Best time for my m1330 to die on me. While studying at an university.

Argh.
So today, I decided to take a quick one hour nap and I left my laptop on.
After waking up, I found my laptop turned off which was strange. I checked the power adapter and found the blue led light off. (I've never seen this before when the adapter was plugged into the outlet)

I tried turning the laptop on but it wouldn't respond.
I checked the battery and the battery leds showed that it had an about 80% charge.

I tried replugging the adapter into the laptop many times but everytime, the led light on the power brick would turn off when the laptop was plugged in.

I called dell xps technical support and they weren't much help.
I'm going to take my laptop to the university's computer support tomorrow and see if they can do something about it.
I have midterms next week and all my homework and study material are on that laptop....

Worst case scenario is to have to purchase a new laptop.

Anyone know what could've happened? I believe that something in the laptop that dealt with delivering power to the whole system failed.

Also, if I have to get a new computer. Does anyone know how I can just take the hard drive out and recover my files?

Thanks guys,
A stressed out guy
Freelancer.

 

Can't say what happened. You didn't leave it running on a bed or pillow or anything, did you?

Regarding your files, the easiest way to get to them would be remove the hard drive and pop it into an external enclosure and use another system to copy them off. If you're lucky a buddy will have an enclosure you can borrow. They're about $20 to purchase if you have to buy one. Make sure you get one with an (internal) SATA connection for the M1330 drive.

 

I agree about the cause; the power supply likely failed, which is why you aren't able to power up on AC or battery.

If you do get a new computer, it probably won't boot from your old hard drive because of the mismatched drivers and such, but you can always put the old HD into an external that is compatible with the HD's transfer interface (ex, ATA, SATA).

Good luck on getting your computer fixed. I am also in exams without my HP, but luckily I have my Linux machine to get me through.

 

@Fountainhead,

Yeah, at first I thought it had overheated or something and hibernated itself but that's not the case. It was on my desk when I went to sleep.

@Bog
I'm going to try to request ANOTHER replacement from dell. (This computer was already a replacement)... and if that doesn't work... I'll just have to use the hard drive enclosure technique...

Thanks guys, I'll see if the school tech support service can do anything about it

 

Is it not still under warrenty? that would suck if you have to buy a new one, and yeah it sounds like a power supply failure, which would be easy to fix for a desktop, don't know how easy for a laptop, but dell should be able to do that if you send it in to them to fix.

And yeah as long as the hd wasn't damaged(depending on what happened to the power supply it could have damaged other parts, but thats unlikely) you can hook it up with an external enclosure and get all your files.

I'm glad I got the 4 year warranty on my new laptop that I just ordered

 

Yeah, wasn't it released only about a year ago? The OP must have gotten one of the first ones if it's already out of warranty.

 

It's still under the one year warranty.
I bought the laptop in November.
I'm just not too happy about having to request a replacement that could be either new or refurbished. :/

I think I can get a replacement, as long as I have that warranty.

 

This happened bi monthly (it seemed) when I had the thinkpad.

 

Your motherboard is toast and needs to be replaced.

I had the exact same problem with mine. The blue light on the power brick would stay on until I plugged it into the laptop. Then I'd have to unplug the power from the wall and laptop before plugging it back into the wall to get the brick to light up again.

Call Dell, they're the only ones who can help you right now. They can either send you out a new mobo to replace, or they'll send a tech out (assuming you got on-site service). If you're at all computer inclined, replace the mobo yourself. It's not that hard and you'll take better care of it compared to some "tech" (and I use that term very loosely).

 

@Khris...holy crap.
the mother board fried? I don't even use my m1330 to game and it still fries? I use it for web browsing and typing essays.
This must be a serious design flaw. I'm really disappointed with dell.

I really don't want dell to take apart my m1330 to replace the motherboard.
Last time they came to replace the motherboard, they broke something in the process so I had to get a replacement (the replacement is this laptop that's dead right now)

I'm probably going to ask for a replacement again.

 

Get the school tech or someone to get your important files off the HDD (VERY easy given the sata interface), use the comp lab for a week and forget about your laptop until midterms are over. No reason to waste time on it now.

 

I never used mine for gaming either.

It could be, however trying to prove it would be an exercise in futility with Dell.

They'll want to send out a tech, or just the parts........I can't see them sending a whole new laptop again (even if it was a refurb).

It's not that hard to replace a motherboard......just time consuming assuming you go slow and do it right. There is a service manual available which gives you a step by step breakdown with pictures.

 

Hi Freelancer332

you do not need to game or anything to get your motherboard fried.

just one bad luck with one faulty application can make your cpu run at 100% which will generate enough heat to transfer to your GPU, which will result in a toasted MB.

i encountered this prob, luckily my power management mode was set to power saver so the cpu didnt go soo high to heat up the gpu

 

I don't mean to hijack the thread at all, but what would happen if you didn't have a dedicated GPU (but integrated graphics)? I'm curious, because I ordered the M1330 w/ integrated in hopes it'll help me with the overheating/mobo issues.

 

It will help, assuming the model is well known for suffering from heat damage as a result of the GPU. That is the case with my HP; the graphics card is back to back with the wireless card and RAM, so after 72hrs of uptime the wireless card temporarily fails until I reboot the system. Now, the GPU itself recently failed because of the heat. Dedicated cards only belong in systems that were designed with accommodating cooling systems from the start.

 

never see any overheating issues with the integrated card on m1330, though the temp may also rise high

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the input.

I've called dell and they're sending over a new motherboard and technician.
They said that they've made a note that I need it "ASAP"
I hope I can get the motherboard switched out this week....

They said that they couldn't give me a replacement because my warranty only covers replacement parts and that they would only give me a replacement if my laptop was a special case (spontaneous explosion).

So yeah, hopefully my laptop will be working after they switch out the mobo.
AND hopefully the won't break anything this time.

Once again, thanks guys,
Freelancer