Okay, so a couple of months ago, I got myself a new battery for my Dell XPS M140 laptop after my default one had grown accustomed to dying after five minutes of being unplugged. Now, I have a similar problem with my new battery as of now.

It has worked fine in the past, but all of a sudden it dies immediately after being unplugged. I go into the battery meter, and find that the battery is charged at 0% - always! I refresh the battery, still nothing.

I've also tried to use my old battery, and it's still dying immediately after being unplugged. I'm guessing my computer isn't recognizing the portable power source.

Any suggestions?

Hi, Sorry to hear of the battery problems.
Its a bit suspicious that your new battery won't hold a charge...just the same as your old one are you sure that the machine is charging it correctly?

If you can dig out your owners manual and take a look at Page 45 onwards it will give you a clue on power managemnet and how to check your battery and the settings

Generally your battery should recharge from nearly empty to full in just a few hours especially when not booted up but just plugged correctly into the mains supply.

If you have Dell Quick Set engaged then Fn+ Esc will usually take you directly into your power settings, other wise you can check out Power options/Settings in Control Panel.
Regards
paws