Battery LED flashing (4 amber + 1 green)

Question

I have an Inspiron 1100 with WinXP Home.  The right-hand LED at the front has the battery symbol. This LED flashes when my laptop is on. The flashing is 4+1 (four amber flashes, followed by one green flash. Then the sequence repeats.)From Control panel, I see that 'Current power source' is AC power. I see 'Total battery power remaining' is 100%.If I remove the power cable, the power source changes to Battery at 99%. The 4+1 flashing continuesWhen the laptop is off, with the power cable removed, there is no flashing. If the power cable is attached, there is flashing.I cannot see any other problems with the laptop. If the gurus think my laptop is OK, then I'll just cover the LED with tape, because it's annoying :( BTW: Several years ago, we were recommended that any re-chargeable batteries had to be run down to zero every few months. Otherwise, the battery would lose its ability to hold a charge. Is this still true with modern batteries?BTW: There is no battery icon in the system tray. But in Control Pannel > Power Options > Advanced, 'Always show icon on the taskbar' is checked :( .

ejn63 · Answer

The battery is in need of replacement.

OldGrantonian · Answer

Thanks for your reply. Here's some more info.

When I withdraw the power cable, the battery shows fully charged. It takes 1 1/4 hours to run

down, and 1 1/4 hours to recharge.

(BTW: When the laptop was new, I think a fully charged battery showed 2 hours of charge. This is a

Jurassic Park laptop.)

I never use the laptop on battery, only on AC power. So is it safe to ignore the warning?

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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