17 R5, plugged in but icon goes back and forth

I have an Alienware 17 R5 and this issue comes and goes.  Basically what it is doing is the laptop is plugged in and from time to time the battery icon in the system try shows that it isnt plugged in then it will come back on and say plugged in.  It does this all the while the plug is still plugged in.  In addition to that sometimes it shows that it is charging and sometimes it shows that it is just plugged in.  I have updated all of my drivers and even swapped out the power brick as i also have the same type of machine at work.  My next idea was to disconnect the battery and then put it back in but i am not sure if i can do that on this laptop.  After that the only thing i can assume is that it is a faulty charging port on the motherboard.  Any other suggestions on what it could be?