Dell XPS 17 9720 Battery Drain

Either re-order or take the refund.  And for the replacement, if battery runtime is important,

1.  Consider a smaller system;  a 17" panel is going to limit the battery runs.

2.  Reconsider the i9 CPU, for the same reason.

3.  Order the system with a lower resolution display panel.

The size, resolution, CPU and GPU will all limit the battery runs -- the GPU alone is the largest power consumer in the system and the screen is a major battery drain as well.

Verify AC adapter functionality.
Charge the battery in BIOS mode or with the laptop turned off.
Run the Dell hardware diagnostic test.
Check the battery health status.
Update the BIOS and Dell Quickset.
Run Windows Troubleshooter for battery issues.
Uninstall and reinstall Microsoft ACPI Battery driver.

Regards,

Will

Thank you very much for your interest and comments.

In purchasing the XPS17 with the i9 and UHD screen, I was aware that this configuration would affect battery life and that the battery life would certainly be less than other less battery hungry computers.

For what its worth, I can see PC World reviews of the XPS 17 with battery tests that show11 hours 30 minutes of battery life when streaming video at 720 p with 50% brightness. Or with Toms Hardware that show 8 hours 29 minutes streaming video, browsing the web, and running graphics tests at 150 nits. 

I have only been using my new computer for limited web browsing, streaming music/videos, Excel/Word, and organizing files. Limited multitasking. Battery mode is at best power efficiency and screen brightness is at 9. I have not used my computer to run any really intensive power hungry programs. Yet, I am only getting 3-3.5 hours of battery life.

I expected to get at minimum 5-6 hours of battery life with this configuration. Possibly more. Was that an unreasonable expectation for my XPS 17 as configured?

Again. Thank you for comments and recommendations. I really appreciate it.

Happy New Years!

Thank you very much for your detailed recommendations. I really appreciate it.

On 12/30/2022, Dell Tech Support ran me through all of the tests that you noted except: (1) Charging the battery in BIOS Mode or with the laptop turned off. The only issue that initially came up wis that in looking at the BIOS battery section, it noted---"Charger--Unable to detect charger".  We deleted and reinstalled Support Assist and ran all diagnostics. We updated the BIOS and Firmware, but it was unclear to me if that solved the charger issue. In any event, I continued to use my computer and monitor battery drain, which was within that consistent 3-3.5 hours from 100% down to 10%.

However, this morning I went through your list one by one. I did Verify the AC adapter functionality and it shows in BIOS the AC Adapter is recognized at 130 W. I am no longer seeing the code "Charger--Unable to detect charger". Battery health in BIOS shows as excellent. I ran all of the diagnostics from Support Assist. No identified issues including hardware. I uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft ACPI battery driver.

It still appears that I am having rapid battery drain. I am going to use the computer and run battery down to about 19% and then recharge it while in the BIOS mode.

I will update you then.

With the configuration of my computer, I expected at least 5-6 hours of battery time. Was that an unreasonable expectation on my part?

Again thank you very much and Happy New Year!

Again, thanks 

I verified AC Adapter functionality.

Hi Will.

So after using the computer and drawing down the battery to about 20%, I charged the battery in BIOS mode. Battery performance is marginally better with a 4 hour run time from 100% down to 5%.  This was achieved by continuously playing a Netflix Video and a Youtube music video at the same time,

Dell Tech Support wants to replace the battery. Given that the diagnostics show the battery health is excellent, I am not sure that would resolve the issue. What do you think?

Also, are there any other adjustments I can make to the computer. 

Thank you very much.

So, I wanted to update you all.

Tech Support says they have done all the relevant diagnostics and the only solutions are to replace the computer or replace the battery. I have been unable to achieve more than 4 hours of battery life with the three noted battery settings: (1) Best Power Efficiency; (2) Balanced; or (3) Best Performance.

However,  if I run the computer on the Battery Saver function, which limits some notifications and background activity, I can get 6 plus hours of battery life. This setting is distinct from the three other battery settings.

Does this indicate there is something operating in the background that is power intensive and draining the battery when the Battery Saver function is not used?

Inquiring minds want to known...

About 6 hours of battery life is a realistic for heavy weight configurations you have.  Sound like some background apps and services are still nipping off the power.  If you choose to replace the unit, I suggest that you will be better off returning for refund.  You can order a new one and restart your return window again during testing period.  As I understand, many replacement units are refurbished and you wouldn't want that.

Thanks Chino de Oro.

I really appreciate your comments and recommendations. I did not realize that Dell would send a refurbished computer as an exchange. So, I would be getting another person's reject. LOL

I had another discussion with Dell Tech Support from Southern India this morning. Unfortunately, I am finding the Dell Tech Support at that location to be much desired. They have not provided any diagnostic evaluations beyond the basics that most computer users could undertake themselves.

I asked the assigned Tech Support, Anusha, what does Dell Officially say the battery life is for an XPS 17 computer with my configuration. She said she did not know. I pushed her saying that independent reviewers were finding battery life of between 8-11 hours. She conferred with her Manager, Dinesh, who told her it was 3 hours, which she relayed to me. I informed her that I had done a lot of research on this computer and never found that Dell noted a 3-hour battery life. This seemed very odd. I asked her to find on the Dell website or in the listing of specifications where Dell says the battery life is 3 hours so I could see it for myself. She was unable to validate the 3-hour battery life statement made by her Manager, Dinesh. However, she eventually said the Dell website specification information she has showed the battery life to be 9-11 hours. I noted I am getting less than 50% of that.

I asked Anusha if I wanted to return the computer, how do I guarantee that all the personal data on the hard drive would be wiped completely clean, as I was concerned that my data could be taken off the hard drive and used by a Dell staffer or another customer who buys the refurbished computer. She said to do a factory reset, which of course does not necessarily completely wipe all traces of the data. From my perspective, nothing short of taking the hard drive out and destroying it can guarantee data integrity. Dell cannot be trusted. Anusha said that she guarantees the data would be wiped before the computer would be resold. I asked her what program is used to wipe the hard drive. She said she didn't know. I asked her how should was certain the data would be completely wiped if she had no knowledge of the specific process or program. 

Anusha then said she would conference me with her Manager, Dinesh. I had a terrible experience with this manager previously where he was completely unhelpful. Unfortunately, he again was completely unprofessional, repeatedly interrupting me and speaking over me, and dishonest. 

Dinesh asserted that the 9-11 hours of battery life was only "ideal". I noted my current typical usage was limited to non-power intensive activities and that I could understand the 3-hours if I was using multiple high-powered applications like Adobe Photoshop, 3-D rendering etc., but in my case, I was getting less than 50% or what Dell specifications indicate. Dinesh was well aware of my computer usage and history yet, continued to assert that 3 hours was normal. I found this to be completely dishonest and disingenuous and unethical. I asked him if I return the computer, how can they guarantee the data will be wiped clean. He said a factory reset. LOL

Needless to say, we went back and forth, where Dinesh refused to actually listen to me as the customer, repeatedly spoke over me, interrupted me and failed to understand my concerns parroting the choices I had to: (1) replace the battery; (2) exchange the computer; and (3) get a refund. I eventually told him exactly what I felt about him as Tech Support, a Manager and a customer service representative. Which was that he was essentially useless. Anusha, on the other hand, was very pleasant, yet unhelpful. Dinesh was very unpleasant but very unhelpful. 

So, who am I to trust, the Dell Tech Support in India or the published Dell company specifications?  Dell officially says the battery life is 9-11 hours. Independent tests show 8.5 to 11.5. Of course, this depends on the configuration and usage patterns. Dell Tech Support says 3 hours.

What is most troublesome is that Dell is specifically selling computers with battery issues, yet intentionally fails to disclose this and fails to remedy it. If the battery life is really 3 hours, just say so and be upfront about it so that customers can use that information as part of their consideration. I expected 5-6 hours of battery life. I am now getting 3.5 to 4 hours after help from the Dell Community to complete some troubleshooting that Dell Tech Support never mentioned or considered. Thank you Dell Community!

Today is the last day to return my computer. If anyone can recommend a program to wipe the hard drive clean, I would greatly appreciate it. 

As an aside, I bought a Dell Computer in 2000 or so. I had nothing but problems with it. I worked with Dell Tech Support for days to get it fixed. No luck. Dell refused to take the computer back. I had to dispute the purchase through my credit card company, who sided with me. The credit card company gave me a full refund and reversed the charges to Dell. Dell then demanded their computer back. Which I gladly sent to them.  From that day, I vowed never to buy a Dell computer again. Yet, 23 years later I broke down and bought the Dell XPS 17. This was done after careful consideration, but with trepidation.  Perhaps I should have listened to my intuition stoked by the unhappy Dell Customers who have identified quality control issues with Dell. 

Oh Chino De Oro,

I had asked multiple times for Dell Tech Support to evaluate the background apps and services to see if there was anything they notices that could be draining the battery. That has never occurred despite asking Anusha repeatedly. When I requested that Dinesh, the Manager, do the troubleshooting, he was aghast and asserted that only the Tech does troubleshooting, as if that was beneath his station in life.

Did you ever get your battery issue resolved? Or is it like a lot of Dell computer problems that go unresolved by Dell's Tech Support?

Amazing to see so many different Quality Control/Quality Assurance issues with Dell.

One has to wonder. Dell manufactures many of its XPS 17s in China. During CV19 China was shut down with significant disruptions to manufacturing. It would not be surprising that Dell has even more problems than the usual significant QA/QC issues it seems to always have. 

True...this would be a Universal problem among all computers and computer components manufactured in China during the CV19 pandemic where China was taking severe measures to shut down and control its population.

However...when you add that China CV19 manufacturing baseline to the historical and ongoing substantial QA/QC problem with a vast plethora of Dell computers you only amplify Dell's problems.

One just has to wonder why someone will ever buy a Dell XPS 17 for $3,000 plus only to have to spend an inordinate amount of time with Dell Tech Support to resolve any number of problems or send the computer back for a refund?

Dell has issues that seem, on its face, far more significant than other computer manufacturers.

If so, that's more or less close to universal.  The only other source of notebook computers are a few Lenovo ThinkPads that are assembled in North Carolina (of parts sourced in Asia) -- or Samsung and LG, which manufacture their own systems rather than contracting others to do the job -- in Vietnam.

I'm also having unacceptable battery drain issues with my XPS 17 9720, which Dell couldn't solve either. I wasted lots of time explaining the issue over and over again to the social media support (WhatsApp), and they just did standard procedures where I knew already in advance that this is leading nowhere. Phone support is better btw., but they couldn't find a solution either.

In my case battery drain is related to hibernate mode: When system goes to hibernate (aka suspend to disk, S4) and wakes up again, my battery drains 3x faster than after a fresh reboot. System also gets noticably warmer.

I quickly found out that in my case this is related to the NVidia GPU, which drains battery even though no app is using it, and it thus should be in low power mode. As a workaround, it helps to disable/enable the GPU either using the NVidia system tray app, or the windows device manager. After re-enabling it, power consumption goes back to normal after ~20 sec.

This behavior is also well observable with HWiNFO64, which shows detailed system power consumption, and it is 100% reproducable. It seems to me like a bug in either the BIOS / System Firmware or the NVidia drivers, but no update fixed it yet.

Meanwhile I'm using devcon.exe from the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) Tools to re-init the NVidia GPU after each wakup from hibernate with a single click - which works always but is still very annoying.

However, in addition to this I'm also experiencing a 2nd but probably related issue: Sometimes when I left my PC unattended on battery for many hours in "modern standby" (low power S0), e.g. during night, and then come back, I find it suddenly being very hot and hanging at the blue "Recovery - It looks like Windows didn't load correctly" bootscreen.

According to windows system event log, there was an unexpected shutdown (event id 41). Before this entry, there are two errors reported by "nvlddmkm" with error ids 0 ("UCodeReset TDR occurred on GPUID:100") and 14. Seems like the GPU or its driver got stuck. This never happens while using the PC, so I don't feel this being a specific HW failure.

This problem is meanwhile now even more frustrating, since I had quite some surprises where I needed at least half-full battery but it was at <=5%.

Had a similar issue with the same spec laptop. I had to bring mine to Currys where I had bought it and they took it away. They did help with battery life by turning off a lot of background bloat apps or making them only come on at request. 

When they had it, I queried about my battery design life versus stated capacity, I told them my battery capacity is now 84Wh instead of 97Wh (my design capacity only ever said 95Wh) this with only a month of usage. They changed the battery with the replacement from Dell. 

I have the laptop back with the BIOS changes a month now and duration does seem to go well. At their testing before they released back to me, they streamed a 4k video on Youtube and 1hr streaming consumed 12% battery. The second hour was a further 13%. They confirmed that prior to tweaking the settings, it struggled to do 2 hours on a full charge.

Again, if I can get this laptop to do 4+ hours, I'm okay with this but I had instances where I had 38% battery and a estimated time remaining of 25 minutes! 

One thing I am finding is the battery capacity again is coming down. The design capacity of this new battery is 95065mWh (should be 97Wh) but after having this back two weeks, the full charge capacity is 84896mWh? 11% loss in battery already?

I have also noticed when putting this laptop to sleep the battery will drain - has caught me out when travelling for work. I thought I'd sorted this by shutting down the laptop last evening at 65% battery only to turn on the laptop this morning with a note that the battery was critically low...will investigate this further again but it seems the screen is taking power even when shut off - and definitely not visibly on.

all I got when it was new was 3 to 3.5 hours. now a bit less after 1.5 years. maybe 2 hours or so now?