Alienware 14 : My laptop keeps on starting itself when pluging the battery and won't charge.

[MicheDePain]

Hi,
my battery simply won't charge. Here's what's happening : When I plug the battery it seems like my laptop start itself (the lights opens up and it starts making sound) for a few seconds before crashing again, over and over again. When I legitimaly open it by pressing the power button it opens up long enough for me to see it didn't charge, just before crashing again.

Right now I've temporarly removed the battery from my computer so I can keep using it. Problem is it affect my computer performance a lot (especially for gaming).

My Alienware 14 is about 3 or 4 years old and I had some issues with it before. I usually keep it plugged in almost 24/7 so I'm not shocked by having problems with its battery. I changed the battery once about a year ago and changed the power cord (charger) along with the jack about 3 months ago. I am not ready to pay for a new battery as the alienware stuff is rare and pricey right now so I'd rather find a solution to the problem.

What I've tried so far (even tough I'm an amateur) :
1. Removing the battery, closing the laptop properly and plugging the battery again.
2. Removing the battery, pressing the power button for 20 seconds... (altough that doesn't seem to work and I've tried it before in other occasions)
3. Letting it charge for about 30 minutes before opening the computer, without any results.

What I get out of it from my amateur point of view :
It seems like it opens itself over and over again each time draining the so little battery it has and endlessly non-charging. I think I'd need a way to overwrite this automatic opening which is not usual and never happened before.

I'm going to see if any drivers are outdated. (just thought of that)
Thanks in advance for any help or tips.

 

[webworkings]

After all you said above I can see no answer/resolution other than you getting a new battery. Batteries can go quite easily. Even if you haven't been using them.

 

[MicheDePain]

Well thanks for taking the time to answer anyways. I was scared but kind of expecting that answer.

 

[Delphic]

Did you find a solution for this? I have the same problem.

 

[Tom Keenan]

Did you find a solution for this? I have the same problem.

It's a cooling problem. You need to clean the fan and ideally re-thermal paste the cpu/gpu. I did it on my old r2 recently and it helped tremendously and it no longer revs up the fans while it's closed. As for not charging I had to replace the battery and my best guess is that it either wore out on it's own (it's a 6-7 year old computer) or the excess heat made it fail prematurely. My power port is a little wonky, that's how I stumbled upon this thread, it seems like the only fix to the message "plugged in, not charging" is to get a new ac/dc power plug and solder it in. Mine works for the most part and it charges after you plug/unplug it a few times so I'm debating trying to track down a good plug to put in it.