Intermittent blinking battery LED on Vostro 1500

I've had this weird problem for a few days now and google is no help on similar problems.

Basically my battery LED flashes red for 1-2 seconds before turning blue briefly. The cycle repeats itself endlessly regardless of whether my AC adapter is plugged in. It seems to have started after I left the laptop on overnight for a download and hasn't stopped since. I've successfully calibrated the battery (discharge and recharge) and run the inbuilt battery diagnostic tests but the only result I've had was a warning that the battery's long-term life was decreasing (no surprise since the laptop is over a year old).

Anyone out there have any ideas? Should I get worried and call up tech support (my warranty is still valid).

 

How long does the computer now run on battery?

Are you running the latest BIOS?

What happens if you run the computer with the battery removed?

If the battery run time is still reasonable then this does look to be a power problem with the computer. That will be covered by the hardware warranty but the battery itself has only a one year warranty unless you have opted for an extended battery warranty.

John

 

1 1/2 hours approximately on full power and performance from last calibration.

I have the latest BIOS from Dell.

Blinking LED light persists even with the battery removed and mains on.

That's unfortunate about the battery warranty, but it seems windows itself is telling me that my battery is about to die as a popup appeared recently saying my battery will continue to charge normally but is almost at the end of its useful life.

 

If your battery has the LED indicators then the first push of the button give the 20% charge (each LED indicates 20%) but, if you hold the button down, then the lights should change to indicate the battery wear. Each light indicates 20% wear.

You could also see what the battery info page of RMClock reports.

If those two don't reveal any battery problem then you should contact Dell because it may be the power board in the notebook that is playing up (and this would be covered under warranty). And if it is, then it might also be doing the battery no good.

John

 

I've pressed the LED test button and it shows 5 green lights at first before flashing briefly and all 5 lights going off. I've read the RMclock battery info page and the only thing that surprises me is that the battery doesn't support a temperature gauge and cannot read charge rate and recharge cycles.

I'll give Dell a call tomorrow (had hoped never to test my 3 year warranty support but here goes) and hope for the best. I'm hoping it's a simple battery replacement or something which can done on-site since I'm wary of sending my laptop out for repairs and having it returned with data lost or hardware damaged.

 

That battery test suggests it is healthy and the problem lies with the computer's power circuit.

Does your warranty provide on site service? Potential HDD deletion during C&R service is one reason why I drop my own HDD into a new notebook before i get it set up. If service is needed then I can put the original HDD back in.

John