• Anyone with a laptop knows how frustrating it is to have to troubleshoot power issues. Dell rechargeable laptop batteries last, on average, about 18 months. After that, run time begins a slippery decline. When the battery is no longer meeting your needs, you will need to replace it. There may come other times when you will need to investigate your Dell battery as a potential source of problems as well. In many instances, a new battery or power adapter will resolve your issue.
  
  

Battery Will Not Charge

• If the battery will not charge, but your Dell laptop runs normally with the AC power adapter, check the battery and connections for signs of damage. Dell batteries have a nice little feature that can be a big clue in your troubleshooting process. There is a button on the laptop that, when pushed, will cause a series of LED lights to come on. If all of the lights come on, the battery is fully charged. The fewer lights, the less the battery is charged. If the lights blink, there is potentially a problem with the battery. If possible, try a charged spare battery in your laptop or test your battery in another Dell laptop. If the spare battery works in your laptop or your battery fails to work in another Dell laptop, a new battery will most likely solve the problem.
  
  

Low Battery Runtime

• If the Dell rechargeable battery cannot sustain a charge as long as it once did, boot the laptop into the BIOS and wait for the battery to discharge. If it discharges just as quickly in the BIOS as it does in the operating system, the problem is probably the battery. Replacement will most likely solve the issue. If the battery lasts longer, the problem may boil down to other factors that are causing a faster rundown time. It could be power management settings, high demands on the processor or memory or LCD brightness. By changing these settings, you could buy yourself more battery time.
  
  

AC Adapter

• If the AC adapter LED is not lit, the source of the power problem is most likely not the battery. Check to make certain that the adapter brick is acquiring power. Plug it directly into the wall outlet. If a green light still does not appear, verify that the outlet is working by plugging another known good appliance, such as a lamp, into the socket. If that is not the problem, try another adapter. If the green light does appear on the adapter, check for a bad connection with the laptop, including missing pins, bent pins or a loose fit. It may turn out that you need to replace the AC adapter or have the laptop serviced by a Dell technician.