XPS

[nicedellmate]

Hi All, 

I'm in the process of trying to help out a colleague. His XPS 7590 is a few months out warranty (naturally) and wasn't switching on at all.

After pulling the RAM I finally found that one of them was faulty. Its now out and the laptop will boot HOWEVER - it won't charge the battery at all. I've run a multimeter over it it's getting 19V @ the DC in on the motherboard.

Worth mentioning here that it also won't run unless the battery is connected - absolutely nothing with battery disconnected. Any thoughts? It sounds like the motherboard to me but i'm no IT support. Is there anything else I can check?

Cheers

Rob

[ejn63]

Go into setup (F2 at powerup) to make sure the adapter is detected and not showing unknown.  If it is showing unknown, try another OEM Dell adapter next, and if that too is unrecognized, replace the DC jack:

https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=category&id=143&subid=1321&refine=dc+jack

only after that should you condemn the system board.

[nicedellmate]

Under support assist it says, charger - unable to detect charger. I dont understand though, I can go and buy another charger, which i'm reluctant to do considering I just bought a new battery. But as I said in the original post, the DC in port on the motherboard is getting 19v, suggesting to me theres something going wrong further down the line, is that not a fair assumption?

[ejn63]

Not necessarily as far as the battery charging is concerned.  The center pin completes a logic loop that enables the system to sense the adapter.  If it isn't sensed, the battery will not charge.

More concerning is the failure to power from the adapter.  If you don't want to buy a new adapter, you can find most computer shops will have Dell adapters you can try.  That won't absolve the DC jack of fault, but if a known working adapter won't power the system, it's then down to either the DC jack (sub-$30) or a faulty mainboard (likely $500 or more).

Does the system correctly identify the battery?

[nicedellmate]

"Does the system correctly identify the battery?"

Sorry, dumb question, how do i check that?

[ejn63]

Check in setup - the battery information will show.  F2 at powerup once again.

[nicedellmate]

Yer its picking up the battery accurately.

Think I might pickup the DC-in replacement first as it's far cheaper and I dont know anyone with a charger I can use to test.

[nicedellmate]

Not getting any charge from the new charger or from USB charge...

[ejn63 · Accepted solution]

If the system isn't drawing power from either and won't start, it is indeed likely a system board issue.