It sounds like you battery may have gone bad. When you place the system on battery power, the LCD will dim and the processor will step down to save battery power. Ideally, you should "exercise" the battery for the longest period of life. You should run the battery down to about 3/4 charge at least once per week. A forum user posted some interesting sites on this:
Please remove the battery and visually check the connector in the bay and on the battery for damage.
Check the charge directly on the battery, using the button and lights on the back of the battery. The lights should come on and stay on for a few seconds. If the indicator shows no charge, there could be an issue with the AC adapter instead of the battery. If any of the lights flash, then it may be a problem with the battery. Please tell me what lights come on and whether or not they flash or come on for a few seconds. Then reinsert the battery, and make sure that the battery will fully seat in the bay. It should be flush with the case plastics.
Try another battery, if possible. Try the battery in another system of the same model, if possible.
The 4 cell batteries should last about an hour without heavy use of the processor. 8 cell batteries should last roughly double this.
Dell warrants batteries for one year after the original purchase date of the system. After this time period, you should contact our Spare Parts department to purchase a replacement. Spare Parts can be reached at 1-800-372-3355 Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 7 PM Central time.
You can also purchase spare parts and accessories through our website. Start at:
Dell-BobT,I checked the batteries,all 5 lights come on an stay on for a few seconds,none flashing.Checked battery dock and connections,all appear to be ok.I did have my LCD replaced about 4 months ago if that makes a difference,I have a 8100.The only thing is I rarely used the my laptop on battery alone.Any other ideas? Thanks!
I noticed that you said you run on mains power most of the time?
Failing to 'cycle' a battery can lead to it failing before it should. The cells deteriorate at a faster rate without excersise and become 'lazy' and fail to hold a full charge after a prolonged period of non-use. You should really aim to discharge them (run the machine on battery alone) at least once per month until the charge has dropped to where you get a 'low battery' warning, then give it a good charge (without using the computer for anything else) perhaps overnight or until a full charge is obtained. If you have two batteries installed discharge/recharge them separately
Just make sure you ain't doing anything important when you aim to discharge the battery like word processing etc...you could lose all the info!
Message Edited by bluetracker on 11-18-2003 01:15 AM
DELL-BobT
3.1K Posts
0
November 17th, 2003 19:00
kaadogg,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
It sounds like you battery may have gone bad. When you place the system on battery power, the LCD will dim and the processor will step down to save battery power. Ideally, you should "exercise" the battery for the longest period of life. You should run the battery down to about 3/4 charge at least once per week. A forum user posted some interesting sites on this:
Please remove the battery and visually check the connector in the bay and on the battery for damage.
Check the charge directly on the battery, using the button and lights on the back of the battery. The lights should come on and stay on for a few seconds. If the indicator shows no charge, there could be an issue with the AC adapter instead of the battery. If any of the lights flash, then it may be a problem with the battery. Please tell me what lights come on and whether or not they flash or come on for a few seconds. Then reinsert the battery, and make sure that the battery will fully seat in the bay. It should be flush with the case plastics.
Try another battery, if possible. Try the battery in another system of the same model, if possible.
The 4 cell batteries should last about an hour without heavy use of the processor. 8 cell batteries should last roughly double this.
Dell warrants batteries for one year after the original purchase date of the system. After this time period, you should contact our Spare Parts department to purchase a replacement. Spare Parts can be reached at 1-800-372-3355 Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 7 PM Central time.
You can also purchase spare parts and accessories through our website. Start at:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/dellitems.asp
Put in your Service Tag Number, or choose your system and you will be taken to a list of new and refurbished parts for your system.
This knowledge base article may provide additional information.
kaadogg
2 Posts
0
November 17th, 2003 21:00
bluetracker
2 Intern
•
369 Posts
0
November 17th, 2003 23:00
I noticed that you said you run on mains power most of the time?
Failing to 'cycle' a battery can lead to it failing before it should. The cells deteriorate at a faster rate without excersise and become 'lazy' and fail to hold a full charge after a prolonged period of non-use. You should really aim to discharge them (run the machine on battery alone) at least once per month until the charge has dropped to where you get a 'low battery' warning, then give it a good charge (without using the computer for anything else) perhaps overnight or until a full charge is obtained. If you have two batteries installed discharge/recharge them separately
Just make sure you ain't doing anything important when you aim to discharge the battery like word processing etc...you could lose all the info!
Message Edited by bluetracker on 11-18-2003 01:15 AM