Help: Bricked XPS m1330

So my dad gave me his old m1330 and said I could have it if I managed to fix it. I don't know much about it, but I remember he had it repaired once because he had lines on the screen. The problem now is that it absolutely won't turn on. I press the power button, and the blue LED flashes once, and nothing happens afterward. I take out the battery and plug in the adapter, light on the adapter is on, pressed the power button and the same deal (LED flashes once).

I then proceeded to try and "reseat" the GPU (nVidia) by shooting it with a hair dryer on max for about 5 minutes. Still doesn't turn on. I then completely disassembled the entire laptop to make sure nothing wasn't disconnected, and to make sure there was the black insulating tape on the bottom of the mother board. I reassembled it, making sure everything is connected properly. Put the fully charged battery in, and pressed the power button. Same thing happened, power LED flashes once and it doesn't turn on; not even the slightest whir.

I'm very new at these problematic m1330's and learned all I could in a matter of hours of research. Judging by the description of my unit, what do you guys think the problem might be? Does it sound like I need a new motherboard?

I've been looking at a few on ebay, but would rather try to troubleshoot it, then too drop money on a new board, since money is super tight right now. If I get a new board, I'm going to do the copper mod with artic mx-2 without hesitation.

tl;dr version:

1. press power button
2. LED blinks once
3. laptop absolutely does not turn on
4. ???
5. Help please

Thanks in advance guys.

 

Hmmm... I would say your NVIDIA chip is dead, when mine died, it did the same thing, turning off immediately like yours is doing.

If you have access to a different CPU, you could try replacing that first to see if it's the CPU that died. Otherwise, I would recommend a new motherboard.

 

Yeah I just tried to put in an old celeron just now, and still didn't work. I think you might be right about the GPU, though.

If it is my nvidia chip, is there any way I can check for certain? Is there any way I can revive it? I tried blow drying it, but I'm not sure if I did it right.

Are you sure you had the same problem as me? I mean, my computer doesn't even turn on, not even for a moment. It's just the blue LED on the front blinks for a second.

 

Yea, like I said, my computer did not turn on at all and it was the GPU that had died.

You could try to "bake" the motherboard to try and revive the GPU... for a little while at least. See this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-kind-guide-how-bake-your-gpu-fun-profit.html

There's lots of discussion about this method working for the M1330 as well.

 

I might as well give that a try since I'll probably have to replace the MB anyways. Thanks.

Anyone else have a suggestion?