I have a DELL laptop about 3 YEARS old. I plug the charger in, the CHARGING light flicks on once quickly then nothing happens. The computer won't turn on as the battery is DEAD, but it also won't charge. Any ideas?That battery has probably outlived it's lifespan.
Do you know anyone with a similar machine ? ?
If so borrow there battery to DETERMINE if it is the battery or the charging system at fault.Not having used laptops much, I have to ask, does a dead battery mean the computer will not run? In other words, the power does not get ROUTED directly from the power cord to the system if the battery dies? Is this true with all laptops? I can say that isn't true for all laptops. My laptop runs fine without a battery inserted (the battery is dead and I always use it near a socket anyway...) and I have personal experience with at least a couple of brands that doesn't care if a battery is present or not.As some of you may know, I was given an old computer (Dell Inspiron 4000) and the battery is like stuck to the computer with screws. If my predictions are right. The battery is about the size of an A5 piece of paper.

Back to the problem at hand, my dad's laptop runs fine without the battery so either something is wrong with the charger or something is wrong with the connection inside the laptop.