Dell Latitude Not Charging

Some laptop chargers light up when you plug them into power (an LED is usually on the power brick or around the tip of the connector). Checking the wall port’s power by plugging in another device, light, etc. is a good idea. This lets you know the wall port is in fact providing power and that your laptop should be receiving a charge.

Is your charger broken? Your charger could be a third-party charger that does not provide enough wattage to charge the laptop. The voltage is more important to get right, whereas the wattage (wattage = voltage x amperage) is more flexible.

• Compare the input power requirements on the bottom of the laptop with the charger output. Usually for laptops, the input is ~19.5 volts and anywhere from 1 to 4 amps.

The connection of the charger is loose due to wear and tear.

• Replace the cable on the charger (if possible) or try using the charger that came with the laptop.

Sometimes, multiple devices and accessories will not work at the same time. Rule out variables to focus your efforts on the real issue.

Newer laptops come with multiple USB C or Thunderbolt ports — a great multi-use port that transfers video as well as data, and can sometimes be used to charge the laptop. Certain Dell Latitude models limit a specific USB C or Thunderbolt port on the laptop to be the designated charging port. This is usually indicated with a charging icon next to the port (sometimes its a ⚡ or a 🔌 icon).

• Try moving the charger connection to a different USB C or Thunderbolt port and check if it’s charging.

Your laptop’s software settings may be using pulling too much power.

• Try adjusting these settings to be more energy conscious so as to not drain your battery as quickly. Settings like screen brightness, sleep settings, and CPU usage are all things to tweak.

Starting with Windows 10, battery saver is a mode you can enable that automatically adjusts several of these energy-mindful settings at once.

Certain BIOS settings will have an affect on your charging performance and ability. The BIOS is software installed on a chip on the motherboard. This chip and its software initialize hardware and related settings. This menu exists before the operating system. You will need to boot into the BIOS to change these settings.

To boot into the BIOS on a PC.

1. Power off your laptop completely.
2. Press the power and repeatedly press the F2 key. It will boot into the BIOS menu where you can adjust various power-related settings.
3. When finished, save and restart. Your laptop will boot into your operating system.

Try removing the battery from the laptop. Some Dell Latitude models make it easier than others.

• With the battery removed, plug in the laptop charger and power on the laptop. If your laptop boots up just fine with the battery removed, this lets you know the battery itself was the issue. It could be the battery was not properly attached and will need to be reattached.