Laptop Problem

D

divadsnilloc

Registered User
Messages
159
I have had a Dell Inspiron laptop for last 2 years and it was working fine of my home wireless network. However, of late, it is very slow to hook up to the network and when I remove the power supply the battery drains before your eyes. I tried another laptop on the network and it connected immediately and the battery didn't drain. According to the wireless network diagnosis on the Dell laptop, it is working fine. Could it be that the battery just has to be replaced because the laptop has practically been used as the main PC at home. How much typically does it cost to replace one of these batteries?

Thanks
 
You may have 2 distinct problems here.

#1 Battery
Have you ever let the battery completely discharge and then recharge it?
If not then the battey starts to "forget" cells.

You may be able to recalibrate but it depends on the laptop model.

#2 Wireless
Does the laptop connect ok when it is on the mains or is it still slow?
 
#1 Battery
I have done this a few times, sometimes inadvertenly! I did it this evening, unplugged the AC power whilst still connected to the wireless network and it virtually drained in front of my eyes. Should I run it down when it's disconnected from the network? I reconnected it via mains supply and it's now 100% charged.

#2
Only over the last couple of weeks, it has been very slow to connect when on mains.When it picks up the network, it's fine. As I said on the original post, I tried another laptop, on battery power, and it hooked up immediately.
 
Who knows if you are comparing like with like. One laptop might have a massive battery the other a tiny one. Also a Large 17" laptop is going to savage a battery compared to a 13" one. The other laptop might be a much faster one and or have a newer/better WiFi card. Some are better than others.

Some wifi cards go into power saving mode and can be slow to come out of it. disabling that might be possible. Perhaps even there newer drivers for it now.
 
Concentrating on the battery first!

Can you confirm the Laptop model so that we can check if there is a calibration program available on the Dell site?
 
As the problem is only when connecting to WiFi, the assumption must be the battery is fine the rest of the time. Therefore the problem is the WiFi not the battery.

That said if you leave a laptop on AC most of the time, it will often be ruined within a year even less. A new battery can be dear enough, 50~150 ish depending on model. Some batteries are much bigger than others. Be careful of buying them from ebay, lots of poorly made copies around. I've had no problems though. Half the price Sony wanted for a battery.
 
XP or Vista?
Your battery issue might be totally unrelated to your Wireless issue.

If it's Vista, then that's where your problem may lie.
 
It's a Dell Inspiron 6400, about 2 years old. OS is XP Pro. Unplugged from mains again this evening whilst connected to wireless and it drained away. I must try it with the wireless off and see what happens.
 
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