The power cord/charger to my dell dell vostro stoped working, it has a light that indicates when there is power and it went off. at first there was almost full charge left in the battery so I still was able to use the computer. When the battery lost its charge I plugged in an old dell charger cord and I got a msg saying that it was using a 35 watt cord and my computer required a 65 watt cord/charger, so my computer would work but the battery would not charge... all of this appeared true and correct. I was able to use my computer while plugged into the wall while I waited for the new cord, which took a few months. I purchased a new power cord, it appears to be identical, it works great but the battery is still not charging, so if the plug pulls out the computer goes down immediately. Does anyone know why a new cord would not charge an old battery? there was no issue at all with the old battery it was still holding a full charge or close to it. Is there a calibration or initialization step I could try?
1 Answer
You are not providing a lot of context, so my answers are concerning batteries in general, but I feel they may help in your case.
There might be a problem with the cells in your battery. Batteries are typically made of a number of voltage cells, that fill up simultaneously on charge, and empty themselves simultaneously to provide adequate voltage. If one of the cells is damaged; then the battery won't reach the necessary voltage for the computer to function.
There might be a problem with how long your battery has remained uncharged: If when you last had the battery on a full charge, you drained it, and the problem with your cord occured, then the battery has been on an empty charge for a while. That's usually a big no-no for batteries as they can be severely damaged by long periods of energy famine.
There is a way to revive low charge battteries using a charger on which you can view cell voltages, and recalibrate, these are typically sold by RC hobbby stores, but it would set you back about 35$, which might be the price for a brand-new battery. Up to you.
