Good evening,
I really hope to resolve this FINAL issue I am having with my newly purchased Acer Predator Helios. If not, I may be able to live with it. But if I'm honest part of me is ready to turn this thing in and try again.
Short story, I have a notification for "Weak Charging State" when utilizing a dock. I've tried two docking stations (j5 Create and Dell WD19TB). I know it has something to do with the dock. I suspect my laptop is trying to power itself through the dock instead of the primary charger provided. I have reasons why I suspect that…
I was previously having other issues when using the dock. Flickering/lagging monitors when streaming videos, loss of "output devices". I had three Geek Squad techs troubleshoot these issues to no avail. All saying I had to go into the store. The nearest store is 2 hours away, I was ****. I work on this computer nearly every day (for my job). I put a ticket in with Dell most recently to verify all drivers are current - they are. I then reached out to Acer for help. They were no help (I'm tempted to bash their customer service, I won't). I determined to continue troubleshooting. I figured out my webcam was causing the loss of "output devices". I found a blog that helped me resolve that issue on reddit (google "Whenever I plug in my webcam, It disables all audio inputs"). To resolve it, I had to disable the webcam in the device manager under "Sound, video and game controllers".
The resolution to that issue has me wondering if my computer is pulling power from the dock, either secondarily or primarily, and is the reason for the message. This may also be causing my flickering/lagging screens.
Is there a way to "disable" sources of power (the lightening ports)? Or, to determine/assign the primary power source? Really hoping the answer here is, "yes".
[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]
