"Plugged in, not charging"

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Framar

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
26,420
Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
My cats are all the time walking across the keyboard of my laptop. Because of this I have discovered many features of the thing (and how to undo same). I have noticed lately that the pink light on the front is going on and off all the time, whether the computer is awake or asleep. When I first noticed it, the charge was at 96%. Now is is down to 92%.

How do I get it to charge itself again?

I use it plugged in all of the time. Only unplug it to take it around the counter to show something to a customer.
 
If it's plugged in, and the charger itself is lit, it should be charging.

Was the plug/port on the back of the laptop damaged?

Some batteries have a diagnostic button you can push to see if they have failed. On dells often itll blink a pattern in the battery meter (right on the battery), when the battery has reached the end of its life.

Sometimes re-seating the battery also helps. remove and reinstall it.

Mike
 
Aha! That explains it, Mike - thanks! There is a piece of tape on the battery which says "25 7/5" which sounds to me as if it was kind of on its last legs in July (25 being the lowest on the scale from 25-100).

I needs to get me a new battery! Yippee.
 
I was going to say the same thing about the battery...

When my old lap top started doing that it went down hill quickly. The battery was toast.
 
Hmmm. I unplugged it and the power supply of the battery went down from 92% to 87% in less than 10 minutes.

Now, plugged in again, it is charging!!!
 
Hoo boy - had a bit of trouble this morning with a Windoze update - computer said it was rebooting and just kinda froze - so I unplugged it and took out the battery and put it back. Computer is back to normal now, it is not yelling at me about Important Messages, and yet the charge in the battery just keeps going down and down and down, even though it is plugged in.

Now, instead of saying "Plugged in, not charging" it just tells how many minutes and the percentage of power I have left. (52 minutes, 42% remaining) - now it says "1 hour 1 min, 41% remaining" - I think it has gone squirrely!!!
 
Well now, just after my computer guy stopped by to pick up the number of the battery so he could order another, I reinserted the battery into the laptop and plugged it back in. A red light began flashing and a message popped up that if I did not plug it in, it would hibernate because it was down to 18% capacity.

Then it shut down.

So am I correct in assuming that I need a good battery to run the laptop even if it is plugged in - or maybe the plug is faulty too?

Arrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!
 
Mar, I would just wait and see if a new battery fixes the problem. It just might need to have a good battery to operate, even with the power cord plugged in. You'll find out one way or the other when you put in the new battery. Of course, don't forget to do the New Battery Good Luck dance to please the 'puter gremlins.
 
Man I hope the new battery will remedy it - I have had one computer only at home for 12 years now and the laptop for less than 4 months and I am so thoroughly addicted to having two now. God help me if I ever get a smart phone.
 
It sounds like the power adapter is bad, or the plug on the back of the computer damaged.

It should run fine without the battery installed, just being plugged in.

Mike
 
Well, I have a new adapter on order so let's hope that will do the trick. I figured it would be easier to have an adapter at the shop and one at home so I did not have to drag the thing back and forth with me.

Fingers crossed.....
 
Mike Labbe @ GTP said:
It sounds like the power adapter is bad, or the plug on the back of the computer damaged.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest the same thing.
I have a power supply at work and one at home so I don't have to lug one around with me. A few months ago the one at home was not charging properly. By jiggling the cable where it goes in to the laptop, I could get it to charge, but it often took some time. The power supply at work was fine!

I called Dell and they sent me a new power supply under warranty and it solved the problem. There must have been a problem with the plug/end of the cable.
 
Oh, hooray! The power supply is fine now - turns out (blushing now) something had gotten knocked onto the power strip switch and clicked it off. I blame the cat. (still blushing)
 
I have no children at home and no cats. When Esther and Molly do something bad, it's never subtle.

So when weird little things happen, I never know who to blame.
 
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