Inspiron 6400 battery issue.

[stevo1210]

There's been an issue lately with my Dell Inspiron 6400. Everytime I boot it up, it gives a message that my battery needs to be replaced. I think this is all nonsense because my laptop always runs off AC power and not the battery. My laptop was purchased in May 2006 so it's been nearly two years, of that time, I guess that the battery has been used only 20 times maximum (obviously this means maximum of 20 recharges).
Yesterday I used it on battery and noticed a strange symptom. The battery goes down in steady increments from 100% to 86% around 30 minutes which is acceptable, then suddenly the battery meter drops from 86% to 7% in an instant.
I swear that I am really pissed off because Dell wants to charge me $300 for a battery when my laptop is worth only $500. There is one other way and that's to go generic.... one of the many things I won't do since I've seen some go up in flames.
Anyway, what is going on exactly?? and will my battery be completely disabled one day?? because I find that completely unfair. I would prefer to have a battery that won't hold charge for long rather than one that won't work at all.

Thanks.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Inspiron 6400 battery issue.

Probably one or more of the cells are bad and do lose their charge to fast.
The the voltage of the whole pack will drop by the voltage of those cells instantly.
This is probably a not that exotic failure i suppose.

From my point of view, you can`t do anything else then either buy a new battery, or replace the cells in your battery pack.
You can get single cells on ebay or from several specialized shops. If you do it right and are using quality replacement cells i would not have any safety concerns.