Dell laptop won't start 1

[riskassessor]

I have a 3-year old Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop running Windows 2000 that will not start. (The battery has been dead for over a year, so I always use it on AC power). The 3 green lights for power, hard drive and battery come on, I hear the hard drive spin up but after about 7 or 8 seconds there's a click and the machine turns itself off. Nothing shows on the screen and there are no beeps. What is likely to be wrong?

 

[ski]

The MB, CPU, RAM, or video card/adapter probably died.

 

[micker377]

Or CMOS battery - lost all configuration. Is there a key you hold down (at boot), to go into BIOS setup?

 

[micker377]

Forgot to ask: Did it work yesterday and failed today, or has it been sitting (and how long)?

 

[riskassessor]

In reply to questions:

I tried holding the bios setup key down as it tries to start but it makes no difference.

It was sitting maybe two weeks before it failed. It had also been on a plane journey.

 

[micker377]

Did they x-ray it? May have wiped out (flashed) the ROM.

 

[riskassessor]

Yes, it was x-rayed. My second laptop that was with me though was fine.

 

[micker377]

Oh-Oh!

 

[lsman11]

hi,

i have a dell 3800 laptop with a very similar problem. Try to bang the bottom of the laptop, and then turn it on (this actually helped me, im guessing a connection is loose internally0.. i believe my HD was bad, so i replaced it with a new one (much quieter too), and the problem disappeared for almost a year... and now, unfortunately it is back, and the HD is making more noise again... my machine would just make a loud click, and turn off after a few seconds.... try tightening all the screws on the bottom of your machine as well. let me know if your situation improves.

good luck

 

[riskassessor]

Thanks Isman11. Since putting up my query, I've surfed a number of websites and found that switching itself off a few seconds after turning on the power appears to be a common failure mode with the Dell Inspiron laptop. One guy suggested that maybe a hardware failure of some sort is causing the machine to go into a permanent hibernate loop, which seems plausible to me. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anyone who knows specifically which part is responsible. I've tried swapping the two memory chips around, I've tried with each chip on its own in each slot and I've tried without the battery, hard drive and DVD reader without getting closer to diagnosing the problem. Your idea that something is loose is also plausible as the machine had been on an aeroplane trip just before it failed so had had some transportation stress. I would just throw the machine away except that I have a lot of data on the main hard drive and on a removable bay drive. So I have purchased another Inspiron secondhand on eBay (it arrives today) and hope to be able to use it to (a) recover my data and (b) if I can find the time, I will try swapping parts between the two machines till I find which part was responsible for my problem. If I find a solution, I will post it.

 

[bcastner]

Flip the laptop upside down, and with a small screwdriver tighten every screw you can find. In particular, the screw roughly in the center of the bottom is critical, as it is the electrical common ground for the laptop. If it is even slightly loose odd things happen.

 

[riskassessor]

bcastner - thanks for tip. You may have hit on the problem. Is the screw you mention marked K and located directly above the one marked K/M (when you hold it so the letters are upright)? Because I am missing that screw entirely.

 

[bcastner]

Yes.

It is a very important screw.

It ties down the frame ground for the motherboard and all components.

See here to order a screw kit, or at least see the spec's on the screw. The length of the screw is important, as is obviously the thread count and type:

http://www.parts-people.com/

A Google can find other vendors: 'Dell notebook parts'

 

[bcastner]

By the way, the temptation is irresistable to flip screws from the bottom panel. Do not do this.

For example, the bottom screw nearest the hard drive bay is marked with green loctite as it is the shortest screw on the bottom. If you inadvertantly use one of the K (for Keyboard) or P (for flat screen Panel) or other screws in this slot, you are gauranteed to have killed your hard disk.

If you intend to open the laptop, do the "K" screws, set them aside in a special pile; do the "P" screws, and set them aside in a second special pile. Do the other screws and note where they came from.

It is really easy to damange the hard drive and/or motherboard by using the wrong screw.

 

[riskassessor]

Thanks again bcastner. Great tips. I will try to get the right screw and see what happens.

 

[bcastner]

It sounds silly, but my 14-year-old daughter's school has required laptops since 3rd grade.

They are all Dell notebooks, and if any of my daughter's friends have an issue, I get the notebook dumped in my lap.

I keep a lot of Dell screws around, and a small jeweler's screwdriver.

If the machine is under Warranty, I let Dell deal with it. If out of warranty, I have become quite handy in reviving keyboards and mouse track issues.

But I cannot stress enough the importance of the bottom slightly left of center middle screw. This is the frame ground. And for some odd reason the first to loosen enough to cause issues. If gone completely (I have seen it, believe me) your notebook will be very unhappy.

Best Holiday wishes,
Bill Castner

 

[lroy12]

I have the same problem too. I have replaced the motherboard thinking that it would fix it but alas nothing. All my screws are in tight too. Maybe when i reassembled the laptop i missed some ground screws on the inside? More help is appriciated ^^

 

[lroy12]

I would assume that my CPU is dead because i have gotten a new mobo/dcpower boad and the same promlem occurs. The only part that i moved over that is crucial would be the CPU and Ram. I do not think it is the ram because i removed the RAM and booted the PC just to find the same problem. If the CPU is my problem i am not sure if i should buy a new one... i am thinking that it isnt worth the money.

 

[riskassessor]

I replaced the missing ground screw as suggested by bcastner but unfortunately the machine is still dead. My main concern was recovery of my data from the hard drives so I bought a similar Inspiron 8000 on eBay for $525 and have transferred my drives into it. Would still like to get the old machine working again though. Parts can be obtained cheaply on eBay - trouble is I don't know which part to blame.

 

[lroy12]

I am going to purchase a new CPU. If this does not fix the problem I do not know what will.

I am also trying to run the laptop without any accessories. No HD, no bat, no cd. Is it fine to run it this way? or should i at least put in the HD?