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.

I used to take the battery out of my old toshiba and it lasted at least 4 yrs before I broke the laptop. I'd store it at slightly less than full charge when removed from the computer. New toshiba I replaced that broken laptop with the instructions say leave the battery inplace all the time as it only charges when its capacity is something like below 94% of charge. Its really rare that I see its charging light glowing. It's a year and a half old and still always shows and acts like it has full capacity as when new. I don't often use it on battery but when I do I try to let it run untill it warns me its low. The battery placement in the new laptop is located in a very cool to touch section of the laptop so heat certainly shouldn't be an issue degrading it by leaving it plugged in & the lith-ion type batteries do not self discharge and leak down as quickly as some types will. eBay usually has some new replacements at auction that if you inquire, usually they will have a date code that's about a year old but certainly less moneys.

someone in the business told me Sony had a heating problem with their desktops before this happened or before they found out what the problem was. sony used to be one of the best in the TV world, but they don't make their own flat screen panels anymore, contract them out. the place I bought my TV didn't recommend them anymore.

I'd try ebay. And don't limit your search to just batteries. I got a defective laptop of the same model as mine and my wife's and used it for a replacement battery, keyboard and screen, all for less than a replacement battery would have cost.