Is my battery dead?

I am having the same problem with my Latitude CPI-A.  The battery is a 5081P.   As the previous person stated, the yellow LED on the right blinks four times, and then once green.  The cycle repeats ad infinitum.    The battery charge level always reads 0%, when viewing in windows or the BIOS setup.   Does anyone have experiance as to what the probem is?  Is it the charging mechanism, or the battery?

Thanks!

All,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Please check the charge directly on the battery, using the button and lights on the back of the battery.  If any of the lights flash, or if alternate lights come on, then the battery needs to be replaced.

Please test the battery in the media bay.

Batteries are warranted for one year from system purchase date.  If your system is less than one year old, then you can contact Technical Support  <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>for a replacement.

I checked the battery by pressing the button on the battery.  None of the lights come on.   The battery is completely devoid of life.

How can I verify that the battery is the problem?   What if it is the charging mechanism in the laptop? 

I tested the battery in the media bay, and I got the same result.   The battery never charges, and I cannot run the system off the battery.  The bios always indicates "Charging", but it never gets above 0%.   Again, the leds on the battery do not turn on.

Rollie, what do the blinking lights on the top of the laptop (near the power-on light and hard drive activity light) indicate?  Again, it is 4 blinking yellow lights, and one green. 

Thanks Rollie.

Message Edited by AM29LV800BB on 10-18-2002 11:45 PM

Message Edited by AM29LV800BB on 10-19-2002 09:40 AM

AM29LV800BB,

I have never heard of any flash code for the battery light on the system.  A flashing amber light generally indicates that the battery has overheated.  You should remove the battery and let it cool, and then try again.  If the light still flashes amber, then the battery should be replaced.

Aside from testing the battery in the media bay, the only sure test is to try the battery in another system.  If it fails in the other system, then it is the battery.  If it does not fail in the other system, then it is a problem with the charging system.

Okay....I have a follow up...

Things were going great for a while, cause the battery was begining to chargeagain, and I didn't have to worry about it. And then, out of no where, the flashing sequence started again, and it quit charging. The sequence HAS to mean something if all THREE of us have the same situation, if only we knew what. The icon in the taskbar is telling me that i still have 50% battery life left. I really don't know what to do here. This batter is only a few months old. It should not be dying yet.

ANY help would be appreciated!

Hi,

I have similar problem. My laptop is Latitude CPi D300XT, and the battery is 5081P.

The battery light on the laptop keeps blinking (in amber) when the AC adapter is connected (not in 4-yellow-1-green cycle). The BIOS tells me that the battery is charging and 41% charged (of course, the number never goes up) on both battery bay and the media bay. Check on the battery by pressing the button, there are three green lights and the light mostly close to the button blinks three times (in green), then all goes off. The laptop can not run off the battery at all.

Is my battery really dead?

Thanks.

Essko,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Most likely the battery is dead.  Please contact Technical Support.

My batter light begins w/ a steady green light, then after a few seconds begins to flash amber and continues to flash amber. I tested in both bays same results. the bios have been relashed and tells me that the battery is @ 55% charge and never goes up, when I disconnect the charger the system goes dead. when I put the battery in the media bay it tells me the battery is in standby. I tested the battery by pushing the buttons on the back of the battery, three lights light up, the one furthest from the button then begins to flash. It flashes twice and stops. they battery was working fine yesterday, I was getting two hours out of full charge, now nothing. The battery is not hot.  any ideas? I have contacted tech support they give me a bunch of links to follow that are of no help.

thanks

Shlwp836,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Your battery has failed and needs to be replaced.  Batteries are warranted for one year from system purchase date.  If your system is less than one year old, then you can contact Technical Support for a replacement.

OK, all of the lights on the back of my CPiA systems battery show green.  The battery works in the media bay, but not the battery bay.  Are there any consumer-friendly things that I might be able to do to next get the battery bay working, or should I just haul it directly off to the local computer fixit shop?

Thanks,

Ed

Hi,

Knowing what you said about the battery, and the age of it, and not wanting to say anything that might be liablus, I must say that it is rather suspicious, that the battery on my C600 Latitude, has worked fine for the past 13 1/2 months, 1 & 1/2 months outside the warranty period.  Is that the life expectancy of the battery?  I would have thought not, as I also have an old Apple Powerbook that dates back to the 80's and it's still working fine.

The current generation of Lithium Ion batteries is good for about 400 charge cycles.  If you figure that there are about 365 days in a year,  and an average notebook user will use their system almost every day,  then the average current Lithium Ion battery will last for about 13 months (assuming a daily discharge/charge cycle is used).  Use beyond that period falls under what is considered to be "normal wear" and would not be covered under warrantee.  Remember that these numbers are also "averages" so you may have one that only lasts for 50 charge cycles,  or you get one which lasts for closer to 500-600 charge cycles.  If you get the 50 charge cycle battery,  Dell will replace it within the first year of your owning your system...

Having said that,  my current Latitude is using a 3 year old battery and it still gets about 1.75 - 2 hours of use when starting fully charged and running from battery...