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Powers UP but will not boot - no bios screen either
Hi, I just got a laptop back from a sales rep. Upgraded to win xp about 6 months ago and it wont boot up now. The Power light comes on, if a cd is in the drive, it will spin up, no bios screen appears or anything.
The hard drive light does come on for a few seconds, and the battery light is on / flashing when AC is plugged in.
Any Suggestions?
Thanks
David R
SW Florida
mtrox
20 Posts
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May 13th, 2004 18:00
leduke30
4K Posts
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May 14th, 2004 01:00
thx166
8 Posts
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May 17th, 2004 08:00
When you power it on, what are the lock lights doing? The num lock, caps lock, and scroll lock leds. Are the all coming on then powering off? Do they all come on and some go out then they all go out. Might have hardware problems not an XP problem.
rothdavid
4 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 14:00
Thanks for all the posts.
I've tried all suggestions thus far posted and none of them work. I removed the ram, reseated it, same with processor and the caps lock and num lock lights do initially light up then go right back off. The drive light stays on (the CAN symbol) as well as the power light until I hit the power button again.
Any other suggestions out there to be tried before I take to a repair center or the graveyard?
mtrox
20 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 14:00
So much on these notebooks is built into the motherboard. If it starts sounding like a motherboard issue, I can tell you from experience that you are standing on the edge of a deep hole. You can start throwing money in a hurry and you might want to ask yourself what the laptop is worth if it is working. Sorry that you just upgraded to XP but that money's gone. Be careful you don't throw good money after bad.
rothdavid
4 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 16:00
Thanks
ITS A DELL Lattitude C800 (model#: PP01X )
leduke30
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May 19th, 2004 16:00
If the floppy only boot is unsuccessful, there is one more thing which you can try, but it may involve a major disassembly of the laptop. The m'boards on some models are in 2 pieces joined together in the middle with 3 pressfit connectors in the area where the 2 halves overlap. The whole is then held together in an aluminum frame. The one which tends to work loose most often is just forward of the connectors for the keyboard, touchpad and CMOS Battery. Sometimes just pressing down firmly with your thumb on the upper level of the M'board which extends into that area will reseat it. If it is not seated, it can cause the symptoms you are getting. You never did say what model you have and you should.
mtrox
20 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 16:00
Leduke's advice is on the money. Those are good m'board tests.
It's not a bad machine but if you start pouring money into it, keep in mind that eBay is paying about $550 for that machine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42200&item=3478630258&rd=1
I'd hate to see you upgrade to XP, pour a couple hundred into it 6 months later, then have the screen die on you in Sept. These laptops can go down that slope pretty easily.
airwolf_1984
138 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 19:00
mtrox brings up a good point about the video screen....if you press the CAPS lock button with your laptop on (when the HD/can light is on) does the caps lock light turn on or off? Have you tried connecting an external monitor?
If you get an LED response to the CAPS lock button, then it may be that your video is out, or your video board got loose (leduke's recommendation was for the CP/CPi systems. The C800 has it's own separate video daughter board). If you think that it could be a lcd / video problem, you could always try reseating the lcd flex cable (where it attaches to the motherboard), or pressing down on all the connectors of the video board (as leduke suggested).
rothdavid
4 Posts
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May 19th, 2004 19:00
Thanks for all the tips. I have it working again.
I took the screws out of the back (bottom), removed the battery, zip250 drive, and the CD rom drive and it booted back up.
It appears the CD Rom drive may have been the problem. I just pushed all the connections inside I could reach to make sure they were seated properly, flipped it over and powered it up without anything in it and the BIOS came up.
I placed the hard drive back in, then booted again, and then the battery, zip and CDrom. It all works fine now.
Thanks for all your help.
leduke30
4K Posts
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May 19th, 2004 20:00
sigkap758
1 Message
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May 25th, 2004 01:00