Inspiron 1501 won't boot

Hello,

I am working on trying to restore a dead Inspiron 1501 and was hoping someone had some advice as I'm out of options. The PC won't boot at all, after disconnecting the battery/AC adapter, holding down the power button for a minute, re-plugging the AC adapter back and trying to power on the power light goes green for about a second then turns off. No other lights nor the fan has not come on less one occasion - the first time I tried to power it back on with just the AC adapter (battery disconnected) the fan came on for a couple of seconds then everything went dead again (nothing on screen). This has not happened since.

I have also tried removing the RAM and booting and nothing - same deal the power light comes on for a second then nothing.

I am at a loss, guessing that it may be a motherboard problem but I'm a software not hardware tech so am not sure. I assume that the AC adapter is okay given that the power light comes on for a second. I used to have an Inspiron 1720 and on one occasion when the PC got really hot it shut down and I couldn't get it back on until I found a way to boot it in diagnostic mode by pressing certain keys when pressing the power button. Does the 1501 have any such mode?

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks much!
-Theresa

 

Bump, anyone???