HELP with XPS 1530

I am a novice when it comes to computers. I have had my latop for a 1 1/2 years. I noticed the other day that the battery icon was low and when I clicked on it it said the ac adapter was plugged in, not charging. I always keep it plugged in. I assumed I needed a new ac adapter. I bought a universal adapter and none of the little prongs it came with fit into the laptop. The other thing I noticed in the past few weeks is that when I have unplugged it and just gone by the battery it only lasts for 45 minutes and then dies.

I need to know should I buy an ac adapter from Dell and a new battery?

My life is on this laptop.

Thank you.

 

If you have always kept it plugged in chances are you haven't conditioned the battery properly. According to Dell, in order to keep your battery in tip top shape you should fully discharge it every other day, and let it fully charge without the computer being on.

I had an issue only a week ago - my battery said 100%, but died after 10 seconds of being unplugged. Dell replaced the battery under the warranty, however you will probably not be so lucky. General battery wear and tear, like you seem to have, is not covered by warranty.

It sounds to me like an issue with your battery, not your power supply. I'd give Dell a quick call and see what they think. If your battery is only lasting 45 minutes it's clear you need a new battery - I doubt you need a new power supply as well.

 

I do turn off my laptop every night. If the power supply is saying "not charging", why wouldn't it be that? If I buy a new battery then you are saying the power supply will start working again? Sorry but this is all new to me.

 

Sorry, let me explain. What they mean by discharging is allowing the battery to run flat. Basically batteries - especially when new - require 'conditioning' to get the most out of them. This involves fully charging them and fully discharging them multiple times, doing this every so often to make sure the battery stays in top shape, and a few other things to take care of the battery.

When you get a brand new battery you should always condition it first, so that it can hold the maximum charge possible.

As for your question about 'not charging', I can't say for sure. This could very well be the AC Adapter. Have you tried running the laptop without the battery in? If it runs like that then clearly there's power getting to the computer - meaning the AC Adapter is more than likely not the problem. If a battery hasn't been taken care of it may not be accepting a charge.

You should try all the combinations possible. Try the AC adapter without the battery, the battery alone, both together. Try and whittle down what could be the issue.

Also if you let your battery run flat I believe if you hold the button down on the battery for a few seconds it'll discharge it. There could be some pent up energy in there, so give it a go. And again, calling Dell might help.

 

Where do you get this information from?

It’s just when I first got my laptop, I did some research on this, and it seemed that there was no benefit of “conditioning” a new battery.
Furthermore I found out that constant discharges, as you state, in fact increases the number of full cycles the battery has done and in turn decreases its capacity, over time.

Perhaps this is not the case, but I would like to see some facts! Hope you don’t take it the wrong way, I’m not criticising you, just want to know whats best for my battery.