Notebook computer battery says: plugged in but not charging with no further information. Is the battery bad already?

"Your battery is probably dead, but here are a few things you can try:

Perform an ATX reset. Remove all power (battery + power lead) and hold the on button down for 30 seconds.
In control panel > power management (or the equivalent from XP) turn off the options ""shutdown / standby when battery critically low"" or similar, so Windows will never try to turn itself off when the battery is low.
Run the battery right down (probably not that difficult :D)
Leave it plugged in for 16 hours.
Start her up on battery alone and
see how far you get.

Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 if you notice your laptop stays alive for longer and longer periods of time as suggested in step 5.

If this isn't successful you have effectively diagnosed a dead battery."

"The battery is probably can be unplugged by itself. Try powering off the netbook, unplugging the power adapter, wait around 5 minutes and then unplugging and then replugging the battery.

I have had exactly same message when a slider that kept battery in place was somehow moved and battery was partially extracted from the slot."