Dell XPS M1530 won't boot up

archer22

I got this from a friend recently who was getting rid of some stuff.
When you plug it in it gets power as the fan comes on and USB ports will work, also there is a flashing red led at front which appears to have electric symbol.

But there is no attempt by operating system to power up.

Have tried the usual holding power button and re seating RAM but no good.

I believe this model was notorious for having a graphics card problem...would the graphics card cause a complete failure to boot?

beauf

No the graphics failure had different symptoms. Sounds like motherboard failure. Try without the ram or CPU. They could also have failed.

That laptop is ancient. I sold a similar one recently fully working for 50. Ours was probably 15yrs old and had it from new.

You might find one that's working for less than it costs to fix this one. Even as donor parts.

Yea. I'd say the system board is knackered more than likely.

tedpan

Yep, they all go like that in the end, had 2 of them. Ancient laptop at this stage but was great in it's day!

beauf

If you are doing it as a project to see if you can fix it, sure why not. Though it makes no sense as a practical machine today.

archer22

beauf wrote: »

If you are doing it as a project to see if you can fix it, sure why not. Though it makes no sense as a practical machine today.

I will just wait and see if I ever come across a cheap working one missing a hard drive or with a damaged screen or whatever.
No I don't intend it as a serious everyday computer.
It's really just a curiosity to me.

BTW what are they 64 bit?

z0oT

I believe the flashing red LED is a motherboard failure. You could probably find a motherboard for it on eBay if you're willing to experiment. Although it's probably best to try and get another whole laptop as suggested above given how old it is.

I actually have one myself which I've used recently. Windows 10 is dog-slow on it, but a Linux install makes it usable for basic stuff even today in my case.

archer22

z0oT wrote: »

I believe the flashing red LED is a motherboard failure. You could probably find a motherboard for it on eBay if you're willing to experiment. Although it's probably best to try and get another whole laptop as suggested above given how old it is.

I actually have one myself which I've used recently. Windows 10 is dog-slow on it, but a Linux install makes it usable for basic stuff even today in my case.

Yeah I wouldn't bother with a motherboard fit..that would be out of my league

tedpan

archer22 wrote:

BTW what are they 64 bit?

64bit

z0oT

While it's easy to get at a lot of the components internally. It's pretty involved to actually replace the motherboard in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlBb81zaeak

beauf

I only ran 32 bit on mine. Because it only had 2gb of ram. Windows 10 32 bit with a SSD. I upgraded the CPU and it was fast enough even today, and I added a WiFi n card. Fantastic keyboard.

What made me give it up was poor graphics performance especially for video, too heavy and poor battery. Excellent screen, but just 1280x800. Couldn't handle modern media rich sites. So it was done.

tedpan

beauf wrote:

I only ran 32 bit on mine. Because it only had 2gb of ram. Windows 10 32 bit with a SSD. I upgraded the CPU and it was fast enough even today, and I added a WiFi n card. Fantastic keyboard.

After that description, I realise I really miss the laptop! Mine had a T9500, 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD, beast of a machine.