Inspiron 1300 battery failed

Question

Hello there, hope you might give me some guidance.   I have had a Dell Inspiron 1300 for over a year, just using it as a another desktop PC. so plugged into mains and not using the battery. Suddenly a few days ago this message kept coming up that the battery was getting low and needed recharging, even though it was still on the mains supply. So I checked all the mains supply, took the battery out and back in but then the laptop said no more battery power and went dead. Shouldn't the battery still be ok if the laptop has only been on mains power and why won't it recharge? Will the battery have to be replaced now and is this a known defect? I am out of warranty but will Dell help? (I sent them a support message and waiting for a reply). Hope someone can help as there's a lot of urgent important information on that laptop! Thanks in advance, MJK

ejn63 · Answer

If you're out of warranty, battery replacement is at your expense. Is the battery charging at all? If it is not, you likely have a system board, not a battery problem.

mjkmjk · Answer

Many thanks for your quick reply. Well the laptop won't start at all now, no sign of any life switching it on when connected to the mains or not. The last error messages before it completely went dead said the battery needed recharging (though as I say at the time it was always attached to the mains) so as you say maybe its a system board problem and getting a new battery won't do any good? In which case is it recoverable in any way?? Its all very strange that this has happened so suddenly as it has been working perfectly fine for over a year until this.

ejn63 · Answer

Reseat everything removeable (RAM, battery, drives, and cards). Check the AC adapter - make sure the LED on it is ON before you plug in the notebook end. If that fixes things, you're all set. If not, try powering up without the battery. If it will, the battery is faulty.

If the system still won't power up, it may be just the power jack (~$150 or so to replace) or it could be the system board (more like $400-500).

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Inspiron 1300 battery failed

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