Laptop battery issues

Greetings.

I have a Dell Latitude 3000 series, and about a month or two ago, the battery decided to give up the ghost—it actually started swelling. I went ahead and disconnected the charger cable from the laptop, but once I powered it back up, I noticed it stopped charging entirely. Initially, the battery indicator light would turn white for a few seconds before switching to orange; since then, the machine only runs when it's plugged into the wall. However, today the laptop shut itself down several times, and now—get this—even that indicator light won't even turn on anymore. What on earth am I looking at here??

The laptop still boots up fine... which is why I'm so confused—I was honestly hoping the charger was the thing that had simply gone to hell this time.

Maybe a lightning strike fried the charger because I just left it plugged into the wall?

The charger itself is still doing its job, though—it’s just that the LED indicator decided to quit on me today. To be precise, the light flickers on for maybe a second or two, and then, as soon as I boot up the laptop, the light goes dead while the machine keeps running just fine.

Kevin Green25 said:But look, the charger itself still works fine, it’s just that little LED light died on me today. Basically, it flashes for maybe a second or two, and then once I boot up my laptop, the light just goes dark, even though the computer keeps running perfectly fine.

Man, if it isn't actually charging the laptop, then it's broken, plain and simple. That LED is just there to tell you what's happening... if the light is out, it doesn't matter how much you argue with it, it's dead. A tiny indicator light doesn't just spontaneously combust like a lightbulb unless you got hit by a bolt of lightning or something.😒

You probably just wore out that charging port. I ran into a similar headache once where my laptop wouldn't take a charge at all. I was convinced it was either a dead battery or a faulty power brick, but turns out, it was something else entirely!!!

But I honestly don't get how the laptop is even staying powered on—X. It’s physically impossible for both the battery and the charger to be dead while the machine is still running.

Is there any chance—say, I don't know—that a massive buildup of dust could be causing this? I haven't had the thing professionally cleaned in over a year—maybe a little longer, actually.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

Man, my battery just totally gave up on me... usually, if you leave a battery plugged into your laptop 24/7 without letting it actually cycle through discharging and recharging, it’s gonna die way sooner than it should. It’s like, if it's constantly tethered to the wall, the battery just loses its mojo faster. You might want to take a look at the connectors on both the battery and the laptop itself, though, just in case there's some gunk or dust messing things up, but honestly, I wouldn't bet on that being the issue...

I'm planning to put my laptop away for 4-5 months. Any chance the battery will act up because of that? It’ll be powered down, obviously, but should I leave it at 100% or closer to 40%? Is there a risk of it draining completely while sitting there, and if so, is that actually an issue?
Also, should I wrap it in something to keep the dust off, or is that overkill?

Go read the top thread about laptop batteries...