Why is my laptop not charging?

Engine No.9 · 17-09-2013 11:27AM #1

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 and the battery has been dead for about 2 if not 3 years. I used it on mains power for that time. I never bought a new battery because I felt they were too expensive but I've just started college and felt that I definitely need to get a battery for it. So I did, but its not a Dell original. It's a spurious one I got on eBay. Seller has 99.6% positive feedback from 14k+ feedback comments. But the battery isn't charging. It's been plugged in for about 2 hrs now and when I hover over the battery icon its message is "41%, plugged in, not charging". I know its working as far as being a battery goes as it stays powered on if I plug it out, but the charge level never increases. Could it simply be the fact that its a spurious battery and not Dell original?

kitnan · 18-09-2013 02:14PM

I wouldn't think it's a problem with the battery, I've read that if you let it discharge completely and then recharge, it resets the battery controller on the system to zero to get it's start point...hope this helps

Allyall · 18-09-2013 02:21PM

pajopearl wrote: »

Could it simply be the fact that its a spurious battery and not Dell original?

Yes. But it could also be the battery connections. Clean them with pure alcohol and a cotton bud or similar.

Also it may be your charger.

Those Spurious batteries can have problems. But they do the job for the price. It is possible you got one dud. But check the other two things first.

Borrow a charger from somebody else.

chasm · 18-09-2013 02:22PM

I don't know whether this applies to other laptops but i have a samsung and in the power management settings you can control the battery, i have mine set to charge to 80%. If i hover over the icon it will say "80% available, plugged in,not charging". So check your settings

Engine No.9 · 18-09-2013 02:49PM

Thanks everybody for your replies, but the age old tried and tested method of plug it out and plug it back in again did the trick. Once I went to the effort of replacing the battery with the power cord unattached (although initially I had powered it off just didn't unplug it), it seemed to cure it.

Why is my laptop not charging?

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