Does the light on the power cord always mean connected?

I have a PowerBook with a very finicky power supply and an almost totally dead battery. When the battery is in and the power supply is connected (green light), the machine turns off after about a second and a half after flashing a low battery message.
When the battery is removed and the power supply is connected, it lasts a little longer, and then randomly shuts down, maybe 3 or 4 minutes in.
I'm only booting in Target Disk mode because the OS is corrupted after PowerBook completed said unexpected shutdown while OSX must have been doing something.
So the question is, does the green light on the end of the power cable guarantee that the machine is actually connected to the power source? Or could the power cable be lying about its connected status, or possibly not delivering a full amount of power? The situation is most mysterious to me. Could it be most likely fixed by buying a new battery and power supply, or does it sound like there is something wrong with the DC-in board or another internal hardware component?
Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,
I don't know the specific answer to your question, but thought I'd pass on that even with a bad DC In board, my power supply looked like it was functioning normally...
So, suspect that even with a green or amber light, you could still have a problem...
I'd take the computer and power supply to a Mac store to see if a replacement power supply fixes your problem... Maybe a new power supply will charge the 'dead' battery...
Bob

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