[nivrip]

On average how long should it take to charge up a laptop from an almost dead battery situation? It's an almost brand new battery in a Dell Latitude D500.

[V_R]

Depends on your power settings etc.

I've seen batteries last better than others. Some are truly rubbish too.

[nivrip]

No idea what the power setting are. It's just the charger that comes with the laptop.

Are we talking 6 hours? 12 hours? 24 hours?

Just a rough idea cos my daughter had it on charge overnight and it's hardly made any difference. The battery was still almost out of power despite the overnight charging.

And, another query. Should there be an indicator light or something on the display to indicate that charging is taking place? I can't see anything of the sort.

I'm wondering if there's a problem with the charger.

[Taffycat]

I've used laptops in the past, and they have usually re-charged within about 2 - 4 hours, during normal use. Re-charging overnight should have been ample time to fully re-charge.

Indicator-wise, on mine, there used to be a light that would blink to indicate that the battery was charging. It would change from orange, to green when the battery was full. The light was usually near the power indicator light. (I'm talking about on a Rock and previous to that, an Advent.)

Perhaps it would be worth speaking to CS where you purchased your battery - could be that it's faulty and not holding its charge (?)

[JudgE]

yep when you plug the charger in, there is usually a light that comes on.

[captain zed]

Hi Nivrip.
My gf bought a dell about 8months ago and she reckons 3 hrs should fully charge the battery.
In the task bar there is a little battery icon which has a little plug stuck to it. A light pulses in the battery during charging and when you disconnect the cable the plug disappears and its just a plain battery with no plug. Its the same on my lappy. Are you sure the cable was plugged in completely ?

[nivrip]

Originally Posted by captain zed

Are you sure the cable was plugged in completely ?

Hi Z,

Certain it was plugged in cos the connection to the mains, through the charger, was the only way the laptop would work. It worked perfectly as long as the mains connection was there but soon faltered when the connection was broken.

[JudgE]

sounds like a dead battery that only works via the mains power.
i got that problem with one of mine.

[captain zed]

Sounds like a duff battery to me too....my dads laptop had the same issue last yearish....hasd to buy a new one. Although he ran it off the mains for months before he sourced a cheap(80 euro) battery for it.
Is the dell still under warranty ? I hope it is.