Internal damage or just dead Battery

Mobile Tech Laptops & Netbooks
1

Hi,

I have an old Dell latitude E6420, and a while back the battery suddenly completely failed. Given that it was not a gradual process but rather abrupt, I am now a bit worried that it is more than just a dead battery.

The battery life is absolutely 0, once I unplug the device it is off. Can this still be just a bad battery?
With my previous devices, the battery life always dropped to a few minutes once the battery was "dead".

Is there some way to figure out if there is some internal damage that causes this or if it really is just the battery?
I do not have a replacement battery and would like to figure this out before I buy a new one.

Thanks for reading.

2

To verify if it's the battery the issue or the charging circuit use a tester to see if the battery is able to output any significant voltage. If it's way lower than around 12V or what's advertised on it the battery is surely dead. I think can happen to have a battery totally die all at once.

3

Yes, it can be the battery.

The same thing happened to by laptop a few years back. I bit the bullet and got a cheapo knockoff battery and everything works fine now.

4

Dead battery, most likely a shorted cell.
If you feel like it, replace the cell.

5

Hi,
Thanks for the reassuring words.

Also, English is my second language so thanks for the idiom ("I bit the bullet...")