XPS 13 Ultrabook battery not charging

Hi kc.yyz,

I would suggest you to drain the residual power from the laptop:

• Disconnect any external peripherals (flash drives, printers, external hard drives) from the computer
• Then remove the adapter and the battery
• Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds
• Reconnect the battery and the adapter

Check the status of AC adapter in BIOS, follow the steps below:

• Restart or turn on your computer
• As soon as the Dell™ logo appears, tap until the message Entering Setup appears
• ‘AC Adapter’ will be listed under the Main tab, and it should be 45 Watt

If the AC Adapter is determined in BIOS, you can update the system BIOS to A08. You may download and install the latest BIOS from the link below:

http://dell.to/11hjGTf

Also, you can check the battery health from the ‘Dell Battery Meter’. The Battery Meter is used to check the status, life and health of the battery. To launch the Battery Meter:

• Click ‘Start’
• Click ‘Control Panel’
• Click ‘Power Options’ under ‘Hardware and Sound’
• Click ‘Dell Battery Meter’

Thanks, draining the battery and then power cycle did the trick. The ultrabook can now recognize the power adaptor and is charging. I was also able to upgrade to BIOS version A8.

OK, people, me again.

So I changed EVERYTHING in that *** computer.

I started with the battery, then went to change the motherboard (upgraded to a superior model), this DID NOT change a thing.

Once you spent that much money to change that much, you wonder.

So you go on and change what's left: Adapter. Didn't change a thing. Adapter plug (inside the computer): didn't change a thing.

Went further. Unplugged the SSD and the wireless card. Just to check.

Nothing.

And finally, unscrewed the adaptor plug inside the computer. And "Voila". Don't ask, the BIOS now sees the adapter for what it is, the battery is charging.

Feels like a short circuit.

Whatever it is (if you have an idea... I'll hear it!), if you guys have the same problem... try unscrewing that stupid thing!

Hi ... question:  was your plug loose before or was it nice and tight.

Mine is not charging, but adapter connector is whobbly and loose.   I've ordered a new $7 plug connector wire.   But I was surprised with yours worked right after you unscrewed the plug and and retightened it.

I'm hoping the same.

MRHOSMAN,

Sorry man, if the BIOS and adapter didn't work you have fallen into the DELL design of planned obsolesance and forcing you to purchase a new laptop.   Your motherboard's DC Charge circuit has *** out and is not repairable.  You actually need a new motherboard.  The repair cascade for  where you are is to NEXT:

       a) buy a new battery ($86)

       b) then when that fails, than replace the AC Charging Port Connector on the MB ($25)

       c) then replace the MB ($375)

So ... I suggest that you don't go down the additional $475 path on this piece of *** by DELL.   Check the forum and you will see a very very high incidence of this Product/Design Failure.   Must of the people had this occur within 6 months to 1 yrs of warranty expiration.  This happened to me TWICE, so I am feed up with DELL.  The 2nd time, I had purchased the extended warranty, and the same problem occurred with 6 months of the warranty expiration ... but how did they know?   Hmmm, leads to several product management designed conspiracy theories.   But I'll never buy any DELL.   ASUS is just so much better.

I'm a DELL XPS13 user and a father who purchased another DELL XPS13 for my college daughter, so my situation is true. 

PS:  If you want to try to take more repair steps, I have a NIB XPS13 battery and 2 XPS13 used laptops which you can use as parts.

Signed:   "I Hate Dell"   (hrmchan@gmail.com)

I spent $1700 on this poor quality Laptop.

Then after the extended warranty expired by 1 month, spent another $475 in part repairing their battery, charger adapter, keyboard, etc .... I finally gave up on this money pit.

I will never purchase a DELL again.    The design is good, but the manufacturing quality is so poor ... you'll be spending more on maintaining the unit than your real work.

If you want to buy a Chinese laptop .... don't pay DELL for the privilidge.   Buy it from Asus and cut out the American middleman and save $$$$$$$.   Since Asus (Tiawan company) operations soeaj Chinese, I think they manage their outsourcers much better than DELL.   Asus products don't seem to fail in 2 yrs like the DELLs. 

That was the exact same issue I had. I took the adapter plug off and put a piece of black electrical tape on the bottom and screwed it back into the chassis and it fixed the issue. No more grounding out and it is now charging properly.

Here is a bit more detail. I took the bottom off the laptop using a T-6 torx driver, T-5 will work but be careful not to strip the screws. Once I had the bottom off I located the Power plug where the power cord plugs in. There is one screw holding it down. So I followed the lead to the motherboard and unplugged it, Then I carefully pulled the plug out of the computer enough to get to the underside of it. I then cut a piece of black electrical tape and taped it to the bottom of the plug and put everything back together. Apparently the internal plug was grounding out on the chassis. This fixed the issue for me.

I have been suffering the same issue.  I had to replace the power jack as the old one had broken inside. Since I did that, the laptop would not recognise the AC adapter and refused to charge.  I tried the power drain option and other suggestions but no joy until I tried unscrewing the adapter plug as mentioned above.  As soon as I did that it worked. I replaced the shiny silver screw with a black coated one and that has cured the problem.  Laptop now recognises the AC adapter and is charging as it should.