Battery takes charge, but won't work!@#$

Battery power does leak out after several weeks. The first thing I'd do is see if you can find a friend with the same model computer who can test your battery to see if it will still take a charge. If it won't, that's probably the problem, and you can get new batteries all over the internet, just don't buy from Dell, their store is extremely expensive. If it will take a charge, but won't charge on your computer, then it's worse. This happened to my dell after about 4 years of use. The charging mechanism may be broken, or the AC adapter connection inside the computer may be damaged in some way, preventing the battery from being charged (but still allowing you to use AC power. Yeah, I don't understand why that happens, but apparently it's pretty common). Did you ever get an error message saying something like "power source cannot be recognize, press any key to continue on AC power"? That's what happened to me shortly before my battery stopped charging. I looked into repair, but it wasn't worth the trouble because of the age of the computer and the fact that I can still use it. Might be a different equation for you though.

I know no one with same model Dell. Bluejayk: I didn't understand something. Based on using the tester button, my battery apparently lost power after sitting outside for 3 mos. But it in fact now seems to have taken a new charge after I put it in the computer. But still the computer will not work on battery power. I may have got the message that you mentioned; it's vague in my memory. Not sure. DOes this sound like the Dell itself has developed a defect and will never be able to run on battery? Yikes. I hope not.

I think the battery is just dead. I have a 2-year-old Dell battery, and it shows all green lights when you push the button as well. But when you run the computer on it, it only runs for about 20 minutes as opposed to 3-4 hours before, and the software warns me "Your battery needs to be replaced". I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about the computer being broken. These batteries just don't last that long; 2 years is pretty normal.

Thanks people. I got advice similar to Dixie's from another party as well. So.... I think I'll go trotting off into the web and buy a new battery. ugh. I'll see if that solves it. Why can't these clowns just make things that work smoothly, and for long periods of time? Will it take some other country to show f---ng Gates how to do it? Like the Japanese showed us with auto manuf'ng?

Mate, your battery is toast, nothing special about it. I have had a dell precision m60 and after about 2 - 2.5 years the battery fought its last battle. You could buy a new one or just deal with it like I do.

Hold down the battery test button for a few seconds. Going from memory, if none of the light light, the battery thinks its good. If a few lights light up in series (like xxxoo or xoooo), the battery has reduced capacity. If the light up in a pattern, like (xoxox or xxoxo), the battery is toast.

Laptop batteries are a consumable. Over time, they lose the ability to hold a charge. Lots of good places to buy Dell batteries on the 'net, much cheaper than Dell. Please http://www.rbrc.org/the old battery; they're full of heavy metals.