Dell laptop keeps switching to battery power while plugged into ac adapter

Hi. I am running a Dell inspiron 5150 apx 3yrs old. 3.06ghz , 1GB ram , win xp pro service pack 2.

Recently I noticed that the screen was flickering from dim to bright. At first I was not sure what was going on but then it went dim and stayed. Then I noticed that the machine was running on battery power , even though the power adapter was plugged in.

I checked and cleaned all the connections and checked the output voltage of the power adapter which was exactly as specified in Dell owners manual and sticker on power adapter.

I was able to get it to "recognize" the power adapter by shutting down and booting up with the battery pulled out. After windows loaded I plugged battery back in and everthing is fine , but this has happened several times now in the last couple of months.

The battery shows 98% charge when this occurs. I have used this machine with the adapter most of the time since I've had it , so the battery has only been cycled a few times. Of those times it was only used for an hour or two except for one time during a hurricane power failure when I ran it down to the point that I got power warning at around 30%. I was wondering if I should go ahead and run the battery down and then charge it back up occasionally?

Anyone know what's causing this and how to make it stop? It is pretty annoying.

Thanks in advance, beavis79.

 

i would guess bad battery...

 

hey,
I have had the same problem with my Sony Vaio, it started to do as you say the screen started to fliker on and off, then a few weeks after the end of the power lead started to melt.This is a either short circuiting or there is a problem with the mains adapter.To resolve the problem I used the warenty and got sony vaio to get me a new one and sort out a few other problems. I segest you do the same or if you arent still under warenty or some sort of insurance just go down to argos and buy a laptop adapter which fits any laptop.

Hope this helps

Cheers ,
Tom!