Precision 7550 power problem

Question

Hello, I bought a Precision 7550 on 10/09/2020. It arrived in Milan, Italy on Monday the 28/09/2020. From Day 0 I had problems with charging this laptop. In this post, I will describe the problem, ignoring all the bad issues I had with DELL service like technician sent but never arrived, or like technician arrived at 13:15PM while I was eating, or like technician without Linux competence sent to solve a problem on a Linux machine, not to mention the times I've waited a quarter of an hour on the phone only to hear the phone hang up in my face (all this in one month, could you belive it?). Well, before we start talking about this, I would remember you that I am a private customer that bought this laptop by exchanging ~3080€ VAT included, and that the laptop was sold with Ubuntu 18.04. The BIOS version is 1.4.0, I have personally updated through LVFS on the 28/09/2020. The problem is that sometimes the 180W power adapter is recognized, and sometimes it is not. While the OS is running, I can tell you that the adapter is not recognized because the processor is slow, so by running cat /proc/cpuinfo|grep MHz you will always get low speed. If I restart the machine and enter the BIOS, this fact is confirmed because it says Unknown in the screen page related to the power. If you remove the power connector, and then insert it again, if you're lucky, it will be recognized and will shows 180W. If you're not lucky, well, try again, at some point it'll work. So, let's get to the attempts that was made to solve this. In the very first call to the support, the technician guided me to reset the settings to the factory. This seems to work, but after the call was terminated the problem shows up again. In the second call, the technician realized that it could be a problem with the power adapter, and ordered a replacement. Unfortunately, after the replacement arrived, the problem was still there. This leads us to the third call, where the technician realized that it could be everything but the power adapter, so it ordered to change the motherboard and other pieces related to power, I guess. Well, this actually hasn't worked. I told them that maybe it is the 1.4.0 version of the BIOS that introduced this flaw, but they seem to ignore this fact. Now I'm waiting for a third replacement of everything, motherboard, power adapter and who knows what. And then, guess what they will try to do? They will replace the entire laptop, this will lead us to the fourth replacement. Have you experienced something like this with DELL, or worst? Have you had this problem with Precision 7550? What if it really was the BIOS update through LVFS? I repeatedly asked them if they actually have tried to reproduce the error, but they never replied me. How is it possible that one don't try to reproduce this? They could have used my first motherboard. Besides all this questions, that is one I really ask this community to reply. Is it worth to wait until this will eventually be fixed, or do you advice me to get a better laptop from a better vendor? Thank you.

roberti42 · Accepted Answer

Yeah I installed 1.5.0 yesterday, but the problem is still here: sometimes, when you attach the charger it doesn't recognize it. Headphones works pretty good to me. My current laptop is working fine. Since the BIOS update, it happened only one time that the charger wasn't recognized, all the other times it worked.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you! We have received the required details. We will work towards a resolution via private messages to ensure the security of your information. In the meanwhile, you may receive assistance or suggestions from the community members as well.

roberti42 · Answer

Thank you @DELL-Jesse L, I appreciated. I hope those parts will solve the issue.

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

roberti42,

I am following up to let you know there is a parts backlog that will delay service to replace the parts on your computer. I will keep you updated on when the parts arrive and when the service will be performed on your computer. We are working diligently to get your system working to your satisfaction.

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

roberti42,   Just following up with you to let you know the parts are still on backorder and there is no ETA available.  I will let you know when I see the information on the parts arrival.

roberti42 · Answer

Thank you @DELL-Jesse L, hope they arrive soon. I just want to let you know that I received an email yesterday telling me the technician would come between 8am and 6pm today.

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

roberti42,   Yes, I saw that in my database.  There may be another part that is backordered.  Let me know once they show up and replace the part.

roberti42 · Answer

Sure, thanks.

roberti42 · Answer

All the parts was just replaced. Now the BIOS is at version 1.2.11, and the power charge seems to works just as expected. Can I upgrade the BIOS to 1.3.2 or to 1.4.0 using LVFS? Or is it better to stay with 1.2.11?

roberti42 · Answer

After the parts were replaced, I upgraded BIOS by downloading the exe version (so without using LVFS). This problem seems to be fixed.

Juanmism91 · Answer

I have the same problem here with my precission 7550 running windwows.
I have bios version is 1.4.0 which was installed via Dell Support Assist. I donwloaded BIOS latest version (1.4.0) .exe and reinstalled but the problem persists.

I do not want to revert back since with older version I was having other issues.

Do you have any recommendation?

roberti42 · Answer

Unfortunately after two days of working, the problem have come back. I can't see your photos @Juanmism91

roberti42 · Answer

@Juanmism91have you solved your problem?

Juanmism91 · Answer

A remote assistant from Dell updated BIOS drivers to 1.5.0 which was released on the 9th of Nov and solved the issue.

I downloaded it from: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-au/product-support/servicetag/0-SkNjeEFoWTJRQmVLVkI3bThCZEloQT090/drivers

You can also google ''drivers dell precission 7550'' and eventually you'll get there.

Unfortunately the headphones connected on the minijack port now do not work properly whereas before the update a few minutes ago was working just fine.

I'm troubleshooting now to see how to solve the issue.

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