XPS 18 Tablet not charging while plugged in??

i just had the plugged in not charging for the second time. 

i replaced the parts last time is there anything else that i may do to fix the problem? 

You seemed to be connected well to Dell.  Has there been any new traction on this problem?  This is obviuosly a mass issue.  It happened to my computer after 1 year 7 months.  Except i got the version where it wont charge on the base or directly so i have an $800 paperweight. of course its only 7 months out of warranty but they wont do a thing about it.  The XPS is the higher end model, cost me a small fortune.  There is absolutely no way it should last less than 2 years without them being willing to fix it.  I talked to customer service, of course from india, and all i got was i need a new motherboard, for $700. Which of course has the same problem im sure as this one did.  Is there any chance of a recall, or them fixing the problem without having to replace the whole motherboard? Is there anything else i can do here to get this battery charging?

Sorry to hear you have these problems.

I don't have any more info on this problem than I already posted.

It's my understanding that both issues were identified and I should think Dell won't install a replacement motherboard if it hasn't been updated to fix the failure to charge when plugged in directly. 

Failing to charge in the dock is an entirely separate issue requiring a new set of "pins" where it connects to the dock. You might try gently cleaning those pins on both the dock and PC to see if that's of any help. But be very careful not to bend or damage them because that will only make things worse...

Since I don't work for Dell, I have no control of what they will/won't do after the warranty expires...

I purchased a DELL XPS18 in Jan supposedly with 12 month on site turns out to be only 10 month

I am on my 3rd maid board due to this not charging issue and its gone again.

So I don't think dell have fixed it

Well, I got my XPS18-1820 delivered today and guess what; it is not charging while on the optional stand. Message reads "plugged in-not charging". Spent an hour on the phone to tech support in India. They took control of the machine remotely and tried everything with no success. Finally she gave up and said they would be shipping me a replacement unit and it would take six to eight business days to get to me.

Well, that is not acceptable on my end. I wrote them back and told them that my expectations would be for a brand new unit to be sent, not a refurbished one. Also, I would expect them to ship it my way via two day shipping at least. Otherwise, I am returning the clunker and asking for my money back.

It is too sad to see that this issue has been going on for a long time and Dell still has not corrected the problem. I expect better, otherwise I take my money somewhere else.

In my first forum post I apparently started a new string instead of posting to this one, so much of this is a repeat as I wanted it here.

This is a very serious issue for many of us.  Where I work we have several Dell XPS 18 computers that failed with what I call the "charge port issue", some within days of the warranty expiring.  We have many XPS 18 in the field and the outlook is not good.  There can be other charging issues like failed batteries (another big problem we are seeing), damaged pins on the base and such, but I am currently trying to repair the failure of the normal charge port that you would plug the charger directly into.  The failure of the stand port could be similar as there appears to be two separate charging paths on the motherboard, likely identical or near identical in design.

The symptoms (independent of the OS installed to simplify discussion) are these:

Number one: The XPS will boot and operate, but will immediately shut off if the adapter is unplugged from the charge port. 

Number 2: If you enter the built-in diagnostics, you will see that the battery is not charging.  The adapter is supplying enough power to run the system, nothing more.  In most cases you will see no indication of the adapter type, it should show a 65 Watt adapter on the AC adapter row.  It will usually say "Unknown" for this failure.  It is not related to the adapter, if the adapter is not identified, the XPS will not charge from that adapter.

Number three:  The XPS will charge the battery from the optional stand using the port on the long side, and the adapter is detected correctly.   Unfortunately we cannot access the stand port in our field applications.

There are probably variants to this where the charge port works but the stand port doesn't and such, but my interest at this time is limited to the symptoms described above.

It would seem there may be a problem reading the 3rd wire to the adapter that Dell uses to identify the adapter (serial EPROM reader?).  To the best of my knowledge Dell has repaired the XPS 18 for us under warranty by changing the motherboard after failing to fix it with the I/O board and bridge board.  This shows the problem is not a connector issue, but is on the motherboard or in the firmware.

Dell does not make parts available out of warranty in an easy or affordable manner.  They have recently told me to take it to a computer repair center.  I do most of the computer repairs for my employer so that was not very helpful.  When I did enlist the help of a local computer store they were told the mobo was $1094 new and a refurb was $749.99 but Dell had no refurbs in stock.  It took a couple of hours on the phone  to get the prices.  I would be very leery of a refurbished board unless it had this problem and the *DESIGN ISSUE* was solved and the repair included the solution.  The cost of a new board is almost the cost of a new XPS.  Part of that cost may be due to Dell including a new processor on the replacement board, but I am not sure they do that.

If anyone knows of a company that can repair the motherboards with this problem I would be interested in discussing options with them.  I also would be interested in any schematic info or repair info for this problem that anyone knows about so I might diagnose or repair them in-house.   I suspect the fix might be rather simple if I could find what component is failing!    I have rework experience on SMT boards.  Somewhere there is a board test system that was/is used to test these boards for Dell, any ideas who that vendor is?  I welcome Dell to step up and help their customer base.

It is interesting to note that the "Rock Star's" on here get the same result as the rest of us when they "ping" Dell.  Nothing.  Someone inside Dell has done failure analysis on this and knows what is going on.

You are absolutely right in your post. The problem looks to be a bad read of the voltage coming out of the pins on the stand and the BIOS not recognizing the power supply as the legit 65 watt it is. I measured the voltage coming directly from the power supply and it read 19.5 volts. Exactly what the output should be. I then read the power coming from the pins on the stand and it showed two pins at 5 volts and one pin at 12.7 volts. Obviously, the stand is splitting out the 19.7 volts that come direct from the power supply and feeds the lower numbers to the pins on the stand.

It looks like when the motherboard does not recognize the individual voltages coming from the pins on the stand as valid numbers and thus the bios reports the power supply as unknown and thus refuses to send power to the battery.

For sure this is a problem with the motherboard power distribution system. By now I would hope that this issue had been resolved by Dell. Based on your post, it has not.

I am supposed to be getting my "new" replacement unit tomorrow. Lets see if the problem is fixed and how long it stays fixed.

Thanks for the detailed analysis, that is crazy that you have so many deployed systems with a systematic failure, and no answers on the root cause.

The tech replaced the screen on my XPS18, and is coming back to replace the motherboard this week sometime. I have the exact same concern, are they replacing the same motherboard that will fail in another 4 months, or if they fixed the *real* problem in newer motherboards. 

Insansity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results...

Any news on this?  My XPS 18 charges on the stand, but not when plugged-in directly.  I just got off the phone with Dell's support group after an 1.5 hours (1/2 hour of which was on hold)...  They want to charge me $129 (plus tax) to fix it 'if it's a software problem' and $269 (plus tax) 'if it's a hardware issue' and they have to replace the MOBO. 

I've only had this machine for a year and 8 months.  I understand it's out of warranty, but given the number of complaints from XPS 18 owners, this seems like a 'known issue' that should be fixed by Dell.

Hey Dell!!  Where are you??????

I received my replacement XPS18 yesterday. Set up the unit and checked for it to be charging on the stand. It gave me a scare at first when it reported to have power but not charging. I reset the unit on the stand and this time it started charging. It charged the unit to 100% and so far it has not had any issues.

Then I decided to run and experiment using the first unit that I was returning because it would not charge on the stand. I took the old unit and sat it on the new stand and it charged as normal. I checked the bios and it reported the power supply as the 65 watt connected. I then took the new unit and connected it to the old stand and it charged on the stand with no problem, also reporting the power supply in the bios correctly.

Once more, I took the old cpu unit and connected it to the old stand. Once again, it failed to charge and the bios did not recognize the power supply when connected through the stand.

This then is sort of mind blowing. I can’t say it is a motherboard failure and I cannot say it is a stand failure. It seems to be a combination of stand and motherboard the drives the problem since the old motherboard did not work with the old stand but it worked with the new stand and the replacement unit worked with the old and new stand. Go figure.

mbacalla-  I'd have done the same checks, sounds like we have the same curious nature.  The results were certainly not what I would have expected, It is certainly puzzling.

I'm glad you got a replacement, I hope it lasts for a long time!

SIDCA 1400-  You might ask Dell what they will charge for a warranty extension, you should be able to purchase an extension for yours even though the warranty is expired.  We are looking into this option at my workplace.  You can just search for "Dell warranty check" and input your Service Tag # or Express Service Code.  Click on the warranty tab and enter the Capcha and there should be a green "Request Warranty Extension" box.  It might not cost much if any more than the repair they quoted, and you will be covered if the problem comes back during the warranty period.

Please post details of how you got your quote if possible.  The price my local PC repair shop was quoted for the board was about 4x what Dell quoted you for the repair.  That repair would seem to me to be a good deal if you can't get a warranty extension.

Having the same issue. After speaking with tech support, they sent out a tech to change parts. Seemed like a guess on Dell's part. Changed the pins, same issue. Dell decided to swap with a new unit. New unit arrived, doing the exact same thing. Plugged in, not charging with cradle. Looked at BIOS as you suggested and you are correct. 65W in BIOS when plugged directly in, Unknown when in cradle.

Did your new unit solve the problem? I'm in the same boat. Build on the first unit was early 2014 and this build on the new unit late 2014.

Looks like I'll be sending both back until they get it together.

My XPS18 is back to charging normally after tech replaced the motherboard.   Before that, they switched the base, and the LCD unit, and it still was not charging.

So far so good, but I'm going to watch it carefully, I've got 5 months left on the original warranty...