Battery not charging after updating to W11

There is a Nov 2021 Dell Power Manager download.  If you don't have it, install and configure and see if it helps.  This is the only power related download I see for the 9500.  One note on install, if you have Dell Power Manager Lite installed it must be uninstalled, and PC restarted, before installing the new Power Manager.

Dell Power Manager Service | Driver Details | Dell US

A comment on the response you got.  It may very well be a Dell problem, but the response was very unprofessional.  "The not my problem" usually is from someone who doesn't know and too lazy to find out what the problem is.  I'm a retired network and help desk manager and we ran into vendor "finger pointing" all the time from lazy techs.

Hi,

Thank you. I downloaded the Power Manager but it did not help. I think this app is meant to help with optimizing charging cycles etc.

My problem still exists.

I agree with the laziness of the tech support.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

I flagged this on our Rockstar forum section.  Hopefully one of the other Rockstars or a Dell interface will help.

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@AlmostPro wrote:

Dell XPS 9500 (2020) laptop

1. As I normally use my laptop through Dell's docking station I looked for the original charger that came with the laptop to test whether that worked. 

2. I then opened Device Manager and uninstalled everything I had there under Battery Section (Microsoft AC Adapter and Microsoft Surface ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery).

 

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1. Good troubleshooting. I suggest you continue to troubleshoot with original charger and WITHOUT dock.

2. I WOULD NOT have recommended doing this. Your Windows might be corrupt (either to begin with, or now after this)

There should be a whole special section in BIOS that shows battery health. Also, set machine to complain if wrong (or defective) charger is installed.

My guess would be battery has gone bad or weak. It happens. 

I agree with @Tesla1856, may be try a different battery?

Also, physically check on the battery itself and make sure it didn't swell for some reason.

I tried to reinstall Windows 11. After it was installed, it also did various Windows 11 cumulative updates. I shut down the computer multiple times to check whether the problem was still there. It wasn't.

Until today (the next day). I booted the computer, got to the lock screen, the battery was charging, was mid-way typing in my password and...the computer automatically restarted. After the restart finished and I was back at the lock screen, the battery was not charging anymore...

So the problem is back.

Do you really think it could be the battery's (hardware) problem? The computer is only 1 year old and I never experienced problems with the battery when I still had Windows 10.

I think the next step for me will be to go back to Windows 10, since there are no actual benefits of using W11 instead of W10 for me. W11 just "looks cooler" and more modern.

Thank you!

Hi,

Some updates from me.

There are no physical damages to the battery.

After a clean reinstall of Windows 11, I also reverted back to Windows 10 to see if the problem persisted. And yes, it was still present. I also updated all the drivers and even upgraded BIOS version from Dell's official website. No help.

What is interesting, the restarts have gotten worse over time. When the problem first came, the computer restarted once, maybe twice. Now it sometimes even does it 10 times before it "stabilizes".

Furthermore, I also tried Linux Mint OS – but the problem is still there.

Then I took my computer to the shop where I bought it. They did some analysis on it and first told me that the restarting upon boot and battery not charging have two different causes.

According to them, the restarting was an issue of not installing or upgrading Windows properly.

Battery not charing was caused by an USB C port that has become a bit loose on the motherboard, thus not recognizing the charger.

So they advised me to let them reinstall all the Windows 10 (pro version in my case) from scratch, including the BIOS software etc. And also to change the motherboard (around 400–450 euros).

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Well, I argued, that the restarting and the issue of battery not charging are related. I decided NOT to have my motherboard replaced (at least not yet) because both of the issues came at the same time and no matter which of the ports on my computer I use to charge it (I have 3 USB C ports), the problem still exists.

So I only let them do a clean reinstall of Windows, drivers, BIOS etc. They did it and told me that the issue of restarting is gone but the battery not charging issue might still be present since they did not replace the motherboard. And that I will still probably need to change the motherboard at some point since the loose USB C port could short circuit the motherboard completely.

As I got home and turned on the computer it welcomed me with approximately 10 restarts. Turns out that the guys at the computer shop had not turned off the computer for at least some 30 minutes to recreate the scenario where the problem returns. They turned the computer on once, reinstalled everything and told that the computer was okay. Unfortunately they did not follow what I had told them.

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Then I tried to start the computer (After it had been turned off for a while) in Windows Safe Mode. And...? It turned on perfectly: no restarts and the battery was charging right from the start.

At this point, I am not sure what is the issue. I will take my computer to another computer shop to get another expert opinion what might be causing my issues.

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I will let you know if I have any further updates.

"According to them, the restarting was an issue of not installing or upgrading Windows properly."  I believe this to be false, that Windows was incorrectly installed.

Certainly not that your XPS laptop is old, but it might not hurt to try a different battery.  Seems as though the computer shop danced around it a bit.

It also might not hurt to replace the CMOS battery in case it went bad.  When they do, seemingly unrelated bizarre problems can result.  I've also used to have cheap CMOS batteries only last about 2 years (should last around 5), so I stick to Duracell.

Removing the battery CMOS battery replacement video

Hi mate, just wanted to let you know I have the EXACT same problems you described with my XPS 9500 after updating to Windows 11.

Definitely something going on with compatibility between Dell and the Windows 11 update...like you I'm no expert at all, just putting 2 and 2 together.

Really annoying problems (the battery not charging and the constant restarts), and I hope we get a proper response/fix soon because it's making an expensive laptop almost unusable right now.

Please update if you find a solution and I'll do the same!

Hello, I see you are looking for technical assistance. If you need our help, you can start a private/direct message with us and we will be happy to assist you.

Hi, 

Unfortunately my warranty ended back in August.

All the best

Hi,

I sure will let you know if I get any updates regarding my situation. Currently, I can confirm that there are no issues starting the computer in safe mode, both in the minimal and network option.

All the best