One of the customers brought in a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook that would not turn on. She was furious after speaking to Dell technical team. She had not received much help since the Laptop warranty had expired. Trying to contact them through facebook was pretty slow, with replies after an hour. In this article I will explain how I fixed the problem of her XPS not booting. This not the first time some brought the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook not turning on.
Initially the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook would just show the power indicator light when connected to the power supply. After trying to turn it on a couple times the power indicator would not show anymore.
It seemed the Ultrabook was dead. Not responding to anything. No lights just a black screen.
If you are facing the same problem of the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook not turning on here are a couple of things that you can do.
Flea power making Dell XPS not to turn on
First check to see if it isn’t a flea power problem. I explain about flea power here. This is what you do. Disconnect adapter so that no power goes to the laptop. Next remove the battery. This might be tricky as Ultrabook batteries are not as easily removable as other laptops.
To remove the Dell XPS 13 battery, you have to remove a couple of screws first.
- First disconnect the AC adapter and other external connected peripherals.
- Turn it upside down, there should be 10 visible screws, unscrew them all.
- Remove the cover.
- Look for the connection from the battery to the motherboard.
- Carefully remove the cable connecting the motherboard and the battery.
- Now you can take out the battery.
You can also watch a video from youtube on how to do that.
After taking the battery out press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. This is to clear any flea power which might be the cause of the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook not turning on.
Before putting back the battery, check if the problem is solved. Connect the adapter, a light should turn showing that the laptop is now connected to power. Press the power if it turns on then you can shut it down put back the battery.
This can also work for other models of Dell Laptops. In this instance it was a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. It has worked also on my Dell Inspiron which I wrote about previously
Battery causing Dell XPS 13 not to turn on
If the XPS turns on with the AC adapter only but doesn’t with the battery alone, you might have a faulty battery. Then you need to change it. You can buy one for cheap [amazon_textlink asin=’B01ALG1EYS’ text=’on this link’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’accatech0a-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6bc06224-90e5-11e7-a61f-f571d580ca58′].
Also if you have drained your battery the computer screen might be black, but if you look at the LED lights it should flash with an orange color. If so, then you just need to charge it and problem solved.
XPS Ultrabook still not turning on check, to make sure your power connections are working properly. If the laptop AC adapter has a light indicator. It should be green if it’s working.
Also if the power connections are working fine and there is no short circuiting, there should be a white light indicator which comes on when you connect the power adapter.
Hardware Problems
If it’s a hardware problem, you will need to test the components to see which one is causing the problem. With the little working space on the XPS Ultrabook due to its thin size I don’t recommend messing around with the hardware if you are not exactly sure what you are doing. You might cause more damage than good. Get it to the professionals and if it’s still under warranty get on the Dell hotline.
Dell technicians will help you with whether you need to bring it in for replacement. They are qucik if you laptop is still under warranty but are annoyingly less helpful if the laptop is no longer under warranty, well atleast in my experience
Let me know how you fixed yours in the comments sections.