Was hoping someone might be willing to read my rant/problem and offer some help.

-Suddenly battery is at 7% (then 1% a few days later)

-When AC charger is first plugged in the white light under touchpad lights up for 2 seconds. Normally this white light stays on when battery is charging.

-Laptop works fine while AC charger is plugged in, but battery warning a few seconds after it is unplugged.

--When BIOS was run it said the battery needs replacement. I find it strange bc battery was fine last week and I had no observable issue. I thought the battery would have more of a slow death than what I'm experiencing.

-Some of the dell troubleshooting forums suggest the charge cable to be the culprit. I am using a non-dell AC charger (and have for several years and not yet had an issue). Battery has never been replaced. I would think this wasn't the issue since it is currently powered the laptop.

Any ideas? I read about a reboot while the battery is disconnected? Is that advisable? Just trying to make sure I'm going about this in the correct way.

Thanks in advance