[laluks]

Guys my old (2004) Dell Inspiron 5150 died on me just like that a few days back. It was working fine, shut down was proper too.

When I tried to boot the next day, It starts up, nothing in the LCD, fan sounds and initial CD drive access all happens, and only the power on led, and charger led remains on. Pressing numlock, caps lock does not switch on those leds, so i guess it has not even completed the POST.

A few days before I had a warning from windows regarding some power surge in my USB port. But things were fine.

Any pointers??

Checking web I came to know about defective memory and Dimm, which i checked, battery and charger I have checked.

Called up Dell, as usual - the product is outside its service life - so go find your ways!!

Any ideas, suggestions would help. last deal would be to find another similar laptop components from ebay and frankenstein this one. Though this was bulky, I loved it for its speed and my UXGA lcd. Guys help me in getting him work.

[SirAlec]

Are you a DIY.

if yes get hold of a philips screwdriver open the ram slot clean it and re-seat it properly.

Do it and comment here about the results

[laluks]

Originally Posted by SirAlec

Are you a DIY.

if yes get hold of a philips screwdriver open the ram slot clean it and re-seat it properly.

Do it and comment here about the results

That was the first thing I did. Tried with different RAMs also.

[AbhiJ]

Try connecting it to an external monitor... Your LCD might have packed up..

[laluks]

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

Try connecting it to an external monitor... Your LCD might have packed up..

Done. No hopes.
I guess it is pointing to the motherboard.

[abhibh]

Originally Posted by laluks

Done. No hopes.
I guess it is pointing to the motherboard.

Something must be in the air. My Compaq gave away last week. It was working fine and suddenly it shut down and since then its not starting. Tried everything DVD, RAM, HDD. The laptop turns on for 5 secs and shuts down and this keeps on going in loop until you remove the battery.

[SirAlec]

you have some one in delhi. I have a very reliable guy there. many other bhpians also visisted there and were satisfied.

[DRIV3R]

Do use the laptop always plugged in?

Is the plug point which you use to charge your laptop properly earthed?

If not, you are vulnerable to power surges and earth currents which damage high precision components in the laptop.

Possible damages would be to either the HDD, Processor ,or MB.

Never use your laptop with an un-earthed connection.

I have a DELL XPS which has a metal casing and so i can feel whenever a power surge/ jump current is present;and then i simply disconnect the charger from my laptop to prevent damage.

[ph03n!x]

Try a BIOS recovery - see if this helps:

dell notebook bios recovery?? - My Digital Life Forums

[laluks]

Originally Posted by SirAlec

you have some one in delhi. I have a very reliable guy there. many other bhpians also visisted there and were satisfied.

Great. Could you PM me the details. I'll try this route too.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Do use the laptop always plugged in?

Is the plug point which you use to charge your laptop properly earthed?

If not, you are vulnerable to power surges and earth currents which damage high precision components in the laptop.

Possible damages would be to either the HDD, Processor ,or MB.

Never use your laptop with an un-earthed connection.

I have a DELL XPS which has a metal casing and so i can feel whenever a power surge/ jump current is present;and then i simply disconnect the charger from my laptop to prevent damage.

Good point. I doubt so now. Will be careful from now on. Thanks

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Try a BIOS recovery - see if this helps:

dell notebook bios recovery?? - My Digital Life Forums

If it boots only i can do all this, moreover it is having the latest bios published.

[vj_carLover]

Hey, Just a quick try. On boot there must be a shortcut key to point to another boot screen that would allow you to load a "hardware profile".

Typically you will need to load what is called as a "Last known good configuration". Give this a shot. If there were any malware / virus that got in during previous session, this option should give back the working config.

Beware, this also means that some installables that you may have installed till the last "system restore" would be lost.

HTH

Cheers

[Shakensoul]

Try a simple trick. Remove the battery and power adapter, hold the power button down for 10 secs, then connect only the power adapter and try booting, if it doesn't work insert the battery and then boot.

If it fails, remove the hard drive, cdrom drive, ram and then try booting.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by vj_carLover

Hey, Just a quick try. On boot there must be a shortcut key to point to another boot screen that would allow you to load a "hardware profile".

Typically you will need to load what is called as a "Last known good configuration". Give this a shot. If there were any malware / virus that got in during previous session, this option should give back the working config.

Beware, this also means that some installables that you may have installed till the last "system restore" would be lost.

HTH

Cheers

There is nothing on the screen. It's not even going to POST.

Originally Posted by Shakensoul

Try a simple trick. Remove the battery and power adapter, hold the power button down for 10 secs, then connect only the power adapter and try booting, if it doesn't work insert the battery and then boot.

If it fails, remove the hard drive, cdrom drive, ram and then try booting.

I'll try this one.
What's the specifics about 10s power down?

[Shakensoul]

Originally Posted by laluks

I'll try this one.
What's the specifics about 10s power down?

Its just a old school practice , nothing special. The step is performed to release flea power, any static electricity inside the motherboard circuit.

[clevermax]

I think your motherborad has gone kaput... Something seems to be fried inside, you even had a power surge warning couple of days back.