My laptop is not charging, but showing as plugged in

My laptop is not charging, but showing as plugged in

I am going to offer you a couple of solutions that should determine what is wrong with your laptop, or you battery.

Having a Dell Inspiron laptop means that it has as software that will protect your battery from overcharging itself. It's called Dell Battery Monitor. It can be accessed from the Control Panel and selecting Power Options, then on the left side there will be an option for Dell Battery Monitor; click on it and then a new windows will appear and it will show an option checked. That option disables the battery charging while the computer is in use. You can uncheck the option and then see if it will charge.

Another problem might be that the capacity of the battery has reduced since you bought your laptop. A smaller capacity means a faster charging capability at the cost of having a bigger power consumption while using the battery. Or the battery cannot be charged anymore because it is damaged, and should be replaced.

One last option should be discharging you battery until you laptop turns off, and then plug in the AC adapter and leave the laptop charging until the LED indicates that it finished charging.