Laptop Battery Issue XPS 13

Hardware Hub Laptops & Netbooks
1

I have a 2015 XPS 13 9350. It is on most recent BIOS version.

Last february I’ve replaced the battery as the old one started to swell up. It has been working fine since then until a month or so ago. In last month, after shutting down, laptop gave me a battery led code (2 amber, 1 white) which indicates cpu failure. It had me worried, but I’ve just ignored it the two times it happened without any issues.

Today it started flashing the battery led during operation (4 amber, 1 white, faster than usual). I shut it down, tried rebooting without AC, and it wouldn’t boot. It boots normally with AC on. It keeps flashing the lights for the whole duration it’s working. The battery is recognised by both Debian, Windows and BIOS as healthy. Running diagnosis option in the BIOS says everything is healthy, but the laptop won’t boot on battery.

I plan on opening it up to see if it’s simply a connection issue. I’m worried though that it might be a motherboard issue. Anyone have further troubleshooting suggestions?

2

Install tlp and use it to check the health of the battery.

3

Did you buy an OEM battery or third party?

4

Here is tlp info:
— TLP 1.1 --------------------------------------------

+++ Battery Status
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer                   = SMP
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name                     = DELL RWT1R43
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count                    = (not supported)
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full_design             =   6840 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full                    =   6328 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_now                     =   6328 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/current_now                    =      1 [mA]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status                         = Full

Charge                                                      =  100.0 [%]
Capacity                                                    =   92.5 [%]

The battery is third party if I recall correctly.

6

It’s showing up with no info on the battery charge or capacity so it looks like it’s toast. The 3rd party didn’t do a good job of making a good product. I think you might have to get an official one in this case.

Edit: was on mobile, didn’t see the full readout.

1 Like
7

Looks like its showing info to me

The full charge is well below the design charge though. Hard to tell if the battery is really hooped without a voltage readout.

@cilginordek I typically recommend against third party unless you can be sure of the origin of the cells in the pack. I have a third party battery in one of my older laptops but the cells are samsung 18650s which were actually better than the OEM ones. Probably should just call up dell though and get the OE replacement if its available.

8

Foolish me didn’t take into account that <pre> tags might show up weird on mobile.

1 Like
9

Have you attempted DELL built-in Diagnostics (ePSA)? What is the warranty situation like on that machine?

10

Thanks all for the suggestions. I’ve opened up the laptop and reconnected the battery, that solved the issue.
The laptop is out of warranty, ePSA was not detecting any errors.