Is my battery dead?

I bought an XPS m140 on craigslist and I was stupid enough not to test it out on the spot. It turns out there is a problem the seller did not tell me about. when the laptop is plugged into the wall, and I insert the battery, the laptop battery status light will turn green, and then suddnly flash orange a few times and then turn green, and then suddenly flash orange a few times and then turns green, and so on for a few times and then the laptop just shuts off and the AC adapter light dies and I have to unplug the adapter from the wall and plug it back in before it will allow me to get power to feed my laptop again. I have verified that it is not the AC adapter, so it is either the laptop or the battery. Is it likely to be the battery? I am thinking of buying a battery on ebay but Im not confident it will solve my problem and only make me further lose money.

I have emailed the seller back and she was a ***** about it, AND this was a while ago (its been sitting around for a while), so I don't think I'll return it. Can anyone tell me what could be wrong with my laptop?

 

Battery pack is near death if it's flashing orange.

 

So it IS most likely the battery? At first I thought it was the charger because the whole computer would lose power and the charger would die and I had to remove it from the wall and then replug it back in before the charger light would go back on. But through A/B testing I found out it wasn't the charger.

Could a flashing orange light indicate a bad charging circuit/motherboard too?

 

Also check to see if your battery was part of the recall from last year. If that's the case you maybe in luck to get a free new battery

 

To check the battery health using the charge gauge, press and hold the status button on the battery charge gauge for at least 3 seconds. If no lights appear, the battery is in good condition, and more than 80 percent of its original charge capacity remains. Each light represents incremental degradation. If five lights appear, less than 60 percent of the charge capacity remains, and you should consider replacing the battery.
source DELL web support

 

I press and hold and no lights appear... That means I have a good battery..? darn. Is it possible for the battery to be SOOO dead that event he built in indicator wont light?

 

Are you talking about the meter on the battery itself? If so, what that shows is current charge level. When totally depleted, it shows no lights. When fully charged, it shows 5 lights.

tsinghoi, I think you might have 1 or more shorted cells in your battery pack.

 

i dont know yet , my battery is new and it doesnt show any lights after 3 secs.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins640m/en/om/battery.htm#wp1066776

 

The doc says that if you "press and release" the battery gauge it gives you the current charge level (more lights are good). If you "press and hold" the battery gauge it gives you the battery health (more lights are bad).

 

Yep, my 13 month old 6 cell shows 5 lights after 3 seconds and discharges in 30 minutes in laptop.

I bit and recieved $60 9-cell Dell branded battery off ebay. It works great but buyers beware. They look like legit DELL Japanese with Sanyo cells but (could) be possible fakes. The seller has very high rep with hundreds of happy buyers.