Dell XPS 15 9570 touchpad raising issue resolved
It has been over 2 years for my Dell XPS 15 9570 which I bought for $2200 and spend additional $300 to upgrade the SSD to fastest Samsung. I use this laptop to manage Maldives Resorts, maintaining a high traffic blog means you need super fast system, I can tell you Dell delivered it well over my expectation.
After 2 years the laptop ran into a problem. The touchpad started raising up and I could not do right click. I hardly used touchpad, so it was not an immediate problem. But, weeks later it raised up so much that I could not properly close the laptop. But, I did a research and found out it was the battery that was puffed and pushing the touch pad out.
Later, I met a tech friend who noticed the issue with my touchpad and immediately asked to get him the tools to open the back cover. I bought my toolset and in no time he opened the back. There was a puffed battery inside. My friend removed the battery and checked if the laptop would work direct power and it did. So, now I have my laptop without battery, always plunged in.
Not having a battery could be an issue If I was about complete an article and click the publish button. In that case, most likely there would be an auto-saved version, but it is not a reliable way. Right now, I am in capital Male’ and power cuts are very rare these days. So, this does not bother me at all.
When I had my battery working, I used my laptop at office, it is mostly plugged in and charging. After reading on a forum or blog that the system automatically cuts of charging after reaching 100% I didn’t bother to remove the charging cable or turn it off. I just left it connected to laptop at 99% of the time or more. After 2 years I had to face the hard truth, if system did not use battery while it was fully charged why did I get my battery damaged? Obvious, it was in use somehow.
After removing battery from my Dell XPS 9570 laptop I have no issues. It is funny now the Windows 10 shows 255% power remaining. Now the track pad has no problem, I can use right-click function too. It works like day one but I prefer to use a mouse to complete tasks quicker.
What caused the battery to puff
While I am typing this blog I have the battery in my hand. It has 6 cells. Inside the battery there are 6 separate sells that are covered with plastic. When you touch you could feel there is air inside the plastic covering. I poked a pin into one of the cells and released all the air out. I thought of doing the same for all 6 cells and inserting the battery back in laptop. But, my tech friend told me that it was not safe, battery might burst.
He explained how laptop batteries were made. There were several layers inside the battery, these layers do not touch each other. So, while poking the pin if I had caused a manage it might cause short-circuit internally inside the battery. That might resulting in a burst or catch fire. Safety first! I did not use the battery again.
XPS 9570 is a really strong powerhouse, it is so fast, especially with Samsing SSD. While I use laptop for editing photos the fans start venting out the heat. I suspect heat inside the laptop could have gone inside the battery cells, causing them to puff and lift the touchpad up. So, the route cause I would say is the thermal problem. Before I bought this laptop I did research on this topic and understood that all powerful laptops had thermal issues. Some brands just reduce the performance automatically to bring the heat down, this is really bad way to manage. In my Dell laptop I have not noticed that, but I didnt even check it in a scientific way. I am happy with the power it gives.
A switch to disconnect battery may be useful feature for new laptops
More than 99% of the time I use my laptop plugged in, at office or home. I assume majority of the people who use laptop would use it like me, plugged in. There are many laptop manufacturers, non of laptops come with a button or switch to totally disconnect the battery. Such a switch could save the battery for good use when it is needed.
On the other hand it is a big business for manufacturers that batteries get dead quickly, so they can sell more laptop batteries.
DELL XPS 15 9570 laptop comes with an internal battery. Otherwise, I could remove it and use without battery. But, now I have no choice.
I agree that completely disconnecting the battery may not be a good solution for every body. A smaller replaceable battery just to save the work and shutdown may save the day. So, to have 1 large battery to work off-charger and 1 small battery to prevent immediate power off may a good solution for future laptops. But, I have already invested so much money in this machine, I will not be able to buy another any time soon. If there comes a laptop that fixes these issues at least it would be good for all lucky people who use it.