XPS 15 9500 (2020) - AC adapter not recognised post My Dell Support update

BIOS VERSION:

1.4.0, 14/08/2020

UPDATE

So the following day, machine is now able to recognize AC input.
Laptop reached 2% before was shutdown, and was left disconnected from the AC power cable.

Then connected the cable after sometime (30-40mins) - and the laptop's LED light in the front glows when connected to AC power.

After 1 hour or so - powered Laptop On - Windows recognizes the AC power and that it is charging.
Laptop is now fully charged and the AC power is being recognised.

Can remove and reconnect cable to USB Type C port and each time Windows recognizes the input.

Did the On Boot Diagnostic (Basic) Tests and everything passes with 2000-0000

No RC worked out, but PC seems to be working.

Issue has resurfaced !

PC connected to the charger but not being recognised 

Hi,

I have replied to you via a private message.

I’ve replied back with images. The PC was not charging and the message from Windows was “PC isn’t charging. Use the recommended charger and cable, and make sure it is directly plugged in” @8.53pm local time.

I then shut down the PC and waited for 5-7minutes. 

Then connected the cable *to the same port*. Charger is *connected to the same wall socket* - the LED light in the front is now on and Laptop appears to be charging.

I have run the basic diagnostic on Boot twice and it has come back with a 2000-0000 

I ran the advanced diagnostic with everything ticked - took about 47 mins - came back clean with 2000-0000

Scanned and submitted the result to DELL each time

Service Tag and the Service Request Number has been sent to you via Private Message as requested.

Has DELL confirmed compatibility for the latest Windows 10 Pro version - 20H2 - 19042.685 released 20/10/2020 (2 months ago) for the 2020 Dell XPS 15 9500 4K display model ?

Identifying that this is not an unique issue to me now.
Issue also being identified by others : see comments at : 

XPS 15 9500 Battery won’t charge : Dell (reddit.com)

Highlighting sections that I see as common with my machine and the issue expressed here.

Hi everyone, it looks like everyone is having their fair share of XPS problems, including me.

My computer will restart without warning and then the battery won’t charge. I can fix this by shutting it off and then turning it back on, but even then it crashes 2-3 times before I can actually access the desktop. Then, usually, the battery charges again.

I keep contacting Dell customer service but they always just throw the same buzzwords at me: “run system diagnostics, update bios, check ac adapter, update drivers, check battery etc.”

Can anyone offer a permanent solution to this? It’s really frustrating because sometimes I wake up to my laptop having 2-3% battery when I’ve got a full day of work ahead of me

Another user having the same issue posts comments at :

XPS 9500 not charging with the original charger that came with it : Dell (reddit.com)

A third user also having the issue when seeking to charge via a External Monitor (LG) 

XPS 15 9500 sometimes not charging from LG Monitor via USB-C : Dell (reddit.com)

//
The answer in each of the three cases is to let it drain. Wait for a bit, plug in again and it works. All of them have this occur intermittently.

//

At this point I have tried reaching out to DELL support via

1. Online Chat
2. Helpline call
3. Twitter
4. DELL Community
5. DELL Community private messages

Solutions / troubleshooting steps are to run troubleshooters and diagnostics - but I have run this about 6 times now and they always return with 2000-000

There is no solution in sight.

Pretty certain that this is an incompatibility after the recent 20H2 Windows 10 Pro update - DELL has this been escalated to DELL engineers and have the engineers attempted to replicate the issue independently at their end?

Linking to related issue:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Charging-issues-with-XPS-15-9500/td-p/7755158

Linking related issue

my XPS wont charge at all. Its so stubborn that after trying all methods of hardware checks, scans, bios settings, default settings, os repair. Still the problem exists and have about 15-20% battery.

https://www.dell.com/community/Event-Space-Ask-the-Expert-ATE/Dell-XPS-7590-not-charging/m-p/7771546#M1851

I just want to add to the people saying they are having the same issue. My 9575 (XPS 15 2-in-1) is also often not charging since the update and I can only get it to periodically charge with a combination of rebooting and switching which port I have the charger plugged into.

My audio is also having similar issues to the ones described, but my issues with audio have been going on for years and Dell is unable to resolve them. When I plug in headphones they almost never work, but if I open the Maxxaudio software and change my device type (i.e. headphones to external speakers) it usually starts working. If anyone finds a solution that would be greatly appreciated, but given my experience with Dell support they will not be able or willing to solve this anytime soon. 

I have the same PC as you and now face the exact same issue. Plugged in but the message that pops up is "PC isn't charging...". Any updates on what worked for you?

Ok, I've had a lot - A LOT of phone calls / chats / twitter engagement with DELL for support.
DELL technical support remain clueless - their only solution is -

1. Run diagnostics and report
2. Uninstall X - is it still an issue, ok let's uninstall something else - still an issue?
3. Let me remote in - they basically run the diagnostics for you and come up with nothing
4. Then they want to send someone to replace a part with a refurbished part

I engaged with DELL multiple times - each time the "solution" was something different - replace the motherboard / charging port / AC adapter

I declined all of it - as it was not logical.
All I had to do was restart and it would work - so I could not accept this was a hardware issue.

Bottom line :

• DELL doesn't know what they are talking about

///

Here is what I have worked out - it seems to be an incompatibility of DELL drivers for Windows 10 20H2.

Windows 10 has the notion of different levels of Power States (see this)
This is now broken with DELL BIOS 1.4.0 for XPS 9500 and Windows 10 20H2.

Sleep / Hibernate / Fast Startup all result in failed restarts that cause the machine to auto-restart / for drivers not to load or recognize components.

This then goes away when you do a complete shutdown. Wait and Start again.

So to get a more stable working experience you need to turn all of these off.

1. Control Panel > Power Options > System Settings
   Disable fast startup
   Ensure that Sleep and Hibernate are not options for closing lid / power buttons
   
   
2. Control Panel > Power Options > Create a custom power plan
   Ensure you do not have your machine "sleep" / "hibernate" in any case
   
   Under "Change advanced power settings" - go through each setting and based on your preference set timeouts to conserve battery but not let your machine "sleep" / "hibernate" - instead opt for a Shutdown
   
3. HyperVisor issues
   
   Most users won't have this issue unless you have it turned on and have something like Docker installed
   If you do see an event message that says:
   
   "The hypervisor did not enable mitigations for CVE-2018-3646 for virtual machines because HyperThreading is enabled and the hypervisor core scheduler is not enabled. To enable mitigations for CVE-2018-3646 for virtual machines, enable the core scheduler by running "bcdedit /set hypervisorschedulertype core" from an elevated command prompt and reboot."
   
   Now I found this sort of a restart had the below experience
   
   1. Wake machine,
   2. I see Windows Hello, then desktop for a second - then PC restarts.
   3. See a (Windows didn't load correctly - repair / start normally)
   4. Start normally
   5. Logged back in
   6. At this point when I plug in my cables to the USB port - it won't charge.
   
   If you face this issue and you have the Hypervisor / Hyperthreading, follow the advice found here : https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/5523#issuecomment-687562432 
   
   I am not across all of what is happening here, but my understanding is when the machine restarts from a power mode that is not "shut down" (so sleep / hibernation / fast startup) then it runs into a wall by Windows 20H2 that is seeking to protect the OS and triggers a restart
   
   With this sort of restart the DELL incompatibility gets triggered and it won't charge

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If you find this solution makes your PC usage more stable do confirm by way of reply / Like.

FYI @thementalist + @AnotherDellBrick  + @Mz9999