Battery not charging after updating to W11

What I have tried so far:

- boot the computer without any power cables;
- boot the computer through docking station;
- boot the computer with the original charger;
- reinstall Windows 11;
- reinstall Windows 10 (after Windows 11);
- running Linux Mint from a USB stick;
- automatically update every driver and BIOS through Dell's website;
- automatically reinstall some of the drivers through Device Manager;
- manually reinstall BIOS, Thunderbolt drivers through Dell's website;
- unplug the battery and running the computer directly from the power cable – this way it did not restart itself but shut itself down completely but afterwards I was able to use it;
- the computer has been to two official Dell retailers in Estonia. Both came to the conclusion that the problem has to do with the motherboard and that it is a hardware problem. Although what problem exactly is, remains unknown.

Maybe there still is a separate software on some piece of hardware that I have overlooked which is causing the problem.

The only way I have successfully managed to boot the computer without restarts and while it remains charging is doing it in Safe Mode. (msconfig (System Configuration) -> Boot -> Boot options -> tick the Safe boot option)

Since I paid 2350 EUR (2650 USD) for the computer and the new motherboard costs approximately 700 EUR (~ 800 USD) I have decided not to replace the motherboard because it is too expensive. At least until the computer can be used after the restarts are done.

I am really hoping that the issue turns out to be related to software and can be fixed without actually replacing the physical motherboard.

Hi,

I have done all of this and the problem persists.

Thank you!

Hi,

Please let me and others know if you will be successful in finding a solution to the problem.

Thank you!

I just got the same issue. Although my battery is draining but it won't start charging when I connect the charger. And it is not a charging cable issue either, cause I have both a dock + the charger that came with the laptop. Neither of them is working. I have Dell XPS 9500 (2020). Recently I upgraded to Windows 11. This problem was not present at the beginning. The problem came after a week of having W11.

Very good troubleshooting.  I've been hoping a solution comes also.  It's still beyond me how Win11 does that or how it happens with Win11.

Hi,

Thank you for taking time to share your experience! I am happy that I did not rush to replace the motherboard with my own funds, then!

I will try to tinker with the Intel UHD Graphics drivers.

I have the same problem. Being under warranty, I had the motherboard changed, then I reinstalled the operating system with Windows 10 from scratch, but the problem returned.

What I noticed is that by disabling the integrated graphics drivers (Intel (R) UHD Graphics), the problem seems to go away. Obviously I don't think it's an acceptable workaround, but the problem seems to lie in that driver.

Yup. E-x-a-c-t-l-y the same for me.

Thank you for your insights and support!

I have the same problem but i never upgraded to Windows 11

Dear post followers,

I have some updates to share. As a user named amosbattista commented on February 24, the source of the problem causing restarts upon boot and keeping the battery from charging really does seem to be with the Intel(R) UHD Graphics (driver).

I have the Intel's 10th generation core i7 processor and Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver version 30.0.100.9955 installed.

What I did that seems to offer a temporary solution

1) I opened the Device Manager, expanded the Display adapters section and right-clicked on the Intel(R) UHD Graphics which then displayed an option to Disable device, so I clicked it.

2) Then I shut down the computer for quite some time (enough for the restart and no-charge problem to return).

3) I proceeded to turn the computer back on with the charger/docking station connected PRIOR boot.

4) The computer booted flawlessly: there were no restarts and the battery was charging immediately.

*) I then re-enabled the Intel(R) UHD Graphics (driver) under the Device Manager. But when I am about to turn off the computer for good (for the night, for example), I disable the Intel's integrated graphics again to avoid restarts upon the next boot.

*) I could also then remove the charger/disconnect it from the docking station and then plug it back and the battery still charges. Although I have not been left it unplugged for a longer period while it's running so there's still some testing to do whether it will let the computer charge also after having disconnected for a longer period.

Some observations

Obviously, I did some more testing.

1) After having disabled the Inter(R) UHD Graphics, I also tried to boot the computer running solely on its battery (no charger/docking station connected).

Then the computer also booted flawlessly, there were no restarts, however, then the computer did not recognize the charger/charging through docking station. The way to fix it was to shut down the computer for a second and boot it again with the charger already connected.

2) I currently have the Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver version 30.0.100.9955 installed which, correct me if I'm wrong, should be the latest and most up-to-date version. I downloaded two of the previous driver versions from Dell's website but I was unable to install them. I got an error message saying that the drivers are not compatible with the current operating system, even though I specifiaclly chose the correct OS (or let the Dell's driver update program to do so).

I suspect that some other drivers or BIOS have also been updated along the way and are no longer compatible with the old Intel(R) UHD Graphics drivers versions. I may be wrong, though.

Additionally, I tried to get the Intel graphics driver (both the latest and the older versions) straight from Intel's website. However, I was only able to successfully install the latest version which still has the issue causing restarts and no charging. The older versions did not install correctly.

3) For me, being able to use the docking station and external monitor with the laptop is extremely important.

After having switched off the Intel(R) UHD Graphics under Device Manager, even though the computer boots with no restarts and the battery charges immediately when the charger/charging through docing station is connected prior to the boot, the external monitor does not work.

I assume there is an option somewhere to switch the external monitor to run on Nvidia's graphics card (I have the Nvidia's GTX 1650 Ti) but I am yet to find it.

I even opened the NVIDIA Control Panel, chose "Manage 3D Settings" and under "Global Settings" chose High-performance NVIDIA processor as a preferred graphics processor. I also set the GTX 1650 Ti to be the preferred PhysX processor. But the external monitor still did not work.

Furthermore, with the Intel(R) UHD Graphics switched off, the on-screen movements seemed to be a bit sluggish. For example, opening and closing the start menu, minimizing different tabs and windows were a bit slow. So I am afraid that even if it is possible to run the external monitor with the Intel Graphics switched off, the experience might be a bit slow or sluggish.

Current conclusion

Disclaimer: I am not an expert whatsoever.

Even though it is not a perfect solution, it still is way better than having to deal with the restarts and no-charging. Thus, I recommend the following (after your restarts have finished and you have turned off the computer for a second to also be able to charge the battery):

1) If you are about to turn off the computer for a longer period of time, before doing so, open Device Manager, expand the Display adapters section, right click on the Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver and disable it. Then simply turn off the computer.

2) Next time you are booting up the computer, plug the charger/docking station to the computer PRIOR booting it. This way the computer also charges immediately.

3) When you have reached desktop, open Device Manager again and re-enable the Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver. Keep it enabled till you need to switch off/sleep/hibernate the computer again.

Yes, it can be annoying to do so, but it should be even possible to use macros for it. I have a Corsair's keyboard that has dedicated macro buttons easily programmable with graphics user interface with the Corsair's iCUE program. I could then use one keyboard button to disable the Intel's graphics and another to re-enable it. This would save me time doing it every time under the Device Manager, which of course, is not that hard to do manually.

Questions to the community

1) What do you think about Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver causing the restarts and no charging issue?

2) Do you suggest to try installing previous versions of Intel(R) UHD Graphics drivers to solve the problem until a new driver comes out? If so, how to get pass the issue of older drivers incompatibility?

3) Do you know how to run the external monitor through the docking station when the Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver is disabled? Could the system be somehow slower/sluggish when only using the NVIDIA graphics card (as I visually experienced).

Thank you!

Hi AlmostPro, thank you for trying my workround proposal and for making several attempts. I will try to answer your questions (sorry for my English, but I am not an English native):

1) In my opinion the driver is not the source of the problem, but it is almost certainly is what causes the system reboot. By disabling this driver, you are not "disabling" the issue, but rather the reaction to the issue.

2) You are probably using Windows 11 so you were unable to install the previous drivers. Anyway,  I also tried previous versions of the UHD Graphics driver on Windows 10 (it seems to me version 27 or something like that), but the problem did not go away at all. So I don't think it's a driver version issue.

3) Have you tried to select "Best performance" in the power settings?

Anyway, I'm trying to solve the issue too. I also tried to install from scratch directly with the Windows 11 iso image, but it didn't work.
I am still in contact with DELL technical support, to whom I have reported that replacing the motherboard did not solve the issue. They replied that the problem may be the charger.
A new DELL charger should arrive this week, although I doubt it will work.

I'll let you know.

I received a new charger from Dell on Friday, even though I told them that was not the problem since my docking station also would not charge the laptop. But, they ignored all of that. The new charger didn't show as being plugged in so I called support again. This time, I actually got someone that did more than the rest of the support people did. She remoted in and diagnosed the problem as the motherboard and they are sending out a technician on Tuesday to replace it. We will see if that solves the charging problem as well as my occasional reboots and blue screens. I will let everyone know.

Hi,

1) Not sure what to comment here at this moment.

2) Actually I went back to W10 Pro after the problem persisted with W11. But now it seems the problem is not related to W11, at least not directly, so I might consider updating to W11 again in the future. However, I only like W11 more visually. No other benefits for me.

3) Yes.

If you and I have the same issue (which currently seems to be true) then I really doubt that the problem is with the charger. I have tried the original charger, my docking station, and also two different Dell's official workshops have tried theirs.

Thank you!

Hi,

Great to see that you have had some progress now. Although, I assume that the problem is not with the motherboard, since amosbattista in this post thread (and I have seen others) have told that they have had their motherboard replaced and the problem is still there. One reported that the problem was gone for a while but then returned. For amosbattista, the problem never left.

Till then I can recommend you to try and disable the Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver under Device Manager before you shut down your computer and re-enabling it when you boot it back up. Make sure to have your charger plugged in before you boot it, then it will also charge right away.

Let me know if you are willing to test it and what are the results.

Thank you!