hi!!!!

my question is

if your charger for your laptop states 20v but when tested on a multimeter only reads 17.5 or similar does this mean my charger will not have enough power to charge correctly as volts wrong?

Maybe. Maybe not. For one, that charger is not really the charger. It is a power supply and like all power supplies, to be properly measured it must be measured "under load". Just sticking the meter probes in the power supply's connector will not give an accurate reading of the supply's capabilities in actual use.

The power supply supplies voltage to the laptop's regulator and charging circuits and it is the charging circuits that then charge the battery. Not only does the regulator and charging circuit "step down" the supplied voltage to deliver +12VDC, +5VDC and +3.3VDC to the motherboard and other devices, the regulator and charging circuit may also "step up" the voltage for the battery. Without seeing the service manuals for that specific laptop, we have no way of telling what is supposed to be supplied to the battery. That said, note that if the battery is a 15V battery, then even the 17.5 is enough to fully charge the battery.

ok

my point of asking is this

i plug in charger and have no lights appear at all as if no power going in, my battery is flat as a pancake ----so will not run of battery power, i thought i was correct in thinking that if battery in or out of the laptop i should still get power via charger

i have checked the jack plug in on the m/b and visibly all looks ok and stable

the laptop is a bog standard(i'd never buy this if last laptop in the world)

e system-3113

Some laptops will run without a battery installed. Check your manual. But if the battery is bad, it could be preventing the laptop from working. You probably need to try another battery, or if you can find another power supply with the correct specs and connection, try that. Or take it to a shop and have them check it out.