Revive a (dead?) protected 18500 li-ion

[reedlaw]

I received two 18500 cells in the mail today from a Chinese seller (I happen to be in China) and one cell charges fine (using a li-ion HG-103W charger), but the other retains no charge. The seller said I need to try to use the cell to "activate it" but it wouldn't even light up an LED. It reads under 1V in the meter. Whenever I try to charge it, the charge light is instantly green, meaning the cell is not taking any charge (or appears full to the charger). Is there any way to revive this cell or is it a dud?

 

[turboBB]

This might help:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=258566

 

[was.lost.but.now.found]

Please be careful. This is what bad li-ion batteries can do.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=262234

 

[reedlaw]

Other than having protected cells, what can I do to be careful?

I read that thread about reviving a dead cell, but I'm confused. It says to run the batteries in parallel briefly. The seller of my batteries told me to try running them in my flashlight, which would be running them in series. I tried that but no success. The best I can get running in series is a dim light on one green LED. Is it safe to run these cells in parallel? I'm not even sure how to hook that up since I have no battery case the size of two 18500 cells.

EDIT:
I went ahead a returned the bad cell to the seller. Don't want to risk messing with it anymore.