XPS 15 (9500) plugged in but will not recognize it is charging

I updated to the latest BIOS 1.10.0 and this issue still persists. It looks like it has been going on for almost a year now. When can we expect a definitive fix?

I'm just here to bask in the glory of fixing your problems.

The issue that you are having is the drivers on your machine are NOT the newest. SupportAssist and Windows Update do not update all drivers. You need to manually go to the driver page and download the Thunderbolt controller driver. The thunderbolt controller is not Bios and it is not Windows, hence why so many people have missed it (including Dell).

So why is this happening? My guess is that a Windows/Bios update changed something. Those that have tried updating the drivers have not updated everything. Some people have changed the motherboard, which just means that eventually the SupportAssist or Windows update eventually updates, which causes the issues again.

If updating the Thunderbolt driver doesn't work, then I also manually updated a few other drivers such as the NVME one but since, my laptop has worked perfectly.

Dell, you are welcome

I tried updating the Thunderbolt driver from the manual driver downloads and couldn't get it to install successfully.  Its listed as "Urgent" and "this PC" so it seems like the right one, but no joy here.

What happened when you tried to install it? What kind of message did you get? Have you tried disabling your antivirus or running it or running windows 10 in safe mode.

Maybe power off your machine (leave it off for a minute or two) and then turn it on so it is powered. I'm sure it will check it is plugged in before updating onboard chips

This is a motherboard problem. There are 100’s of xps 9500 owners who run into this issue year 4 of ownership regardless of bios. I’ve had this problem for a year and now I’m using the usb-c charger but another person privately messaged me and told me this too would fail so not to rely on the system.

I tried changing the Jack, swapping the battery, every solution proposed on each of the 30 threads on this message board, 100’s on Reddit…the list goes on. I finally have given up. I’ll take it to geek squad but will probably just be a legion or MacBook to replace this unit.

Hi,

I also have Dell XPS 9500 laptop.

I have the same problem. It first occurred a couple weeks ago, a few days later after having installed Windows 11. First I thought it was the new OS problem but I reverted back to W10 and the problem persisted.

I get to the lock screen and then the computer restarts itself 1–2 times, gets back to the lock screen and then the battery is not charging. It does not matter if I have plugged in the charging cable or not, it still happens.

What has temporarily helped me: when I turn on the computer and the battery is not charging again, I uninstall the battery drivers from Device Manager, shut down the computer, remove the charging cable and wait 5–10 seconds. Then plug back the cable, turn on the computer, the computer automatically reinstalls the battery drivers and it boots perfectly and also charges the computer.

Another odd thing I have found: after the computer is running perfectly and I then shut it down but only for like 5 minutes, it boots back perfectly without restarting and the battery is also charging.

But after the computer has been completely turned off for at least 30 minutes, then the computer starts doing restarts and the battery won't charge again.

Same problem STILL despite resetting BIOS as best able (the BIOS reset instructions do not work now, you have to go through an app that takes you to UEFI options and reload UEFI). Running BIOS 1.12.0 and almost out of battery life now. Five restarts and two full shutdowns, but AC connector not detected in any of the USB ports. One note: I'm seeing a 3.2 GHz clock speed when the nominal max is 2.4 GHz, but why that would have this kind of effect makes no sense to me. After all the idiotic issues with trying to use headphones on this beast, now the power and double-bounce reboot issues... at this point, I am starting to hate my new DELL laptop... sigh. Time for a different brand, after years of DELL? Makes me sad. Well, only a few minutes of charge left since "we" can't see the OEM AC adapter plugged into the wall and the power port. Hope to see some kind of FIX or response here. Will check using my non-brick phone, as the DELL is about to be a brick. Can't do the "uninstall battery drivers" thing because I'm at 2% power. Thunderbolt update failed -- there are two, and the firmware "urgent" update requires battery be above 50%. Since it can't see I'm plugged in, no go. Will hope that after full discharge the AC adapter will be detected.

OK, an update: The Thunderbolt controller software (specified on the DELL site as "urgent" and "this PC") that is trying to install is five versions ahead of the one that is on the machine (which was bought for me in September, 2021, so a little over 6 months ago). When it tries to install, it croaks thusly:

"Setup Failed.   0x800070643 - Fatal error during installation"

and the first error that shows up in the log is:

"MUP Spec version is less than 3 or not a DCH package. Legacy installation is selected."

I see that the first error often occurs when a prior version of a program has not been cleaned up correctly, and the "MUP Spec" error occurs in other people's headaches as well, not just Thunderbolt. But I am not a software person: trainable but not trained. I tried installing an earlier version available on the Dell site but it too failed.

On the other hand, once the computer ran completely out of battery, it shut itself down and then when I plugged in and rebooted it saw the AC adapter. For now. I'm terrified to take it off AC or to allow it to sleep. If I knew what the problem really was, I could take steps to avoid the conditions that lead to it, but I didn't change what I was doing... the result has changed. Now 50% of the time if the computer sleeps, it doesn't detect AC adaptor when it comes back up again, and this last time many reboots did not help, only completely draining the battery.

Similar problems for me. Dell replaced my XPS 9500 because of various problems with USB-C and the hard drive not being recognised (they changed my motherboard three times before they gave me a replacement!). The replacement XPS 9510 seemed fine, but now, after three months use, suddenly has charging problems as described above. I need to power down the computer completely (rebooting doesn't work) before it starts charging the battery again.     

I also currently have the restarting and battery not charging issue, as you can read from my replies in this thread somewhere.

However, back in summer, I also had the problem with the audio jack not recognizing my headphones. But not only. I was also using (still am) Dell's docking station with external monitor. I had the problem that 50% times the first USB C port I had connected the dock to, did not recognize it and the external monitor did not turn on. So everytime a different USB C port worked – super annoying, you can imagine. Sometimes none of them did. I had to restart the computer till I got one of them working.

What helped me? A clean reinstall of Windows 10. I did it under Windows settings (Update & Security -> Recovery -> Reset this PC). And it helped. My 3.5 mm audio jack has been working perfectly since then and also no issues with the docking system.

All the best,

Hi,

Some updates from me.

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.

Just chiming in to say I'm having the same problems with my XPS 9500 restarting and not charging. 

Only thing that works for me is to turn off the laptop, unplug my charger until the light goes off, then turn the laptop back on and plug it in again. Sometimes the random restarts messes this up tho.

Really hoping we get a fix soon as it takes way too long to get the laptop started for work each day now, not to mention random restarts makes using the laptop a pretty grim experience...

This has been an intermittent issue for me over the last 6 months, and perhaps related to issues I had with the laptop not powering off fully or waking up when not expected.  I am on the 2nd replacement motherboard for this laptop (for an overheating issue that is possibly related to this).  Had this occur while I was on-line with the support technician; we watched as the battery discharged and would not respond to ANY of the three USB/thunderbolt port connections.  After it completely discharged, we cycled the power connection and it started working.

Appears to be some hardware/firmware bug I hope Dell can get it sorted out.  Not good for a high-end laptop!

I bring somber news to all those on this thread. My laptop has had its main board replaced twice after months of fighting with dell reps on a warrantied device. Today 3-4 months after I had sent in my laptop to have the main board replaced. The laptop would not recognize the charger. The issue that spent me months being asked are you sure your charger works and does un plugging it and plugging it back in to work (utterly stupid when I had provided very detailed explanation of the problem) has came back. So much for having any affect on laptop. "Thanks" Dell