Why is my Dell Inspiron 1501 not charging?

[Haley]

So, my great uncle bought a laptop about 5 years ago. He enjoyed it, I guess, and then kind of forgot he had it, so my dad found it at their business and gave it to me since my uncle hasn't used it in about a year. When I started it up, it wouldn't work without the charger, and now it will only work while plugged in. What caused it to do this? What can I do about it? Thanks!