Genes - I did try your suggestions - and the Dell won't power up. Wiggling the adapter didn't make a difference. Kay - I'm curious why Dell thought it might be a battery? And I don't have any steps I can walk you through beyond what Genes outlined. Unfortunately, my Dell won't power up. There are replacement batteries on Amazon for just over $20 - so maybe it's worth trying that in case a Dell just won't power up if the batter is bad - whether it's plugged in or not. --------------------- On a separate note, I did get the battery replacement for my lenovo - and it works. Now I can unplug my laptop and get about 3-4 hours (which isn't great - but running on battery is not what I usually need). I did calibrate it once. Charge it fully - let it discharge fully until it shut off. Then recharged it fully. The battery came with instructions to do that once. I am confused, however, as I thought Li-ion batteries didn't need that at all - and that batteries that do need that need a few cycles of it. So I'm wondering if I should go through a couple of more charge and discharge cycles. Thank you. Lynn.

Laptop Recalibration As a laptop gets older, it starts to slow down a little. You may notice that pages load slower, videos take longer to start playing, and general slowness of the machine. Unfortunately, thousands of people a year replace their laptop batteries without performing any monthly recalibration on it at all. If you want to get the best performance out of your laptop, here are a few steps to follow. - Charge your laptop's battery all the way to 100%. -Once the laptop is fully charged, unplug it and let the battery drain. Feel free to use the laptop during this period, as it will help it drain more quickly. Once you see that the battery is almost empty, save your work and close any open pages. Then let the laptop shut itself off. -Let the dead battery sit for about 5 or 6 hours, or overnight. This will help eliminate any leftover charge the battery may have, and lets the battery start over from zero. -After you've let your laptop sit, plug it back in and let it charge all the way to 100% before using it again. Battery maintenance is an important process that many people neglect. Recalibration should be done monthly if possible to ensure best results. If done on a regular basis, you should notice greatly extended battery life on your computer, and hopefully postpone the purchase of any replacement parts.

Several months back I also had problems with my 4 year old HP laptop. The power adapter had to be wiggled for the darn thing to make a connection and keep power flowing to charge the battery and power the laptop. I took it to a shop that specializes in laptops and had it checked out. What was wrong was that where the adapter plugs in at the back was cracked inside from wear and needed to be replaced. The tech took apart the laptop and even showed me where the problem was. The new part had to be sodered (sp) so was not just a simple fix. With labor, parts and having them add another 500mgs of ram (Something I had been wanting to do for a long time.) it cost me around $300 for everything. Cheaper then a new one and works like a charm now. It should last a few more years until I'm ready to upgrade ;o)

Long life with a battery is using the laptop and using basic applications. The more intensive the program, the less actual battery time. You can also go into your Toshiba Power options (Control Panel) and adjust the battery settings to optimal (may help). Anything more than a year (warranty) is gravy. Having said that, some will fail sooner than others. I have had batteries last several years and some go after a little over a year. Personally, my battery is never removed from either computer other than when adding memory or something like that. Of course, I dont travel either now so battery life is not a big deal with me now