Plugged in - Not Charging!

11th May 2022

It's Monday morning. Coffee's on the boil, and you're raring to go. You boot up the Dell laptop, plug it in, and for some inexplicable reason, it's not charging! Luckily, help is at hand in this short article 'Plugged in not charging' where we've listed 3 things to try before calling in the IT professionals. If you find the article helpful, please give it share to let others no what to do when they're 'plugged in, not charging'.

1. Check your DC port

Use a can of compressed air to gently clean out the DC port (charging hole). Then plug in and see what happens. If you’re still getting the same message, try the next method.

2. Check your drivers

Below is quick way to check the drivers needed to manage your battery.

I. Type 'Device' in the 'Start' search field. Then select 'Device Manager'.

II. In Device Manager, tap 'Battery', then right-click 'Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery'.

III. Now, either select 'Update Driver' or 'Uninstall the device from the system'. If you select uninstall the device, select 'Action' in the Device Manager task bar and then select 'Scan' for hardware changes. Caution: Don’t uninstall any other drivers such as the Microsoft AC Adapter driver or any other ACPI compliant driver.

IV. The scan will now find out which hardware doesn’t have drivers installed and, fingers crossed, will make sure you have the drivers needed to manage your battery.

If after the scan and the installation’s complete, you’re still having a problem, try solution number 3.

3. Recalibrate your battery

To do this one, you have to drain the residual power of your laptop. The steps below show you how to do it on a laptop with a removable battery.

I. Power off

II. Unplug all the other devices such as scanners, printers etc.

III. Remove the AC adapter and battery.

IV. Hold the power button down for 10-15 seconds to totally drain all the residual power.

V. After about half an hour, put the battery back on and then charge overnight and see if it works in the morning.

Note: Many modern laptops don’t have removable batteries. In this case, with the power supply disconnected, try holding the power button down for around 30 seconds.

Still not working? If none of the above solutions fix the problem, you could try checking for Windows updates, or click on Dell Power Manager to check that there aren’t any ‘Not Charge’ options selected.

Alternatively, give Jamcrackers a call on 0800 955 8041 or book a FREE consultation at jamcrackers.co.uk