dead battery in a Dell laptop

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 and the battery has been dead for a while so I have been using AC. Well now my laptop will not load the home screen. I can not get any icons or start up menu. Will replacing the battery fix this problem?

Solution 1

No. If your regular power is working then you have another problem.

You can always verify this by removing the battery and then booting the laptop.
If you have a second laptop or a second PSU (of comparable type) then make sure that the PSU or the power sockets on your laptop has not died.

Solution 2

I've seen this before where the computer won't turn on at all. The times I've seen it, I've had to unplug power, remove battery, then hold down the power button for about 15-30 seconds, up to 60 couldn't hurt. Then I was able to reconnect power and it started up with no problem. The tech bulletin that I had read attributed the problem to static build up, but who knows...

If the computer is turning on but your operating system is not loading, then that is a different unrelated problem.

Comments

[Ramhound]

Your computer not loading is not connected to the status of your battery.

[gronostaj]

When exactly does it stop loading? What OS are you using? Is the battery inserted into laptop? Does removing the battery and connecting AC power help?

[Daniel R Hicks]

Has the battery been removed? If not, do so (while unplugged and turned off), and then see how it works. Very often the computer power controller will refuse to allow the system to run if the battery is installed but seems defective.

[Canadian Luke]

What if the battery is dead, and the new one isn't? Tricky tricky :P

[terdon]

@CanadianLuke the one and the other in question are the battery and the AC power. If it does not run when plugged in, it won't with a new battery either.

[Canadian Luke]

If the AC adapter is dead, it won't charge the battery and have the same symptoms

[terdon]

@CanadianLuke ah, yes, if the AC adapter is dead that might be a problem. Still, if that is the case a new battery will make no difference because it won't be able to charge.

[Canadian Luke]

But the new battery may be semi-charged... I'm just making you work for the answer :P

[terdon]

@CanadianLuke grrr, and anyway, the little gnomes that are killing the machine might just switch to the new battery. :)