Just bought a used Dell laptop, model CPXJ650GT. The battery will not power it, but the AC adapter will power the laptop from house current. When I push the battery test button, three lights glow indicating 60 percent battery power. However, the amber battery light ,on the keyboard, flashes rapidly. Which indicates a dead battery. My concern is weather the problem is a bad battery or a defective charger, since the battery tests with three lights coming on? Should I put in a new battery first to see if it solves the problem and if it doesn't, then get a new AC adapter?

Thanks,
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My first guess would be that the battery is bad. I would insert the battery and attach the charger and let it charge overnight and check the status in the morning. The charger is probably okay as batteries are usually the first to go bad in laptops... usually.

If the lights blinked (especially amber light), I am sure that your battery is dead. You'd better use a good battery to test the function of your notebook charger board (or battery board, something like that). For some battery issues, you can see http://ebuybatteries.com/company/battery_faq.htm.

The best thing to do is to keep charging your laptop and occasionly unplug it until half the battery is used. Keep charging for a week and repeat.
This uasually works with Acer, msi, dell, hp and compaq. Don't try it with viao, e machines and others not mentioned on the first list