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Dell XPS 13 9343 Developer Edition failed battery?
It's been a while since I posted here as I found that enough of the software problems were resolved that I could get on with enjoying this laptop. Unfortunately I seem to have been hit by a battery problem. Can anyone suggest how to diagnose? Done extensive searching and I can't find anything authoritative.
Problems started when using the laptop on battery. With still at least 1 hour left, the laptop just turned off. On turning back on, it reported that it had shut down because the temperature had reached higher than expected levels. (I'm pretty sure this is wrong as I will explain.) I tried to turn it on a few more times, but each time it would power off abruptly while loading Ubuntu or shortly after. This happened even after a prolonged period of rest to 'cool down'. In the BIOS the previous events were shown as "System Board Thermal Trip".
I figured out that when I connected the AC adaptor, that it's fine. I've been running it for a few hours without abrupt shutdown. But if I disconnect the AC adaptor it does abruptly shutdown.
Other symptoms... The LED under the trackpad is making odd flashes. Whereas it should remain solid white when charging, it flashes in the following repeating sequence: Solid white 5 seconds, off 1 second. But sometimes it changes to the following repeating pattern: Solid white 5 seconds, then three (or four) amber flashes. I can't find anywhere what that means.
I tried upgrading my BIOS to the latest version (A09) but no help.
BIOS and Ubuntu report that the battery has around 50% left, and indeed when I press the battery level button on the side, it shows 3/5 LEDs. However, if I pull the AC cord out, it will die immediately and the battery level button will produce no response.
Ubuntu seems to be having trouble getting a charging estimate too. It either sits for ages "estimating" or it shows a charged ETA of 8-10 hours (when it used to report 1-2 hours).
Any idea what I can do? Annoyingly I'm out of warranty so can't get support. Not great. I'm going to assume it's neither a software or firmware issue. It feels like either a battery, or board fault. I don't think it's an AC issue, as the battery seems to report charge.
I'm going to do a BIOS reset but I doubt that will help; just desperation. I'll report back if it helps.
Regards,
Bob
bobmcch
32 Posts
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September 17th, 2016 09:00
Of course, BIOS load defaults didn't help.
I noticed that in BIOS, the battery status flickers between "Health: Excellent" and "Health: Communication Error!".
Incidentally the laptop will not not turn on at all with no AC connected. It acts as if it is dead.
If the battery is dead, I can order a new one, but I don't want to do that if it turns out that the board is the real culprit.
Regards,
Bob
bobmcch
32 Posts
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September 18th, 2016 02:00
Further excitement. After leaving on with AC Power for the last 14 hours, things have changed slightly.
Looking at the charge graph in Power Statistics, charge was at "40%" all night with tiny increase until about 2 hours ago when it started climbing rapidly to around 80%. When I pull the plug out now, it remains on. I've not tested for any more than a few seconds yet. I'm going to leave on power to see if I ever get to full charge, and also because I've got work to do.
Anyone got any experience about these things have any idea if it's a battery, or charging system issue?
Regards,
Bob
thetree
1 Message
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January 24th, 2017 09:00
I seem to be having exactly the same problem as you had. Were there any further developments?
bobmcch
32 Posts
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January 25th, 2017 09:00
Hello,
I can't believe I forgot to update this.
It turned out that my issue was that the battery connector had become loose. I had to open the case and it was clear that the connector (which had around 6 pins) was at an angle and not making full contact. After reseating, it was fine.
Regards,
Bob