Dell laptop wont start

neokenzo

A friend of using her laptop when all of the sudden A BSOD came up. SO she switched off her laptop and switched it back on, it booted to Windows and asked her whether she wanted to start on Safe Mode. She opted to start normally. As soon as it came on to windows the screen goes black. She switched it off again and now the laptop wont even start. When she press the on button the lights do come on for about 20 seconds and goes off again. The thing is I think the laptop didnt even start because there wasnt any noise. Before as soon as you press the start button, it sounds like a jet was going to take off I think the even the fans doesnt come on. Probably a power failure?

Any ideas?

The specs:
P3 700Mhz, 256MB RAM, 20G HDD, Win XP

Thanks.

CyberGhost

stupid question but still, did she check if it is connected to the AC power?

zoro

One of the most common Dell laptop problems is that the display have been rotated to the VGA out port at the back.

Easiest way to check it out: Hook a monitor up to the VGA out port. Boot up, WAtch both monitors to see if anything strange happens.

Then I think it's Fn + F5 to switch through the 3 display modes. Both displays, Laptop Only, VGA Port only

Check it out, just in case

*edit*
Just re-reading the original post - I don't think this will help at all now But check it out anyway

yankinlk

another common dell issue was with the battery. take it out and put the laptop on ac power only.

neokenzo

Originally posted by CyberGhost
stupid question but still, did she check if it is connected to the AC power?

Yeah the AC power is connected and switched on.

Originally posted by zoro
One of the most common Dell laptop problems is that the display have been rotated to the VGA out port at the back.

Easiest way to check it out: Hook a monitor up to the VGA out port. Boot up, WAtch both monitors to see if anything strange happens.

Then I think it's Fn + F5 to switch through the 3 display modes. Both displays, Laptop Only, VGA Port only

Check it out, just in case

*edit*
Just re-reading the original post - I don't think this will help at all now But check it out anyway

The problem is I cant get it to even start so I cant do that.

Originally posted by yankinlk
another common dell issue was with the battery. take it out and put the laptop on ac power only.

Tried that as well and still no go.

zoro

wow ... looks like you're in a pickle

Do you even get a BIOS boot screen as it goes through the POST check?

try the vga port anyway, the screen on the lappy may be damaged.

If still nothing, try another hard drive from a known good dell laptop if you can. That way you know if it's the actual laptop, or else it's the harddrive/windows installation.

....

Actually, try using a bootable cd with no harddrive plugged into the system. See if you can get anything from that

neokenzo

Yeah I know. Its a pickle allright.

Thing is although the lights comes on, I dont think the machine actually starts and the light stay on for about 5-10 seconds before it goes off. So no it doesnt even get tot the BIOS boot screen or even the POST check.
I'll give the vga port a go later this evening. I dont think I can find another laptop hdd to put into it for testing purposes.

vibe666

might well be a memory failure.

what model is the laptop? i may have some spare RAM for you to test it with. also have a spare HD and battery too, just in case if it's a CP series.

lemme know.

joePC

If its not getting to the POST, then I'd say it is a menory failure (Very strange) but Dell's quality OEM memory

Anyways, yes test it with new RAM, also im sure you can clear the BIOS (Jumpers).

Try this you should be up & running.

Thanks JoePC

zoro

Originally posted by joePC
Anyways, yes test it with new RAM, also im sure you can clear the BIOS (Jumpers).

I thought about the CMOS clear too - but didnt think it'd make a difference if it was a Windows crash.

The crash may have been caused by faulty memory that finally said "no more" - could be a bad HD.
Let us know your progress anyway

Zoro

neokenzo

Originally posted by vibe666
might well be a memory failure.

what model is the laptop? i may have some spare RAM for you to test it with. also have a spare HD and battery too, just in case if it's a CP series.

lemme know.

Its a Dell Inspiron 3800.

Originally posted by joePC
If its not getting to the POST, then I'd say it is a menory failure (Very strange) but Dell's quality OEM memory

Anyways, yes test it with new RAM, also im sure you can clear the BIOS (Jumpers).

Try this you should be up & running.

Thanks JoePC

I thought it was more serious than a memory problem. Lets just say that if it is a memory problem, wouldnt at least the laptop starts and post and then record the memory problem? The least it would do is start wouldnt it? What I mean by start is that fan starts moving etc. I'm not getting anything such thing at the moment. Its just silence when I hit the start button. Before it sounded like a rocket the moment I hit the start button.
I wanted to clear the jumpers but since its a laptop, I'll probably have to open it up?

Originally posted by zoro
I thought about the CMOS clear too - but didnt think it'd make a difference if it was a Windows crash.

The crash may have been caused by faulty memory that finally said "no more" - could be a bad HD.
Let us know your progress anyway

Zoro

If it was a bad hdd shouldnt it at least post? Or at least get to the BIOS? Of which I'm getting neither.

neokenzo

Forgot to mention that 128MB of the ram is Dell's and another 128MB is some generic ram. The thing is the ram has been there for about 2-3 years with no problems.

kikel

could be a loose coonnection. if the machine is out of warrenty and your brave enough open it up and check the connections for all components. it's a bit of a long shot but i've seen it work many times before. Laptops are always getting knocked around compared to desktops

neokenzo

Originally posted by kikel
could be a loose coonnection. if the machine is out of warrenty and your brave enough open it up and check the connections for all components. it's a bit of a long shot but i've seen it work many times before. Laptops are always getting knocked around compared to desktops

Yeah I'll probably open it up as the warranty expired some time ago. Was looking for the right screwdriver

KdjaCL

Whip out one of the ram sticks.
I had an issue with someones pc a while it was fine then refused to use one of the ram sticks.


kdjac

RicardoSmith

Do you know what kinda ram it uses?

neokenzo

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Do you know what kinda ram it uses?

PC100 SDRAM 144PDIMM

[Edit]Update: I tried what Kdjac suggestion and the pc boot. Then I put the ram back but switched the dimm and boot. I'll probably let the pc on for a while just to make sure it doesnt happen again. Thanks lads for all your suggestions [/Edit]

RicardoSmith

Sometimes the ram goes bad or the bios gets corrupt. Good time to make sure your backups are all uptodate.