Computer help please

[DwarfMaster]

I have a Dell laptop. It's just over a year old...maybe 14 months now. I regularly get several hours of use without having to plug-in & charge my battery. Yesterday, my battery was a little low so I plugged it in & continued working. Today, it says 0% plugged in, not charging!! Huh Don't batteries usually die a slow, painful death....not suddenly overnight like that. I'm thinking something else is wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

When I click the little battery. It says Battery Life: 3 Stars Battery Status: Idle

I'm pretty sure my warranty was only 12 months - so if I call tech support are they just going to sell me a new battery? My techincal knowlege consits of driving to Best Buy & handing it over to the Geeks

 

[bicker]

Today's batteries are actually electronic devices, not just dry cells. So it is possible that the circuitry that controls charging (to make sure that the battery doesn't get overcharged) has failed, and now that battery won't charge anymore. Repair is possible, but typically more expensive than replacement.

 

[DwarfMaster]

Repair is possible, but typically more expensive than replacement.

DOH!!! I was afraid to hear something like this. Figures ~ The warranty expired 2 months ago.

It still works ~ It just defeats the purpose of a laptop if I have to stay within 3 feet of an outlet

 

[Swimnoid]

Bad news. Batteries aren't designed to last as long as they used to. I had the same thing happen to my dell after about a year and a half. Bought a new battery and now the new one is starting to go. ONe of my computer techie friends said that was to be expected. With my first 2 dell lap tops the batteries lasted longer than the computers did.

 

[JR6ooo4]

I am going on four years with my HP battery.

Check connections before buying a new one. Pull the battery and run the computer on just the cord. that will test for a bad charge cord and/or transformer...

then reboot a few times.

check the battery connections for damage or dirt and debris that might cause a problem.

then shut down. reinstall the battery with the cord attached and see what it says. Hopefully it will say charging.

also check the connection where the cord plugs into the computer. that is a tiny junction box soldered onto the motherboard of the computer. it can easily break the connections with only a little sideways tug on the power cord. wiggle the cord around and watch the charging icon to see if it blinks. the icon may be delayed from the actual connection so wiggle it and wait a moment.

Mikeeee

 

[DwarfMaster]

First, Thank You all for the tips & advice. And THANK YOU for explaining in non-techie terms I swear those people on the Dell boards aren't speaking my language.

Bad news. Batteries aren't designed to last as long as they used to. I had the same thing happen to my dell after about a year and a half. Bought a new battery and now the new one is starting to go. ONe of my computer techie friends said that was to be expected. With my first 2 dell lap tops the batteries lasted longer than the computers did.

I knew it wouldn't last forever. But, I thought I would have some sort of warning.....like it wouldn't hold charge for very long, battery life went down faster.....not a cold turkey death when it seemed to be functioning & charging just yesterday.

I am going on four years with my HP battery.

Check connections before buying a new one. Pull the battery and run the computer on just the cord. that will test for a bad charge cord and/or transformer...

then reboot a few times.

check the battery connections for damage or dirt and debris that might cause a problem.

then shut down. reinstall the battery with the cord attached and see what it says. Hopefully it will say charging.

also check the connection where the cord plugs into the computer. that is a tiny junction box soldered onto the motherboard of the computer. it can easily break the connections with only a little sideways tug on the power cord. wiggle the cord around and watch the charging icon to see if it blinks. the icon may be delayed from the actual connection so wiggle it and wait a moment.

Mikeeee

Thanks Again

Computer runs with just cord.
Everything seems to be in good shape. No loose wires or dirt that I see.
Rebooted with & without the battery.
Also tried uninstalling & reinstalling the battery hardware???? (I honestly don't know what that means but I followed step-by-step instructions from the DELL site)


Is there any way to make sure it's the battery before spending $$$ on a new one? I'd hate to spend the money only to confim it is a connection/circuit inside somewhere.

 

[disneymarie]

I have a Dell laptop. It's just over a year old...maybe 14 months now. I regularly get several hours of use without having to plug-in & charge my battery. Yesterday, my battery was a little low so I plugged it in & continued working. Today, it says 0% plugged in, not charging!! Huh Don't batteries usually die a slow, painful death....not suddenly overnight like that. I'm thinking something else is wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

When I click the little battery. It says Battery Life: 3 Stars Battery Status: Idle

I'm pretty sure my warranty was only 12 months - so if I call tech support are they just going to sell me a new battery? My techincal knowlege consits of driving to Best Buy & handing it over to the Geeks

I have a DELL and had the same issue.If you take the battery off and press the button to read the power it may help.
BUT, the DELL battery, I had a 6 month warranty even though the computer coverage was 3 years.
I did reading on the Inet and found that the DELL battery was sucky in length. I bought one on EBAY and it is working fine and last long.

My DELL laptop was from 8 2006 and I have had the fan overheat, go through 2 motherboards, one hard-drive, the pointer in the center had to be disabled because it actedup. As I typed the curser would jump lines and start entering text where ever the cursor was on the screen.

I also had th cord replaced two times from coming loose from the back and would not stay in to charge.

I also got an HP desk a few months prior,I never had a problem with the desktop and that gets used very hard. Stays on nearly all day and several people use it.Often for gaming.
I am much happier with the HP then the DELL.

 

[bicker]

These days, regardless of the brand, it really pays to get the long-term warranty. The competition in the market has been exclusively price competition in recently years, with consumers driving the base price down with little regard for the ramifications. As a result, you end up with a market filled with less reliable equipment. That doesn't means that they all fail. Less reliability means that failures are more common and more unpredictable.

The extended warranty helps shift some of the burden back onto the manufaturer, so the consumer is not liable for all the risk.

In addition to getting the extended warranty, many manufacturers have different levels of equipment. Dell, for example, offers Inspiron, Studio and XPS. Not only is XPS equipment better designed and better made, but Dell has dedicated staff to support XPS following policies and procedures that are advantageous to XPS owners.

 

[disneymarie]

I have a DELL provided by work, I bought a HP from SAMs Club a few months earlier. I think the SAMS service plan was the most generous and least costly. Yet I never had to use it!

My thought about service plan purchase; if people are without their computers they are not happy. We do so much every day and cannot affored or accept break downs. or a loss ofinformation.

It is fine to have an extended plan, but not fair to a consumer to have to expect computer hardware failure. Reliability and dependabilty are what we desire and not a good service plan.

My Dell Latitude has had several days of down time with multiple problems. I almost wait for the next issue.

For example; Last two weeks,as I typed the text would start inserting elsewhere in the document where the cursor would sit. Instead of fixing it, as the pointer in the center of the keyboard was malfunctioning, the DELL agent just had me disable the pointer.

The adapter keeps falling out the back. I had a replacement sent and it also is falling out. When I asked about fixing the problem the agent said that the proper cord was sent and it just may have an acceptable amount of wear and is falling out.

My prior DELL issues the last 8 months......I had two motherboards, one they installed and a piece of felt lodged when they did the forst repair, the fan kept running and the unit over heated and I lost the hard drive and mother board. I lost all the data that was not backed up on CD's.I work off a main frame forwork that was Saved, but the personal stuff, as research for work, receipts,etc. gone.

The DELL battery does not last the acceptable time frame. I had a battery puff out smoke overheat and burn up a computer 4 years ago....Computer inside guts burnt a total loss.

THe HP, I have an extended warranty with SAMs for three years and never a problem.

I understand there is or was a class action suit with DELL and they had a demand to improve their product. I jsut had a friend tell me about this yesterday as she wanted a new computer, her DELL burnt up from overheating and no warranty left.

She is headed to SAMS to get the HP. Even with Bestbuy, I like the service plan and cost that SAMS has better. The only thing is selection, you may have to order online for store delivary.
I had got our desk top from SAMS in a box bundle for $600 and that is well used nearly 24/7 use by gamers, Inet users, school work etc.

My DD is home schooled online charter school which provided an HP, we had no problems with hers, yet my laptop DELL is always having issues.
As I said now I have a pointer disabled, they had to update my drivers for the mouse pad because it had a generic one in, not the DELL one.

WHY? They would not give an explanation.

I am so done with DELL, even if they offer me one from work again I will show the history of repair, lost information and the reliability I experienced with the two HP's.

I hate to admit that....an HP over DELL But since DELL history of 8 years to compare both units, I have to admit, not a single HP problem, but more then a dozen with DELL and the total loss of two prior units.

So my personal experience two words. HP and SAMs.
di

 

[bicker]

And we've had great experiences with Dell and really nasty problems with the HPs we've had. The computer manufacturers are literally all the same. You get just about what you pay for.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

Wait, so it's not charging even though it's plugged in? Could be the actual charger. I just had to replace mine after a couple of years and on my last laptop I had to do the same. You can buy something at Staples or Best Buy for that.

 

[phorsenuf]

Can someone figure this one out.

My sons computer won't charge if he's plugged in and using the computer. If it sits idle than the battery will charge. He can't use his computer while plugged in at all. In fact his charger doesn't work anymore so he uses mine.

Does this sound like a charger, battery or both problem?