Use this when: It is plugged in, but the battery is not going up, or Windows says “plugged in, not charging”.
Steps
|
Do this |
What should happen |
|
1. Check the charger brick and cable for damage — fraying, scorching, bent pins, a burning smell. |
If you find any, stop, unplug it, and log a HIGH ticket. Do not keep using it. |
|
2. Confirm it is the correct Dell charger and that both ends are firmly seated. |
An under-wattage charger may power the laptop but never charge it. |
|
3. Test the wall outlet with something else. |
Rules out the outlet and any switch on it. |
|
4. Try the other USB-C / charging port if your model has more than one. |
If it charges in one port and not another, note which — the port may be faulty. |
|
5. Hover over the battery icon in the system tray to read the exact status. |
“Charging”, “Plugged in, not charging”, or a percentage tells us where the fault is. |
|
6. Leave it on charge for an hour, then check again. |
A deeply flat battery takes a while before the percentage moves at all. |
If that did not work
The battery light blinks amber, or amber-then-white in a pattern. That is a power/battery diagnostic code. Go to “Blinking Lights and Beep Codes” and log a ticket with the pattern.
It says “plugged in, not charging” but holds steady. Some Dell models cap charging by policy (a battery-longevity setting) — this can be normal. Note it in the ticket and we will confirm.
It only charges with a specific cable, port, or wiggle. Something is faulty. Log a ticket and say exactly which.
Log a ticket
HIGH — Urgent — The charger is damaged, or the laptop will not charge after an hour on a known-good outlet and charger.
Use this when: You are getting noticeably less time on battery than you used to.
Steps
|
Do this |
What should happen |
|
1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) > Processes and sort by Power usage. |
The biggest consumers rise to the top — usually video calls, browsers with many tabs, and sync clients. |
|
2. Close what you recognise and are not using. |
Draw drops. |
|
3. Turn the screen brightness down a couple of notches. |
The display is the single largest consumer on a laptop. |
|
4. Set a sensible power mode: Settings > System > Power & battery > Power mode > Balanced. |
“Best performance” runs the battery down fast for no benefit on ordinary work. |
|
5. Check Battery usage on that same screen for anything dominating over the last 24 hours. |
Points at a single misbehaving app. |
|
6. Make sure it is actually shutting down, not sleeping, when you close the lid overnight. |
A laptop that drains while “off” was asleep, not shut down. |
If that did not work
One app dominates battery usage constantly. It may need an update or a setting change. Log a LOW ticket naming the app.
It was fine last week and is suddenly much worse. Note what changed — a new app, an update, a dock. Put it in the ticket.
Battery health looks poor or the laptop is a few years old. Batteries wear out. Log a ticket and we will check its health and arrange a replacement if needed.
Log a ticket
LOW — Standard — Battery life has dropped noticeably, or one app is clearly to blame. MEDIUM if you cannot get through a working session away from power.