Question about Dell power light.

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09/08/2010, 4:55 PM
osarusan

Question about Dell power light.

I've got a Dell Inspiron 1545, about a year old.

The power light is continuously on, even when I shut the laptop down. It used to sometimes flash even after I had shut it down, and I presumed that it was telling me that the battery was charging (it would eventually stop flashing and be 'off'. I virtually always use the laptop plugged in, I can't remember the last time it was running off the battery.

Now it's on all the time, and when I hover the mouse over the battery symbol on my toolbar / taskbar (the one at the bottom, in the right hand corner) it tells me that it's at 89% (or 97, 94, 91%, always in that area) and not charging at the moment.

My wildly speculative guess is that the battery isn't charging, so the light never goes off. If this is the case, how do I get it to charge to 100% (at which point I'm expecting that the light will go off)?

EDIT: Power light is white, never seen it any other colour, but that may only be because it's always plugged in.
09/08/2010, 5:05 PM
superfrank

I have the exact same thing with mine.

It's a Dell Inspiron 6400, about three years old now. The power light always flashes (half the time red, half the time green) if it's plugged in, whether the computer's actually on or not.

Again, if I hover the mouse over the battery icon in the bottom corner it always says: "82% available (plugged in, charging)". However, if I unplug the computer from the socket, it automatically powers off, regardless of how much battery life it (suppossedly) has. It also won't work if it is not plugged in.

Several times when restarting it after such an instance when it powers off because I've unplugged it by accident, a message has popped up telling me to replace the battery as it's dead. However, as long as it's plugged in, it'll work. I don't understand this either.
09/08/2010, 5:10 PM
osarusan

I just plugged out the laptop to see what would happen, and it moved to battery, and still said it's at 89%. Down to 88% within a couple of minutes.
09/08/2010, 5:32 PM
dahamsta

I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but I have to ask: are you sure you're shutting it down, and not putting it into standby/sleep?
09/08/2010, 5:36 PM
osarusan

Quote:

Originally Posted by dahamsta

are you sure you're shutting it down, and not putting it into standby/sleep?

No, definitely 'shut down'. There are 'sleep' and 'hibernate' options, but I shut it down.
09/08/2010, 6:23 PM
osarusan

Following advice on a thread on a Dell support forum, I plugged it out while the laptop was shut down, and turned it on on battery power. As soon as it had gone far enough into startup for me to see the battery status, I plugged it back in, and the battery started charging. When I shut it down again, the light stayed on for a few minutes, and then went off.

I've just turned it on again, and the battery's back up to 100%.

Might be worth a try Superfrank.
09/08/2010, 7:17 PM
superfrank

Thanks for the tip.

Tried it and, unfortunately, the computer won't switch on at all if it is unplugged.
09/08/2010, 8:55 PM
osarusan

If you turn it on with the plug in, and unplug it, does it go dead immediately? not even enough time for you to plug it out and 5 seconds later plug it back in?
09/08/2010, 9:06 PM
Schumi

Quote:

Originally Posted by superfrank

Thanks for the tip.

Tried it and, unfortunately, the computer won't switch on at all if it is unplugged.

Sounds like your battery is screwed.
09/08/2010, 9:24 PM
superfrank

Quote:

Originally Posted by osarusan

If you turn it on with the plug in, and unplug it, does it go dead immediately? not even enough time for you to plug it out and 5 seconds later plug it back in?

No time whatever.

The second the plug is pulled out or if the wire slips out at the back, it switches off without warning. Black screen, no lights whatsoever. It won't start again til it's plugged in.
09/08/2010, 9:25 PM
osarusan

Quote:

Originally Posted by superfrank

No time whatever.

The second the plug is pulled out or if the wire slips out at the back, it switches off without warning. Black screen, no lights whatsoever. It won't start again til it's plugged in.

Then I'd have to second Schumi's comment.