If your Dell notebook is not charging the battery there are some simple things you can do to determine whether or not the adapter is faulty.  One very basic test is to check the battery itself.  Remove the battery and test to see if it is holding a charge.  There should be an indicator on the battery, if not go ahead and check the ac adapter light.  If the ac charger’s light is not on when it should be, you could definitely say that your ac adaptor is dead.  Now, you are not completely out of the woods yet.  Your battery could also still be defective and you may also need to replace it.  If the ac adapter light is on, and your laptop can turn on, go ahead and press F2 to go into setup.  Once in, scroll over to the battery health page.  There you will be able to see the battery status, whether it is being charged or not.  If it is not being charged it will usually say “idle”.  You should also see an area that says “ac adapter” along with a status indicator.  It should detect the wattage of your adapter and clearly display it.  If it says “unknown adapter installed” or says nothing at all, than you can be sure your adapter is no good.  If you suspect that both your battery and adapter are bad, it would be wise to go with the cheapest replacement and work your way up.  Replace the ac adapter and test your battery, if the battery is still not holding a charge or does not charge at all, proceed to purchase a replacement battery.  If you have any questions or need assistance, please do email us and we will help you free of charge regarding your Dell laptop charger problems.