Dell Inspiron laptop will not start up Solved/Closed

Question

Hello, recently I have just switched the hard disk of one of my inspiron laptop to another laptop, also an inspiron. However, I have encounter some problem.

"When you press the power button, If your laptop powers on, the lcd panel is pitch black blank screen, not even back light power, no dell startup screen, you hear the fan spin up, you hear the hard disk spin up, in this state one of the 3 LED lights blinks for 7 seconds (I think numeric keypad), and then if everything switches off silent. The only LED on after that would perhaps be the battery charging indicator. it could be a memory DIMM gone bad, If you have two dimms try one, then the other to confirm"

That is the description of the problem. When I go online, they suggest that my memory DIMM might be spoilt. May I ask, How then can I solve this problem? Is it a hardware problem whereby parts of the laptop needed to be changed or?

Thank you for your reply.System Configuration: Windows XP
Firefox 3.0.4

leatherneck1971 · Accepted Answer

I had this issue, did some research on internet, did not find fix that I discovered for me, might not work for everyone, but could hear the startup sounds, as a normal startup but screen remained blank/black and the power buttons seemed to go into hibernate mode, so shut it down manually with off button, removed the battery and turned it on and discovered it came on normally every time, tested several startups, went into power settings on lap top set all to "never", put batter back in and it boots up normally and screen comes on normal now. Accidental discovery no guarantee it will work for everyone but it worked for me!Still need a solution for this problem?

xpcman · Answer

You can try to remove one of the RAM cards it you have two.

Spacefruit · Answer

I had same thing.

Solved by changing RAM.

Mark · Answer

Removal of the Li-Ion battery in my Dell 7500 Inspiron also worked for me.  I suspect that the battery will no longer hold a large enough charge to facilitate start-up on the battery.  Thanks for sharing!

SG1_Guy · Answer

Fnally, a Recent thread on this subject...
There's 2 different power issues on Inspiron 2500/8100/8200 Laptops I have seen. 

I have been re-building working machines from about 40-odd dead ones, so I probably have seen almost oll the issues by now.

One is using under-powered chargers (70watts from a 2500/8100) on an 8200, which wants a 90watt charger. The 70watt will charge the batteries on an 8200, but if you run the computer with it the machine will operate using your Battery Mode energy saving settings. Not a catastrophe. Just go into the BIOS setup and set the batter mode settings to all the max settings. Just remember you did that if you DO operate on betteriy, because it will drain faster.

The second is a little harder. Under the palmrest, right behind the touchpad, is the batter charger/power circuit board. The "stud" that this screws into easily breaks free from the motherboard, and the board gets loose. The bext wat to fix it is to take apart the machine, epoxy it back on, and re-assemble. The card has 1 screw and is also held by one of the palm screws that passes thru it. Don't use crazy glue!!! Please. That junk dries-out and falls apart on non-porous materials. Use Epoxy.

You have to remove the keyboard (4 screws) and palmrest (8 screws) AND the display (3 screws) to really get in there. Also the video card is you have one of the accelerator cards like an nVidia (3 screws).
The 3rd screw on the video also uses that same stud, so it MIGHT just spin. If so, pull out the video card, and lift the power board up with it. Hold the stud with pliers to remove the screw.

CAUTION: There SHOULD be a spacer on the Left screw hole of the power/charger board. I looks like the stud, but has no internal threads. It Usually stays stuck to the charger, but not always. So make sure it's not rattling around in the machine. Also don't mix them up... Give the epoxy time to dry before re-assembling.

This is a good time to blow-out the dust on the CPU cooling fins, too...

If it still won't power-up, the motherboard has issues, and it's not worth fixing unless you have free access to parts. Sell it for parts on eBay, or buy another dead one and Frankenstein them together. Like I have been doing...

John

djemr · Answer

I had the very same problem on a friends computer. I thought it might be a memory issue. The way I fixed the problem was simple. I only removed the memory from slot "A" to slot "B". After a successfull boot up, I thought that it might work again on slot "A" so I replaced it to slot "A". Guess what, it worked like a charm! 

I hope it helps.

AcmeUK · Answer

Hi

I had a 'black' screen on nice's 2600. It turned out that the video card had died. Got a replacement off eBay. Fairly easy to replace. You can get the Dell Service Manual here :-

 http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins2600/en/#printed_documentation

Hope this helps.

RichS · Answer

I found this message thread as I was looking for a solution to the same problem: An old Dell Latitude D500 stopped powering on and booting.

With a charger and fully-charged battery (checked the LEDs on the pack), pressing the power button would cause the power and hard drive LEDs to light. The floppy LED would flash about 8 or 9 times, then all the LEDs would go out and the charging LED would light.

I removed the two memory SO-DIMMs (under the 'M' panel on the bottom) and carefully used a pencil eraser on the gold contacts.

After I put the memory back and buttoned it all up, it worked fine again.

Jim · Answer

I had the same problem with my Inspiron 1545 laptop. Screen blackout, no power up, but the fan and the dvd rom was running. I just removed the SO-DIMM and gently cleaned them with a pencil eraser.  It worked fine again. I had to repair my Vista though.

Ro · Answer

Same problem with my dell inspiron e1505.
Gave it to  local technician, and he says its a motherboard problem, some chip is not functioning properly...
is this possible??
should I get it replaced??

jake · Answer

Took out battery and it started right up. Thanks for the help.

monty · Answer

hi there the problem is the memory just change it for another one .... Monty from mexico.

ChandraPrakash · Answer

Hi XPCMAN,

Thanks for the help.
I did lots of experiments and other  crazy things(Completely dis assembled my laptop Del inspiron 6000 till microprocessor and assembled it) which did not work. Lastly I did lots of research in the net and found your solution which got solved.

Thank you very very much.

Chandra Prakash
India(Bangalore).

dellhell · Answer

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 4150, which seems to power on, but after a few seconds it dies out. The fan doesn't come on at all. I did open up the unit and cleant the dust on the fan, but didn't work. I will try to remove the SO-DIMMS and clean it, but can you tell me where to find them and how do they look?

Thanks!

ellis · Answer

hi 

I have this inspiron dell laptop that does not boot. when I power it, it displays a windows error recovery page that suggests start up repair and that it is recommended.when I go for the option, the screen goes black blank. I dont know what to do next. qany help please.

windows vista

patti · Answer

Would it be okay to use the power cord that came with my dell 1545 on my old dell 8600?  I don't want to damage anything and I think the cord on the 1545 is more powerful.

Fixer26 · Answer

Hi,
I have a solution to your problem.
My inspiron 3800 does the same thing.
This is a very fragile process though.

Ok before we begin,
DO NOT DO THIS ON CARPET!!!!!!!
IT WILL TOTALLY FRY YOUR LAPTOP IF STATIC TRANSFERS!!!

Lets begin,
Close your laptop.
Remove the battery(ies).
Turn your laptop upside down.
Get a screwdriver. (Phillips)
Unscrew the screws labeled K
Touch something metal to relieve you of static
Open your laptop
Now carefully and gently remove the keyboard.
To do this gently put your fingernail under one of the end keys on the keyboard (Right arrow key, right shift, enter, \, backspace, Page down, Page up, Left ctrl, left shift, caps lock, tab, ~, esc) and very carefully pull it up.
You cant completely remove the keyboard because there are some ribbon cables connecting it.
If you want you can disconnect them.

Now for the repair.
Find all of the connections as you can. (Some are little white connections with little with heads and a wire coming of the head.
disconnect all of the plugs and reconnect them.
Remember to push hard.
Now put the keyboard back in.
Insert the battery(ies)...
And hope for the best.
Worked for me.
Voila.

viraj · Answer

dell inspiron 1525 hard disk was changed

naron · Answer

*Take out the battery, 
*Remove main supply, 
*Hold power button down for 30 secs, 
*Put only power supply in, do not put battery in 
*Turn laptop on 
*Put the battery in.

Bluedot · Answer

Use Leathernecks method IF YOU HAVE THE SAME SYMPTOMS! Worked a treat for me!

jstinien · Answer

you may have to switch out the ram and try diffarent sequences. Like taking one of the ram sticks out then try it

tech · Answer

works great make sure there is no dirt on ram and try removing battery! THANKS GUYS MY DELL STILL HOLDS THE RECORD OF THE OLDEST RUNNING COMPUTER IN THE FAMILY THANKZ!

mica · Answer

Hey dude check ur power cord, mine wouldn't show anything and my keyboard would not turn on, but after changing the power cord everything seemed to work.

me · Answer

replace ram memory

Herald9999 · Answer

I have problem with my Dell , it stopped with colored lines and it froze. It is not booting up , when I switch on, caps lock,power,num lock on and hard drive light on and then all lights are switching off with only power and blue tooth lights on and blank screen ,not even bios is showing up. Took hard disk outand even checked with different RAM's and nothing is working out ,please somebody give me advise

Dell Inspiron laptop will not start up

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