For some reason in the past hour my laptop has decided that it wants to be “plugged in, not charging”. I've got a Dell and yes I'm running Windows Vista but the problem has never lasted for so long, not to mention continue happening after I've restarted the personal.

I've taken out the battery, cleaned the ports and put it back in.
I've moved the charger to another outlet. It has a green light on it to show it's plugged in.

Any ideas on how I have the ability to fix this?

Answer:
With the Battery and AC adapter plugged into the personal, Shut down the computer on restart push F2> should take you to Bios(System setup screen) > use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate to Battery Info. check if AC adapter gets detected or if it says 'None' navigate to Battery Health and check if the Battery is performing normally.
If AC adapter says 'None' and Battery Health says 'Performing Normally' try a known good adapter from a different personal, if the known good adapter gets detected call Dell and get them to replace the AC adapter.
If a known good AC adapter also says 'None' call Dell to replace the Motherboard and AC adapter.
If Battery Health says 'Reaching end of usable life' if under warranty(within 1yr) get the Battery replaced.
Answer:
BAH! ive had the same problem in the past.It actually could be a short in the cord.Or the conector could be broken…..

Dell was shitty to me they seemed to break down a lot with the chargers,,,

Answer:
It might be time to get a new battery….or the ac port on the laptop may need to be replaced….good luck!