Latitude E6400 Not Really Attempting to Boot; Seeming to Not Run POST

Question

My good friend bought a laptop a few years ago but never set it up (More aptly, her husband never had the time to do it for her). Yesterday she asked me to set it up for her. It was bought refurbished with Windows 7 on it.

I took it out of the shipping box, plugged it in, and let it charge for a few minutes while I prepped her old Windows XP so I could transfer her files. Finally, I went to boot the Refurbished Latitude, and it passed POST but when it went to load Windows 7, it gave me a quick flash of a STOP RUN (blue screen of death) error screen and rebooted. I let it do it 3 or 4 times, each time selecting start Windows Normally or Start Windows in Safe Mode. Neither booted and both gave me the Stop Run error screen (again, just a flash of it). I booted into the CMOS/BIOS and seen at that point it was not seeing the RAM cards. I decided to just do a complete shut down via the BIOS/CMOS settings area that I was in, and let it sit for a minute or two before trying to boot again.

It didn't really do anything. Power light came on, optical drive made a little noise with its lights on, then the power light went out, hard drive light flashed for a fraction of a second, and the caps lock light started blinking. It alternated with the battery light once, and then just the caps lock light kept blinking for well over a minute. Then it went solid. Tried three more times with the same results. The lights are all blue.

I opened the back to double check the connections and the RAM cards were both present. I reseated them to be safe and checked the connections. I took the HDD out and put it back in. I put the cover back on, and same results. I removed the battery and AC Adapter and pressed the power button for 30 seconds to discharge any power inside. Waited a few moments, put the battery back in and re-established connection with the power cord. Still the same results. When I had it opened, I made sure I was grounded at all times. There is no burnt metallic scent.

I have taken computer repair classes at the college level and passed with one of the highest grades in the class. This just has me stumped. I'm leaning toward the motherboard or the processor being bad, more so to the motherboard, but I'm not sure. I'm thinking also that my friend was sold a defective computer but because she waited so long to take it out of the box to get it set up, there's nothing she can do about it. There was no dirt or dust in the computer. I'm just not really sure what the cause could be. I admit, it could have also developed issues from sitting for an extended period.

Does anyone have any ideas? It doesn't even seem to be entering POST (Power On Self Test) outside of the Optical Drive making noise/showing lights. The Screen is not coming on at all so there is no way to run self diagnostics. It does not seem to be a power issue. I left it on charge overnight and the battery is now at 100% charge so it's probably not the PSU (not saying it definitively isn't, but it's just not likely).

It is plugged into a surge suppression strip and it hasn't been tripped/nothing else in the strip is having issues.

DelmarvaGirl86 · Accepted Answer

Do you mean CMOS Reset? I don't think you can reset the BIOS and those are the steps for a CMOS Reset.

But, yes, I did it after posting but before getting a reply... a few times. It didn't do any good.

BUT

I was honestly about to move on to pricing components because the CMOS Reset wasn't working... but anyway, I seen your reply, and decided to do the CMOS Reset a little differently by adding an extra step (having someone agree it might be that issue helped encourage me to keep on that line of thought). Let me explain because I have never seen this extra step have to be done. I never thought in a million years I'd have to add this step because I've never seen it be necessary nor seen anyone else add this extra step. I've never even seen it suggested.

Anyway, let me explain:

I usually press the power button for 15 to 20 seconds to discharge any excess electricity after disconnecting any and all external power sources (any power source significant enough to run a computer basically). I do this because a computer's components can sometimes harbor a little excess electricity after all power has been cut to it.

After I disconnected the CMOS Battery, I discharged the excess electricity that was left in the computer from the it that really should have been so minuscule that it shouldn't have made a difference... and then continued the other steps.

Success!

It did it again (Definitely my dumb fault this time and yes, I know what I did to cause it). It stopped performing POST.

I tried a few times again to reset the CMOS Settings the way I did originally (which once again didn't work).

I added the extra step again, and once again, it started booting normally but giving me a Stop Run Error once again during the Windows Splash Screen. I figured out what was causing that too - corrupted boot files.

I'm fairly certain that it's probably not a coincidence that it only worked after the added step both times.

I am very glad to say I did get it completely fixed, and my friend is soooo happy. She's even happier that I installed a much more user friendly operating system (she's in her 70's). I couldn't find the proper drivers for Windows 10 and had no copy of Windows 7 to fix the files, so I installed Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (A version of Linux). The best way I can describe it for those who haven't used it is it's like a cross between an Android Device and Microsoft Windows.

Thank you so much for your help!

U2CAMEB4ME · Answer

Welcome to the Dell Community @DelmarvaGirl86

Did you try resetting the BIOS???

Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the Main Battery.

Then disconnect the BIOS/RTC battery.

Connect the AC adapter and power-on for just a few seconds.

Disconnect AC adapter.

Connect the BIOS/RTC battery reassemble and test.

Let us know how things go,

Best regards,

U2

U2CAMEB4ME · Answer

Very happy to hear that @DelmarvaGirl86

The CMOS battery is a Lithium-ion battery about the size of a coin. It can hold a charge for up to ten years before needing to be replaced. If your CMOS battery dies, your BIOS settings will reset to their defaults when your computer is turned off.

It is the way to make sure the BIOS is reset to their default settings.

It is better than just going into the BIOS and using reset to "DEFAULT" settings.

Regards,

U2

DelmarvaGirl86 · Answer

You cannot enter or alter the information found on the BIOS Chip unless doing the task of flashing an update to it (and you still cannot enter the BIOS Chip when flashing it. It just updates the data on it)

The settings you refer to are called the CMOS Settings because they are stored on the CMOS Chip. When you do a reset of the CMOS Settings, you are resetting the CMOS Chip.

The BIOS Chip is 100% Static and Non-Volatile storage.

The CMOS Chip is not Static and is Volatile storage. The CMOS Battery supplies the power to the CMOS Chip to keep it from losing the data.

The way that the CMOS Chip was reset due to the computer not POSTing should NEVER be done unless the computer is not entering POST. The CMOS Chip tells the BIOS to start the POST. During POST, the hard drive device is activated. Pulling power while it is activated for POST can cause damage to it.

The proper way to reset it without damaging the internal components if the computer is able to run POST is to reset it in the CMOS Menu. If you are locked out due to a password, the proper way to do it is to pull the Jumper between the CMOS Battery and the CMOS Chip. If you cannot locate the CMOS Jumper, you can remove the CMOS Battery (Which is usually a CR2032). After interrupting the current from the CMOS Battery to the CMOS Chip, you do a normal boot and a soft shutdown before re-establishing the connection between the Battery and the CMOS Chip. After the connection is re-established, you boot as normal and go about your business.

You can look up the CMOS Chip if you don't believe me. CMOS, CMOS Settings, CMOS Menu, etc and the difference between that and BIOS is actually very well covered in the CompTIA A+ Exams Study Material... especially the officially endorsed study book.

Also, not all CMOS Batteries are situated in a cradle. Some are placed into a sleeve with wires that plug into the motherboard with a similar connection to the fans.

Also, any electronic component can store electricity for a while after all power sources are removed. Most good computer repair techs will disconnect the power sources except the CMOS Battery (unless they have to) and then press and hold the power button for 15 to 30 seconds to help dissipate any power left in the machine. This is one of the biggest reasons you should never take apart, disassemble, or access the interior of a Power Supply Unit on a desktop - it's pretty hard to dissipate the electricity inside of one. That power stored in the PSU can make for a pretty nasty shock, even years after it last had a connection to a power source. I'm not sure why the CMOS Chip was holding that much of a charge after the CMOS battery was removed. It might have been stored in nearby capacitors but I'm not sure. I just know it wasn't a typical CMOS Reset and something was off in the process that shouldn't have been.... but it's running so I'm not going to think too hard on it.

Latitude

Latitude E6400 Not Really Attempting to Boot; Seeming to Not Run POST

Was this post helpful?