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Dell XPS 12 charging problem

Feb 28, 2015 4:20PM PST

Hi all, I know that there is a more relevant forum for this, but this seems more active.

I have a problem with my xps 12 ultrabook.

One week ago my computer was charging like normal, when I unplugged and shut the screen (sleep) and went back to my room to study some more. After an hour, I plugged in my charger and it wasn't working.

My charger has an led indicator right at the head, where it connects to the port. The led light was on, but I checked the voltage anyways and it was correct (the inside was 19.8 ish volts higher than the pin and the outside, which seems to be the case for most laptop chargers)

I managed to check the bios before my battery completely died, and with my ac adapter plugged in the bios indicated that it wasn't detecting an ac adapter (none).

Naturally, I thought this was a dc port problem so I ordered a new one and even with the new one, it won't charge. My battery is completely dead at this point.

That's a good summary of what happened. If it's not an issue with the dc port or charger, and my bios doesn't detect the ac adapter, then it might be a motherboard problem and I don't even want to think about that. It seems as if everything points in that direction.

So my questions are, what does the bios indication of no ac adapter detected mean? Is it possible that it's a battery problem, not a motherboard problem? I don't really know what other options I have at this point.

I could try and look around for someone with the same laptop so I can switch batteries and see if the same problem comes up, but that may take a while.

Sorry for the ****** formatting, I'm posting this from my phone

Discussion is locked

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Addendum
Feb 28, 2015 4:30PM PST

new post with more information because I can't find the edit button

It seems like the charging ports aren't 100% the same, so here they are side by side:
http://m.imgur.com/uD7RuST
The top one is the one I ordered, the bottom is original

I can't seem to find any information as to the internal structure of the ports, so it may still be a dc port problem. Any help is appreciated, thanks

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Keep researching.
Feb 28, 2015 11:05PM PST

Dells use a 3 wire system so if the charger is good on the 2 wires (you measured the 19ish Volts) then the failure is likely to be the third wire. Remember this information is all over the web. So you change the charger, then the motherboard and maybe the battery to fix this.

There are so many prior discussions that mostly carry on because folk are desperate to avoid replacing hardware. Do try the usual first with a reset of the CMOS noted at http://forums.cnet.com/7726-19681_102-3138013.html?tag=posts;msg3138013 as well as this simple issue -> http://forums.cnet.com/7726-19681_102-5261878.html?tag=posts;msg5261878

If you replaced the port with the wrong part, well, fix that.
Bob

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Okay
Mar 1, 2015 7:34AM PST

What do you mean by 3 wire system? From the schematics I've seen, the outside and pin are ground/0, and the inside is whatever voltage the charger needs to be at.

I'll try the CMOS reset the next chance I get. The XPS 12 is an ultrabook, and the battery is concealed inside the case, so there is no "locking" mechanism, just screws to hold it in place and the interface to the motherboard. I'll also test the two different DC ports to see if they're similar voltage-wise (or, still similar, as I feel like I've damaged the original). This won't be for a bit as I've got a ton of studying I need to do beforehand.

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Sorry if you feel shortchanged.
Mar 1, 2015 7:59AM PST
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Oh
Mar 1, 2015 9:04AM PST

that makes a lot more sense. Sorry, my Google fu wasn't working before. Ill go to the nearest laptop distributor tomorrow and ask if I can try a charging cord.