I have been having a similar issue with my 17 R4's AC adapter. Except mine never started working again. I took it to Geek Squad, where they ran their own tests and opened up the frame to look at the internal components. They were also able to charge it there with a different AC adapter they had there. This meant that the AC adapter was faulty, so I sent it into Alienware for a replacement. Then about two months later it the same thing happened with the replacement, which just so happened to fall four days outside of my warranty. The way it was explained to me is that there is a chip inside the AC adapter that communicates with the laptop, telling it that the AC adapter is a genuine Dell product and is 240 watts. Something went wrong with that chip, and as a result my laptop will not charge, and remains at 0%. My system performance is throttled to 20% (I'm getting 10fps on Overwatch). It will only turn on if it is plugged in, and will shut off it is unplugged for any amount of time. Do you have any idea why these AC adapters keep burning out on me? Like I said, I only play Overwatch and half the time I be running Spotify in the background. I turn everything on low settings to get the most fps out of the 120hz screen. I also used the computer for school last year. I am very careful with the charging brick when transporting my laptop in my backpack. I even bought the backpack made by Alienware to fit the 17 inch behemoth, which came with a nice carrying case for the the power adapter. I treated this thing like it was my baby. I'm confused as to why a laptop like this that is purpose built for gaming might be running into the same issue multiple times. It's not like I'm not playing in a sauna, and I leave the charger on my desk (versus on carpet). I'm just trying to figure out if there was anything that I was doing wrong or could have done to prevent this from happening.
I'm having the same issue. It stops at 73% and tells me it's plugged in and not charging. I had to replace the original power cord, and I did so with the Dell recommended 180 cord, and it will not get past 73%
88bttf
4 Posts
0
February 17th, 2018 09:00
I put it to sleep and when it woke up it started charging again. I will reply if it has issues again.
88bttf
4 Posts
0
February 17th, 2018 09:00
Now it's not charging again.
88bttf
4 Posts
0
February 17th, 2018 11:00
I checked in the BIOS and the battery is fine and the adapter is recognized as 180w . Currently it is working and has charged to 100 percent.
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.4K Posts
0
February 19th, 2018 08:00
Hi @88bttf,
Let us know if you keep on having issues with it.
88bttf
4 Posts
0
February 22nd, 2018 11:00
It just was refusing to charge, but when I put it to sleep and woke it up, it started charging. The problem seems to come and go.
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.4K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2018 07:00
If you keep on having issues, send me a PM with the Service Tag.
Mitch6794
1 Message
0
May 20th, 2018 23:00
Eimy,
I have been having a similar issue with my 17 R4's AC adapter. Except mine never started working again. I took it to Geek Squad, where they ran their own tests and opened up the frame to look at the internal components. They were also able to charge it there with a different AC adapter they had there. This meant that the AC adapter was faulty, so I sent it into Alienware for a replacement. Then about two months later it the same thing happened with the replacement, which just so happened to fall four days outside of my warranty. The way it was explained to me is that there is a chip inside the AC adapter that communicates with the laptop, telling it that the AC adapter is a genuine Dell product and is 240 watts. Something went wrong with that chip, and as a result my laptop will not charge, and remains at 0%. My system performance is throttled to 20% (I'm getting 10fps on Overwatch). It will only turn on if it is plugged in, and will shut off it is unplugged for any amount of time. Do you have any idea why these AC adapters keep burning out on me? Like I said, I only play Overwatch and half the time I be running Spotify in the background. I turn everything on low settings to get the most fps out of the 120hz screen. I also used the computer for school last year. I am very careful with the charging brick when transporting my laptop in my backpack. I even bought the backpack made by Alienware to fit the 17 inch behemoth, which came with a nice carrying case for the the power adapter. I treated this thing like it was my baby. I'm confused as to why a laptop like this that is purpose built for gaming might be running into the same issue multiple times. It's not like I'm not playing in a sauna, and I leave the charger on my desk (versus on carpet). I'm just trying to figure out if there was anything that I was doing wrong or could have done to prevent this from happening.
freefallin
3 Posts
0
September 8th, 2018 09:00
I'm having the same issue. It stops at 73% and tells me it's plugged in and not charging. I had to replace the original power cord, and I did so with the Dell recommended 180 cord, and it will not get past 73%
freefallin
3 Posts
0
October 7th, 2018 11:00
Now it's down to 53% and "not charging" ... is there a fix for this?
freefallin
3 Posts
0
January 29th, 2019 17:00
Now it is at 25% and "not charging" but "plugged in". Did the techs disappear?
hanilanzi
17 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2019 03:00
you need a 230W charger. 180W is for 13 and 15.