay and bought a new one for about 25 bucks – no big deal.

dynamicduo's avatar

Laptop batteries (rather, all Li-ion batteries) do have a finite life cycle based on when they were manufactured, even if they are used or not. So one’s best bet is to do exactly what La chica gomela recommends, either buy another battery from the manufacturer or buy it off eBay whenever your battery starts holding only small amounts of power.

charliecompany34's avatar

cat got to the wire, that’s all.

Kiev749's avatar

heh. yeah sounds like the cells died in your first one. they had vid where if you got the parts together it showed you how to replace them… i did my 4 cell battery for my e1705 and my batt life went from 1 hour to 3.5!

simone54's avatar

Okay, now it’s giving me a prompt.

“The AC cannot be determined. Your system will run slower and battery will not be charges.”


dynamicduo's avatar

You’ll probably want to call Dell and have them try to figure it out. I always Google my error messages, and sure enough here’s a whack of people who’re having the same problem. Apparently it’s a known Dell issue, and they may have to ship you a new AC adaptor. It seems a guy named Bill works for Dell in that link but I would try to go through the official Dell support before trying to contact this Bill guy.

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