13 R2, USB-C port dead (doesn't read anything)!

Question

Hi Guys, I was wondering if any of you guys have experienced my problem. On my June 2016 13 R2, all of my USB-A ports work perfectly. But the one and only USB-C port which is also Thunderbolt 3 has stopped responding to anything. It shows not sign of life. When I plug anything in the port I get no chime no nothing the port doesn't do anything.

I have updated my firmware and installed all of the drivers on the dell product page and it's still not working. I also did a clean install of Windows incase my old image was corrupted but the problem still exists. At this point I'm thinking maybe it's the IC on the motherboard that has gone bad. Any ideas on what might be causing the problem?

Thanks in advance!

crimsom · Answer

Hi @c.ortiz1216 welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support.

Please try Intel® Driver & Support Assistant which will automatically identify your products and get driver and software updates for most of your hardware.

Please click on Kudos to say thank you for response from user that is not employed by Dell. Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you.

crimsom · Answer

Solved: XPS 13 9380 - dead USB-C / Thunderbolt port - Dell Community

c.ortiz1216 · Answer

Thanks for the reply crimson, I tried the Intel Driver & Support Assistant and I just had one driver that needed updating. The USB-C is still not working.

Also I saw the other link that you shared but I don't see anything in my device manager that says usb-c, thunderbolt, or usb 3.1. Here is a picture of my device manager, everything looks good.

crimsom · Answer

Hi @c.ortiz1216 thank you for sharing update and Device Manager image. There is only one USB Root Hub (USB 3.0), so the USB-C is still "missing".

At splash screen, press and hold down F12 key so that the Boot Menu appears. Use up and down keys to locate (ePSA) Diagnostics and press Enter. The ePSA will try and run all tests, so you can cancel and click on bottom RH icon to enter Test Menu. In LH column, look for USB icon, and run test. If there is a hardware problem, it should say USB-C test fail. If there are no ePSA hardware problems, it could be a driver problem.

Go to Device Manager and delete the USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) driver, then Restart (not Shut Down). When Windows 10 boots, it will renew the USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) drivers, so there should be two entries and the USB-C should work.

Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you.

c.ortiz1216 · Answer

Sorry guys it's been a while I ended up giving the laptop to my son. I am finally going to try to go at it again I will keep you guys updated.

Edit: I did what crimson recommended and ran the diagnostics everything came out good. Then I went to device manager and uninstalled the USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) and restarted and still nothing worked. I also tried to install the thunderbolt drivers from Dell's website for the specific laptop. I'm not sure what's the problem with this port.

Alienware

13 R2, USB-C port dead (doesn't read anything)!

Was this post helpful?