XPS 9530 USB connects/disconnects

I've rebuilt the system from scratch several times using Retail Window 8.1 Pro and current drivers from Dell. No difference.

It's definitely a hardware problem. I think the USB ports aren't getting enough power to drive them. I can't confirm this, but I will be getting a USB voltage meter to check soon.

 

The solution is to use the right USB cable, not all USB cable are the same.

 

as i mentioned in my reply, if you are going to do full install of nvidea driver, you would still get the issue. Try to follow the guide that i posted earlier while installing the driver. that installaion has been helpming me out.

 

Thank you for the feedback, I tried it, it did not work .

 

It's not driver related, the solution is to use a particular USB cable, I don't remember the specs of cable, but someone had already written in this forum all the info.

 

I spent hours searching for the info. Can you kindly help me out.

 

I'm sorry, but I I don't remember the exact point where I read it, but I'm pretty sure that was in this forum.
The issue is related to power share on USB ports, so if USB cable hasn't the right specs you could have issue.
What BIOS version are you using?

 

I have A08.

Would disabling Power Share fix the issue?

 

I have tried lots of cables. I have a stack full of cables now. Let me know if you figure out the exact specs.

 

The original cable that came with my LG G3 smartphone works perfectly. Tried it with my Nexus 10, Nexus 5 and LG G3 and none produce the disconnect/connect issue

 

I finally got a USB voltage checker to check the USB ports.

All 4 USB ports report the same voltage, so that's not the problem.

I've given up to solve the problem and just use the following as a bandage solution.

Here is what works for me:

On Bios A08. USB Powershare turned Off/On. It doesn't make any difference on my Dell 9530. Your mileage may vary.
Use the Right Side USB ports. The ones next to the ENTER key. The Left Side USB ports cannot hold a stable connection.
Use ORIGINAL Apple, Samsung, LG, or any original high grade short USB cable.

Good luck everyone!

 

Had the same issues with USB cables but not the one that came with my S4, I have since bought some Anker micro USB 3 pack and they work a treat.

BIOS A09 is out and has a USB fix and Windows 10 fix.

 

Thank you very much for this information, can you try connecting a phone to it and monitoring voltage and current, especially when the device connects and disconnects.

 

When a phone or iPad is connected, the voltage and amp draw is steady.

If will only fluctuate if you "wiggle" the USB connector and do the connect/disconnect.

I think it's a bad physical USB design. The right side USB ports are more stable, possibly due to more metal to metal contact. Add in a high quality USB cable and you get less signal loss.

That's just my theory.

Good luck everyone!

No Load v5.11 0.00A
Samsung Note 3: v5.01 0.41A
iPad Air: v4.83 1.02A

 

Ok so I recently bought an Xps 15 and discovered this problem. Anyone can confirm a sure fix? I would update my bios but it's too risky...

 

I am sorry to say, however, there is no fix for this. This is a hardware issue that dell refuses to acknowledge.

 

Signed up specifically to add my name to this thread. My XPS 9530 has the exact fault, and has already had new ports which failed within a month of replacement. I am currently awaiting a new motherboard and two more new ports to see if that fixes the issue.

 

Try different cables, I've found that more than half have issues, just keep trying new ones. I think it has something to do with the connectors. The cables that came with my S6 work fine, and the ones I bought at high-end store work fine as well. The cheaper ones, very annoying disconnects on/off/on/off

 

The problem is widespread, but as mentioned earlier the A09 BIOS seems to fix some of it.

 

I'm finally able to connect my iPad after upgrading to build 10565 of Windows10.

 

After experiencing the same issues as you guys I want to report my findings. Disabling USB Emulation in the BIOS seems to have solved my problems through initial testing.

I hope this helps out others.

 

GUYS
I think I may have found a solution. Works with all usb cables too, like a normal computer.
What I did was reset bios settings, and then open Nvidia control panel and select Nvidia gpu as your primary graphics processor and physx processor.
Then to be sure, start your gpu by opening a hi-res pic or something of the sort. Connect your device normally with a usb cable. It seems to work fine, no drops.

Hope this helps, mention below if it did ok? My theory so far lies somewhere along the lines of iffy power management in the mobo.

 

Won't that make the nVidia chip work for everything, bypassing the Intel graphics? That is going to kill battery life and heat the computer up significantly.

 

Yes it would...but it seems like you only have to switch to the nvidia chip when you want to connect your phone to your computer...which isn't very often, at least for me

 

This seems to work, but instead of switching the GPU over, all I had to do was run a game in the background while I had the USB device connected. Got a steady connection with no dropouts.

This suggests the problem could be fixed by software. Probably a driver issue.

 

The problem is hardware but it's not the laptop that disconnects but the device.

As user timebomb mentions, the voltage drop when there's a high load on the port is very high at ~4.83V and some devices decide not to charge below a certain voltage...so they disconnect. At that moment the power draw becomes less, the voltage goes back up to ~5V and the device decides it's a good time to start charging again. Why the cable matters: a good/short USB cable has a very low resistance so it contributes less to the voltage drop.

You can verify if this is indeed the issue by connecting your fully charged device to the "faulty" port. It is a flawed design, a good charger should maintain the voltage close to 5V for the designed maximum load. Another trick chargers employ is to have a higher voltage for lower loads that drops to ~5V for the maximum load.

 

I am currently dealing with Dell to try and resolve this same problem on an XPS 15 9530. Some devices like memory sticks and card readers seem to work ok (obviously low power draw), but I have a long list of devices which do the constant disconnect/reconnect thing, including:
Samsung Galaxy S5
iPad 2
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Western Digital external HDD
Externally powered HDD

Other items (most noticeably external DVD drives) will work for a while then suddenly disconnect as if you've pulled the cable out.

My machine is still under warranty and a Dell employee spent 2 hours yesterday enabling/disabling, uninstalling/reinstalling everything from the device manager which mentioned USB - they re-installed the BIOS (to A09, even though it was on A09) - all fruitless. I knew this would be the case as I have done everything software related myself but need to let them go through their paces. They are calling me back today to discuss further what they want to do but I do want this issue resolved. I have also tried the suggestion above about USB emulation but find no difference. I also have had this problem since the machine was new, and across Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, so is definitely a hardware issue. In my case it affects all 4 ports.

I have tested the theory immediately above from Tihauan about plugging in a fully charged device (in my case a Galaxy Note 5 which was still on its fast charge pad at the time, so absolutely no need to draw power) and it still connects/disconnects continually so that combined with the issue exhibiting the same symptoms across samsung/apple and a range of manufacturers means I don't believe it is the attached device causing the behaviour. I also have an external HDD which is self-powered from a separate supply and it connects/disconnects as well, so again no reason for the device to disconnect due to a charging issue. I will report back on what Dell decide to do, but I think they will end up replacing the ports/motherboard.

 

Ok, I went through a lot will Dell remote-controlling again, including re-installing the same BIOS A09 again and it got to the point they were starting to google for solutions (yes, on my machine remotely with me watching) and I somewhat lost the plot with them. So I finally got them to agree to replace some hardware and yesterday they sent an engineer who replaced the system board and immediately the problem is solved. All devices now work as expected and for the first time since I've had this laptop I can use an external DVD drive.

So for those with this same issue, it is definitely hardware related, you may get lucky with changing cables but if under warranty don't rest until the hardware is fixed. In my case I initially showed them the problem with a Samsung phone and they were quick to blame Samsung, it wasn't until I could demonstrate the issue with several different devices from different manufacturers that they accepted the laptop was the common problem.

As an aside, the new motherboard initially showed a warning to do with the power supply, telling me it wouldn't charge the battery as the wattage was wrong - I noticed this board came with A08 installed, and a quick flash to A09 solved this.

 

Today I have updated to A10 version of BIOS but nothing has changed. Still the same problem.
I think it is a Software problem but not related with OS. But probably after Windows 10 they have fixed the drivers.
I tried to update my USB 3.0 drivers but there is no new drivers. I asked Dell Support but they don't know anything, told me to change the cable or re-installing the OS.
So my problem is still annoying me. I have a piece of hope only if some of you can fix it.

If I connect my phone to a USB Hub and plug the USB Hub to PC than it works.
But even the USB 2.0 port on my PC does not work when I directly connect to PC.
It is a voltage problem.

 

Hi,

After 3 years of research and trying the different possibilities mentioned in this forum , I found a solution for my Samsung Alpha . On my smartphone , I closed all applications, set flight mode , set great battery saving mode , and there ... all right ! my smartphone is connected !

But only with un little USB cable (20cm) of type B. It's the cable of my Dell external DVD.

I hope it can help you.

Bye.

 

Finally I figure out the problem. NVIDIA drivers causes this problem. It is a Windows 8 problem and Windows 10 does'nt have any problem.
With a clean Windows 8 install, without any driver package update (especeally Nvidia) it will work fine.
If you want to test it, go to the device manager and disable Nvidia Quadro K1100M and your phone will connect.

I'm not sure but maybe the link below can fix somethink.
http://support.displaylink.com/know...o-fix-your-displaylink-product-from-repeatedl

 

Signed up just to post this: I can confirm that the problem is indeed related (at least in my case) to the video card(s). If I disable either one (Intel or nVidia), I can connect to my devices that previously didn't work (incl. Sony Xperia Compact Z5 and iPad 2 Mini). Still some instability but good enough to transfer files/synchronize. Especially the iPad is a huge relief since a usb connection is the only way to transfer files for use in many apps (you can sync over wifi but that still requires that you first connect via usb for a bit).

If I re-enable the disabled video card the problems instantly return (devices disconnecting and reconnecting). In my case at least, though, it doesn't seem to be specific to the nVidia card or its drivers, since disabling either of the graphics cards fixes the problem (although I guess in theory the nVidia card could still be the culprit if the problem is caused by an interaction between it and the other card).

 

Signed up just for this post too... Did not work for me... Running wondows 10 on my Dell Precision M3800 and having this issue for months