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An orange Light keeps on blinking!
Hi, I'm new to this forum, and i'm not that good with computers, but just starting yesterday, there has been this orange light that constantly blinks on my INSPIRON 8500by the battery symbol with a plus inside of it. And i took out the AC adaptar cord, and when i did my computer turned off because the battery had no power. I'm assuming that it is no longer charging, and i took the battery out and put it back in to see if the connection was off, but i still get the same results. If anyone knows what to do, i would greatly appreciate it, because i like to travel with my laptop, and this is preventing me from doing so.
Thank You,
Shadow
aussiegeek
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April 21st, 2004 20:00
This has happened to me twice over the past few years, the first time was because my battery was simply dead and needed replacing, however the second time I thought it was the same problem but it was just a bad connection.
First turn off the computer and take out the battery. There is a self-test button on the battery that will light up several green lights when pushed if the battery is ok. If that is ok, blow out any dust in the battery compartment and make sure the connections are clean and push the battery FIRMLY back into the compartment. After I gave it a good solid push back in and powered up, the orange light went away and it's been fine for months now.
Give that a go, but normally though the orange light when on AC power means you need a new battery, especially if the self-test button doesn't show a healthy battery. And unfortunately those things aren't cheap!
shadow063
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April 21st, 2004 22:00
thanks for the quick responce! i'll try that now!
shadow
Simshady
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April 21st, 2004 23:00
shadow063
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April 21st, 2004 23:00
shadow063
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April 22nd, 2004 05:00
shadow063
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April 22nd, 2004 09:00
thanks for the replies, yeah, i'm gonna get a new battery, the thing is that i just got this computer last august, do you guys know that it could be becauset that when my comp is at home, i just leave it plugged in all the time, could that possibly have some affect on it? Thanks for all the help!
Shadow
aussiegeek
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April 22nd, 2004 09:00
I'm not at home right now so I can't do the self-test on my battery now, but I don't remember it alternating between 4 green lights and 2 green lights. I think if you have a healthy battery it should just light up all the green lights and then after a few seconds all turn off. (i.e no alternating)
If it's doing anything else I'd say you need a new battery.
If you've given it a good solid push back in and it's still showing the orange light blinking, it's probably dead. They often only last bewteen 1 and 2 years, especially if you use it often without AC power, so if you've had it more than a year it's not that uncommon.
aussiegeek
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April 22nd, 2004 09:00
no I believe leaving it plugged in on AC power should actually extend the life of the battery if anything.
8 months is a pretty short life-time for a battery - I've had my current one since Sep 2002 (although as I said, it showed the orange lights once, and pushing it back in hard fixed it)
sounds a bit strange that it would die so soon, but I'm no expert.
Ripper108
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April 22nd, 2004 12:00
HMKrieps
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April 23rd, 2004 11:00
Ed C
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April 23rd, 2004 12:00
aussiegeek and original poster
Leaving the notebook plugged into the AC and leaving the battery in ALL the time will shorten the life span of the battery. You have two options.
1. Disconnect it from the AC power when your not using the notebook.
2. Remove the battery when you're not using it.
aussiegeek
53 Posts
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April 23rd, 2004 13:00
ok thanks for the tip, although it's still a bit strange because I have mine plugged in to AC power ALL the time and with the battery in, and I have had my battery since around Sep 2002 and it's still going fine. I use my laptop for several hours every day too.
also taking the battery out is a pain because if I accidentally knock the power cord or something I lose whatever I was doing. (I'm clumsy :-))
i really think less than 1 year is not acceptable regardless of usage, and you should try to get it replaced under warranty if possible.
aussiegeek
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April 23rd, 2004 13:00
just re-read your posts and noted one thing:
my laptop is plugged in to AC power all the time when it is on - however I DON'T have it plugged in when it is switched off. (i.e after I shutdown, I pull the power cord out from the wall).
HMKrieps
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April 23rd, 2004 14:00
Batteries usually loose their capacity by using it or after some years. Older batteries lasted longer because they didn't have the capacity today's batteries have so they were better built. The batteries that are available today often are of a poor quality, some of them even fail after a year (Dell's usually last 2 years at least).
Ed C
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April 23rd, 2004 15:00
Well that may be true but as you stated you leave it running all the time. When the unit is running it give very little power to charge the battery, that is why it takes much longer to recharge the battery when it is running than it does if it's powered down. The bad thing to do is let the battery be charged all the time.
If you simply do a search on google for the best way to extend notebook battery life you will come up with pages of info.
Also with the new batteries, Lithium ion, it's not good to run them down all the way. It's best to recharge them when they reach the 50% mark. Running them all the way down then recharging them will shorten the life span.
As to your assumption that older batteries are built better. I have NO idea where that comes from. Most of the older batteries are/were nickel metal hydride which didn't last that long and put out less power than what is needed to run the notebooks of today. If these batteries were better than the Li-ion ones of today why did they stop using them.
I know this for a fact. I have a old IBM TP i1400 with a P-266 CPU and a small screen, and with a brand new battery it will only go for 1-1.5 hours under normal use.