Laptop troubleshooting forum: Adaptor plugged in but battery isnt charging up

Unless I find the charger is not the unit specified by Dell it invariably is a motherboard fault. Not cheap to fix.
Bob

We know because of the prior battery fires makers lock out non-maker parts in this area. So it means nothing if it doesn't work.

Then we have the old 300 cycle battery discussion to complete. I can't tell how old the battery is and while I read you tried the Windows trick, that does not apply to when the unit is shutdown. The battery would charge without the tricks if the parts are good.

It's all of 3 parts. Battery, wall unit, motherboard. Yes there are some connectors but we don't suspect those until about 4 years or if the unit is dinged up or they reveal it was dropped.
Bob

Because batteries are 300 cycle rated for most. If you find an owner that uses the battery almost daily then you find them buying batteries almost every year.
Bob

They will swap in a good battery and be able to tell if it's the battery or the other 2 parts. I can't diagnose it without that step.
Bob

I don't sell such things. I also don't use ebay for them since the office would not be able to warranty such. Last board came in at 1,200 US dollars.
Bob

The problem could be the power cord. A friend of mine was
complaining her HP CQ60 wouldn't charge (says it's plugged in, not charging) unless she jiggled the plug
connection at the laptop. She thought it was the battery and ordered
another one but found it was still not charging correctly. I looked at
it and confirmed that the cord had one loose connection at the barrel
plug.



If it is the power cord you could purchase a new one or repair it like I did below:


The cord (for HP power supplies) can be fixed by slicing a concentric circle around the plug
about a 1/2 inch down from the rubber end and then peeling it off to
expose the two wires. I found one wire broken from the solder joint and
thus not getting a good connection. I drilled a small hole into the
metal barrel to make a better contact and then re-soldered the wire into
the hole. I then super glued the concentric section I sliced off and
then put a piece of 1/2" 2:1 heat shrink tubing ($1.25 on eBay) around
it and shrank it around the repair. It's fixed and due to the black heat
shrink tubing, you can barely tell it was repaired. Hope this helps!