Diagnosing Charging System Dysfunction

DDE12 · 14 Sep 2020

The charging system on Dell Latitude E5550 with Windows 10, version 1909, build 18363.1082 is doing something odd and I can't figure out where the problem is. I don't think it is a faulty charging port, as it runs without the battery. The battery is at 72% health and it does seem to charge but maybe only when the laptop is turned off. Is there software of something in Windows that will give me a graphs of receiving AC power, battery charging? Or some other diagnostic software that could help me figure out what is wrong? Thank you for taking a look at this.

Jacee · 14 Sep 2020

Have you read this info? https://www.dell.com/support/article...issues?lang=en

DDE12 · 15 Sep 2020

Thank you, my web searching did not dig that up. I worked through the steps for my issue as well as installed Dell Power Manager. What I have discovered is:
1.) Starting laptop with battery installed and power cord plugged in, BIOS recognizes the power adapter and battery is charging. Charging LED steady on.
2.) If I unplug power cord and plug it back in while in BIOS, the power adapter is not recognized upon plugging back in. Charging LED is steady off.
3.) If I start with step 1 and boot into Windows, Dell Power Manager shows alternating plugged in not charging/plugged in charging every couple of seconds. Charging LED flashes off and on.
4.) All of the above occurs with four Dell brand AC power adapters.
5.) I have low Passmark Benchmarks with the AC Power only (battery not installed) and no AC power (battery installed). Battery installed provided much better results though. I did not attempt with AC power, battery installed as it is nearly unusable with the constant switching between charging and not charging.

Do you think this is a motherboard problem?

W10 Tweaker · 15 Sep 2020

I've had endless charger grief with an old Dell Studio 1747 laptop (circa 2008). One of the many free bonuses of owning a Dell laptop, as soon as the battery becomes sub par, the charger will refuse to charge it. :-/

I thought I had identified a temporary solution. I just fired up the old boat anchor now and will try a few tricks to get charging working again.

Update;

No luck with keeping the charger working this time. I recall in the recent past, if I disabled the charger in bios settings, restarted windows without the charger connected. Enter the bios settings again, enable the charger, restart windows and plug in the charger. This tedious game would allow charging for a couple of weeks and allowed me to keep the battery above 90% state of charge. No good luck today. :-(

I'll try to fit in some time again soon and try some experimenting.

I trust when you mouse over the battery indicator, it says "plugged in, not charging"?

DDE12 · 16 Sep 2020

Mousing over the battery icon jumps between "X % Remaining" and "X % Available Plugged In".
I don't think I can disable the power adapter in Bios but I will double check.
I have a Square Trade Warranty on this, so will be sending it in for repair or warranty refund.

W10 Tweaker · 11 Oct 2020

DDE12 said:

Mousing over the battery icon jumps between "X % Remaining" and "X % Available Plugged In".
I don't think I can disable the power adapter in Bios but I will double check.
I have a Square Trade Warranty on this, so will be sending it in for repair or warranty refund.

Hi DDE12, I finally identified the route cause of my Dell "Plugged in, not charging". After very carefully moving the chargers DC plug where it connects to the PC, I was able to see the White LED on the laptop illuminate informing that it was charging. I carefully wedged an old mouse under the connector and the battery will now fully charge. I plan to open the laptop at a future date and repair the jack connections. I'm guessing the fault is a cold joint on the solder connection for the center pin. This is a data connection to inform the laptop that the charger meets spec and then the laptop will permit charging. It's another special Dell feature. I'll try to post a link to a better technical explanation.

If this laptop is covered under a warranty, send it back for sure.

DDE12 · 09 Dec 2020

I sent it to Square Trade for warranty service. I don't think they really did any diagnostics as they sent it back with a new AC charger and that did nothing. The second time I think they replaced the charger jack (the rep on the phone said he would request that). It is working properly now. I was afraid it was the motherboard that way it would charge completely normal when the laptop was off. Replacing the charging jack is easy on this model as it is connected to MB via cable and not soldered.