2020 Razer Blade Advanced USB-C PD Charging Issues | Razer Insider

2020 Razer Blade Advanced USB-C PD Charging Issues



Show first post
This topic has been closed for comments

32 Replies

Userlevel 2
I bought Razer's own Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma for testing. Guess what? It doesn't charge my Blade 15 at 90w. It's also stuck at 60w. Razer screwed up their implementation of USB-PD so badly that their own dock doesn't work properly with their own laptop. wtf
This thread still alive?
I just got my Razer USB-C 100W GaN charger and I too see the 60W limit charging my RB14. Odd behaviour us that I get more like 80W if I boot with it connected, but revert to 60W if I unplug and plug it back in.
Userlevel 2
Yeah thread is still technically alive. Razer support said they identified the issue and are working on a fix. If it will ever come... idk.
keep us posted, please.
I really don't need the TB4/chroma dock (yet!) so I would be interested in what works in terms of Thunderbolt and PD

What I need is a docking station that
- powers the 15" blade (2020, base model, GTX1660) laptop
- can provide pixels to at least one 4K@60Hz screen
- does proper networking and can connect 3 or 4 USB devices.(charge&sync my phone, headphones etc..)

my plan is to start with the "amazon basics" 11-in-1 thunderbolt 3 dock - it claims to deliver 60W to the laptop - cost is ~EUR 100,- so that would be a steal if it works.

If not, then I will work my way up to Anker "powerexpand elite" thunderbolt dock (it claims to do 85W PD via TB3) - pricetag is ~EUR 300,-
Alternatievely there is the Anker Apex TB4 dock, it claims to deliver 90W PD to the laptop. Same price tag.

There is an i-Tec TB dock that claims 3x4K screens and 96W PD - but I don't know the brand, that would be ~EUR 250,-

If all else fails there is the Razer chroma dock.. but if it is really stuck at 60W as @wirelessnet2 reports, then it's not worth the ~EUR330,- price tag IMO

sadly there seems to be nothing in between 100 and 300 euros.. except aliexpress stuff which is notoriously bad at receiving aftercare / driver / firmware updates.
Userlevel 2
As of right now, no Thunderbolt certified docks will charge the laptop at any rate over 60W. If someone somehow manages to sneak a true 100W power delivery dock past Intel certification, I'd assume it would work. I have contacted Razer support, and they said they have identified the issue, and they are apparently working on a fix, though I have no clue how long that would take.

If you want to try some docks, I'd maybe try to find a USB-C/Displayport Alt Mode (NOT THUNDERBOLT) dock that advertises true 100W USB-PD. I haven't tried one of those yet, but I think it should actually deliver the full 100W.
I'm really glad I found this thread. I've been trying to work out for ages why my 90W Dell TB dock and my 90W Dell USB-C charger wasn't getting close to running the system at idle, let alone doing anything intensive.

I was dismayed by the fact there was nothing built into the internal software, power profile-wise that realises the system is on USB-C power and adjusts performance in-line with the power delivery. It's either battery or mains, which is completely pointless if the "mains" the system is scaling for is 230W and it's actualy getting 60W.

I can see the battery just start draining by the percentage in real time when this occurs until the laptop just runs out of power and turns off.

Dell do have a 130W USB-C charger out at this point which I'm sure supports 20V @ 5A (£68 - Amazon) so I think I'll invest in that and see if it makes any difference. Perhaps the system will have a better change of lasting a tad longer @ 100W then 60W - but in general, I agree that Razer seem to have made the biggest possible screw up in regard to implementing USB PD, from both a hardware and a bios/software perspective.

The only thing it is useful for is charging the laptop when completely turned off which pretty much defeats the entire point of it, made even more hilarious when the same thing appears to happen when docked to their own products.
Just checking is this still being worked on? I also have a Blade Advanced 2020 and USB-C charging was always funky. I got a 100W GaN charger and an e-marked cable but charging only works *sometimes*. When booted up plugging into the left (non-TB) port will sometimes randomly work, literally no idea why it's not consistent. Plugging in first and then booting up works almost always. The right (TB3) port never worked (for charging).

For me it either works or it doesn't and I never established the charging speed because I don't have a way to measure it.

I also saw your reply on notebookreview forums asking for pics of USB-PD ICs to try to get around Razer's propriotary bs. First I gotta say that's unfathomably based and awesome and thanks for bringing that up.

Either way, I'm just asking if there's any news and I'm considering getting a USB-PD protocol analyzer and CH341a programmer and do some testing myself. It will take a while for those things to ship though.