I have an HP ZBook 15 G5, motherboard model DA0XW3MBAG0 Rev G and I am facing a charging issue after re-flashing the full 32MB MX25L256 SPI chip (descriptor, ME, BIOS region) with an external programmer.
I reflashed the complete image because the BIOS was bricked before and the original image is lost. After flashing, the system boots normally and is fully functional. However, the laptop battery no longer charges.
I tested with two different original HP batteries and two original HP adapters (150W and 200W). The behavior is identical in all combinations. In HWINFO the battery is detected correctly, capacity and cycle count are readable, and the status shows “Charging”, but the charge rate is 0 W. The adapter wattage is detected correctly. On boot I sometimes get a “Battery not detected” or “Please insert battery” warning, but once inside Windows the battery appears normally and SMBus data is readable.
If I charge the battery in another laptop and then insert it into this ZBook, the laptop runs normally on battery until it discharges. Once the battery is empty, the laptop shuts down immediately and cannot recharge it. This confirms that the discharge path works correctly, but the charge path (adapter to battery) does not.
After the SPI rebuild, I also performed an official HP BIOS update from within BIOS, which updated the EC firmware to the latest official version. The problem persists.
Since discharge works, SMBus communication works, and both original batteries and adapters behave the same, this does not appear to be a battery compatibility issue. The charge rate remains at 0 W at all times. The system never actually pushes current into the battery.
Is whether it is realistically possible that a wrong descriptor configuration or strap configuration from the full SPI rebuild could affect only the charging path (charge enable logic) while leaving discharge fully functional, or whether this scenario points much more strongly to a hardware issue in the charging circuit (charger IC, charge MOSFET, ACDET/ACOK line, current sense path, etc.)?
How do I fix this so that the battery charges correctly?
Any guidance from someone with experience on based ZBook G5 boards after full SPI reflash would be appreciated.
