Inspiron 1501 laptop--power up problem

I have an Inspiron 1501 laptop that will not boot up. When I hit the power button, I only get the power light and the cooling fan will come on for a brief second. No hard drive activity light, no video. The battery is fine and will charge, and the DVD drive will open up with the power on.

I replaced the memory with memory that is working. Also tried to reseat the memory multiple times.

Any suggestions? It was working fine up until the beginning of February, then started acting like this intermittently. I went on vacation (without the laptop), but after I returned I get nothing.

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

 

When it does the fan thing for a brief second - can you hear the hard drive after that? Is the computer trying to boot or is it 100% dead?

 

I cannot say for sure, since I don't know the specifics here, so I'll air out an idea, that perhaps someone else can elaborate on further....

I know that when the cmos-battery dies, the symptoms are that the clock starts showing the wrong time. Has this happened to you?
Further on what actually happens when the cmosbattery is totally dead, I don't know. -I ask others in this forum; could this lead to computer that will not boot, since the bios doesn't get any power?

That being said, that the fan is activated, and the CD/DVD-drive works, it seems to me that the bios is somehow busted.

Have you also tried to take out the main battery, wait for a while, then reinsert it and try it again? This is something I have experienced a few times could work.

 

Okay it doesn't POST/power on so you don't need to worry about it booting up.

I would remove the battery and AC adapter and hold down the power button for 30 seconds 2-3 times.

Also try a Dell OEM 90 watt brick.

 

The easiest thing to try first is replacing the CMOS battery see if it then posts.

 

Thanks for the input thus far. I will try the CMOS battery tomorrow.

I just remembered something--when it started to go on the fritz, I would occasionally get colored bars (I think they were vertical) across the screen.

Any further input would be greatly appreciated. If the motherboard needs repair, would I be better off sending it to one of the motherboard repair services I've seen on eBay, or should I just go ahead and get a used replacement?

 

Mmm, the bars gives me an indication to that your motherboard indeed is fubar. I have no experience of any decent ebay repairservices. I don't trust anybody to fix my computer, but myself. You might want to look for a mobo replacement or a new laptop.

I found a ebay offer on a motherboard for 50$ here.
Again, ebay, mmm, I do have trust issues with unseen fleamarkets.