Inspiron 1526 black screen - boot failure

A friend just gave me their Dell Inspiron 1526 laptop thinking it is completely dead and hoping I could part it out or possibly fix it. She provided precious little information, so I can only go on what I've seen so far. Basically, when powered on, the laptop's fans spin up, the dvd drive reads, and the power led lights up. Also, the scroll lock, caps lock, and num lock are on, flashing, and flashing, respectively.

I can't find any helpful Dell documentation to describe what that system flash code means. I found documentation for another Inspiron, but Dell's error database doesn't include a situation where the second and third led's flash persistently, while the first led stays on. At least not according to the way Shaun Howard says it should be read on this website (scroll to the middle).

What I did find is a lot of other Inspiron 1526 owners with motherboard issues. Too many have just replaced the whole motherboard. This is a low budget operation (I'm doing it for someone in my church), so I need to avoid spending money. I'm searching for a more specific cause to the black screen and flashing led error with no subsequent boot.

So far I've tried starting the laptop with only AC power with the same result. I tried the battery power only, to the same end. I tried both plugged in, no difference. And finally, I reseated the memory, tried only one module in both slots, and replaced the memory, still with the same result. That just about rules out a power or memory problem, but I'll test it a little bit more next time I get around to it.

If further testing and research doesn't bring any new information, I'll try something I found on another forum. According to a few people on this website, the cmos battery goes bad on a lot of 1526's. Replacing it fixed the problem for several users. Dell documents the process here, calling the part a Coin Cell battery. It looks like a standard cmos battery, replaceable for less than $5.

I plan to document my results whether they are successful or not. I can't get started yet because I'm still recovering from back surgery, but hopefully in a few days I can get my camera rolling and tear this piece of junk apart. This isn't my first Dell or my first laptop repair, but please throw your suggestions my way if you have an idea about what's wrong.

I hope this post can eventually help others with the same problem if we can solve it. I did not find any similar posts in a thorough search of the forums here.

 

I got some information from my friend. This laptop's hard drive has been replaced before. It also started having issues about 5 months after purchase. Average laptop life is supposed to be 2-3 years, and hard drives are supposed to last 3 or so years. This Dell just couldn't make it I guess.

 

I got a chance to tear the Dell Inspiron 1526 apart today to find out if the boot failure (black screen, no boot screen) was being caused by a faulty CMOS battery. The CMOS battery, or Coin Cell battery, is a standard CR2032 battery which you can find at your local drug store, grocery store, electronics store or anywhere that sells batteries.

The credit for this fix goes to Steve Vlaminck at ifixit.com. His post led me to the idea to replace the CMOS, and it worked like a charm. I wasn't sure if we had the same problem, but I think the error codes can be different depending on whatever the error report decides is most important. I linked to ifixit.com two posts above so you can check it out if you want.

As usual before taking apart a laptop, I made necessary precautions. If you are planning to take your laptop apart, I hope this guide is helpful to you, but please understand the risk involved. There are lots of ways to break your laptop when you're taking it apart: applying too much force, electrostatic discharge and electromagnetic interference, and accidental water damage to name a few. I am not responsible for any damage you might cause to your system. You should also consider taking your own pictures both for reference, and possibly to post in here to help others see how you did it.

With the disclaimer out of the way, lets get started. You'll want to make sure you have a clean, open workspace with room to place the laptop parts as you remove them. Also, try to find a way to organize all the screws that you take out and if you need to, label each container. You'll notice I used recycled bottlecaps to hold the screws and sticky notes underneath to label them.



Start by unplugging the laptop from AC power and removing the battery. The sliding switch in the upper left of the picture below ejects the battery for removal.


Then you can take all the screws out that hold in the plate covering access to the memory, processor, heatsink and WiFi antennas. You'll end up with the laptop looking like the picture above. You can leave the screws in the cover plate and set it aside.

Now you need to remove the two optical drives. The dvd drive is held in by one screw, which you should see just to the side of the exposed memory in the center. After removing the screw, simply slide out the dvd drive. Don't use your screwdriver to pry it out, you'll mar the plastic.


The hard drive is on the opposite side towards the front of the laptop and is held in by two screws. Remove them and slide out the hard drive just like the dvd drive. Keep the screws with their respective drives and set them in a safe place that is static free and away from magnets.

Now it's time to remove the flat panel display. The first step is removing two small screws on the bottom where the battery used to be.


Before you flip the laptop over, remove the two screws near the back edge of the laptop labeled with a "D." You should see them just inside the very back outside corners of the laptop when looking at the bottom. Remember to keep screws organized so you can put them all back where you found them.

Now you can place the laptop with the keyboard facing you, like this:


Remove the access panel above the keyboard by lightly prying it up with a flathead. You can only remove it if the screen is tilted all the way back. From there you can pull it up gently with your hands, making sure not to pull farther than the ribbon cable beneath allows.


Now you can see the two screws holding down the keyboard. Remove those, then pull the keyboard up so you can see the ribbon cable beneath it.


Release the ribbon cable by lifting the black hinge holding it in place. The hinge swings up toward the front of the laptop. Now you can set the keyboard aside. Note that you can clean it while you have it removed more thoroughly than with it still attached to the laptop. Just use compressed or canned air.

With the keyboard out it's easier to release the ribbon cable connecting the access panel's switches to the motherboard. A small flathead or your fingernails can push out the latch holding in the ribbon cable. Just be careful, you'll be replacing the whole panel or your motherboard if you push on the wrong part. The latch is the part that moves.


Now would be a good time to flip the laptop upside down, close the lid, and fish the antennas out. There are five, and in this model only two are connected, the black and white wires. They pry up very easily from the WiFi card. You don't have to remember which one goes where, there are colored arrows designating the black and white sockets. Pull the wires out of the plastic notches until they are completely loose from the bottom of the laptop.


In the photo above, you should see a wide, white connector that runs up into the flat panel display from the motherboard. This is the webcam cable, and it slides right out, no latches to push on this one.

You can flip the laptop back around. You should see on the top where the wires come up and snake into the screen. You can pull them through so they aren't hanging out of the bottom anymore, and you have to so you can eventually pull the screen assembly off.

You need to remove one more cable and 4 screws to free the screen. Disconnect the screen cable from the motherboard here:


Now remove the four screws on the two hinges that are holding the screen to the case. They look like really flat, wide screws. Sorry I didn't get a picture. I already had them out. I get ahead of myself sometimes

The screen will pull right out when you have all the screws out and the cables pried from the case. You can set it aside. Here it is by itself:


We're almost done. Ok now we need the top casing and the bottom to separate. This calls for all the screws on the bottom to be removed. Don't miss any, there's one right in the middle that's hard to see. Note, you don't have to remove the heatsink to expose the processor, but I did just to check and make sure the thermal paste wasn't too spotty and clean the dust out of the fins and fan. It's easy to remove and clean, and you get a chance to re-apply paste if you want. Google it if you need to.


Remove the two ribbon cables pictured below:


The top case should pry away from the bottom now. You'll notice a difficult spot by where you slid the dvd drive out. I pulled the top case away from the bottom while using my flathead to push the thin plastic out. See what I mean in the pic. Other than that, if you can't separate the halves, always check for screws you missed.


Congratulations, you've exposed the motherboard, I hope. Now you have three ribbon cables to remove. They have latches just like the small one holding in the access panel. Here they are pictured below.


And now remove the Expresscard caddy. Three screws hold it in.


Now nothing is stopping you from pulling out the motherboard but five screws (if memory serves, already sent it back to my friend) and the translucent plastic front piece where the memory card slot is. You can pull this out by pushing the middle out and pulling it upwards. With all the screws removed and the plastic piece out, the motherboard is almost free. You may need to gently pry it up in certain places with a screwdriver. GENTLY. I had to pry it near the power jack, in the upper right corner, and the bottom right corner. Then it slid out away from the side where the power jack, ethernet port and headphone jack were.


Carefully flip over the motherboard once you have it free. Remove the CMOS battery and replace it with a CR2032. Wasn't that easy!


Now reverse your steps and put everything back together. It's key to remember that if it doesn't seem to fit right, it probably isn't. There is only one right way to reassemble everything. If it won't snap in place or the screw doesn't fit, look for something you're missing. When I got it all back together, it booted first try. I reset the date and time in the BIOS, set the video memory from Auto to 256mb, and optimized and updated Vista. The computer my friend thought was absolutely dead is alive and well. I hope she never buys a Dell again.


It's worth noting that this teardown guide will be very helpful for a lot of the Inspiron series of laptops. The few that I've taken apart have been much the same. I hope this helps someone. If any part is unclear or there are any questions, feel free to post them. I'll try my best to answer even though I don't have the laptop in my possession anymore. Good luck.

 

hello; I have a similar problem but instead my laptop aka inspiron 1526;
when it starts up everything seems to be working but the screen was just blank. But i leave the laptop on for at least 5 minutes before unplugging all the power. Well after 5 minutes, I start up the laptop again for the second time. The screen starts to come back up and everything goes back to "normal".
Do you know what kind of problem this is? Please and thank you;

 

How many times have you restarted it since? You need to restart it a few more times, like maybe ten just to see if the problem comes back.

You might just have a loose screen cable or your LCD could be dying. It's not necessarily the same problem as described above. Do some testing by restarting it and if everything seems fine I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I just registered to thank you micman for the guide with pictures. I havent gotten around to doing it yet but from what i read elsewhere everyone found it very useful... on another note WHY WOULD THEY MAKE IT SO HARD TO replace small battery... I have to do more work for this then to remove the display, harddrive, memory. Wow.

 

The main reason for the difficulty is so you'll send it to a Dell technician who will charge double, triple, maybe even quadruple what it actually costs to fix the problem. Good for you that you're circumventing Dell's tactics and doing it yourself. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

Welcome to NBR

 

Thank you for the extensive information on the repair. I googled my problem and found your post. Within 2days my husband repaired the computer. Thanks again.

 

Dear micman,

I have the same problem with my dell laptop
The scroll lock, caps lock, and num lock are on, flashing, and flashing, respectively.

I have replaced the battery but still the same problem ,can you help ?

Thanks in Advance

 

First I would try ruling out your power supply and battery (the main battery, not the CMOS battery) by following the method from my first post. Then you could reseat the memory as I tried. Those are the easiest troubleshooting methods to try at first. If none of that fixes it and replacing the small, watch-sized CMOS battery doesn't fix it, there is something deeper at fault.

Let me know if none of the above helps and I'll try to give you some tips from there.

 

micman,

I gotta give you a big thanks. You saved me from buying a new laptop by replacing the battery for $5. I can't believe that was the issue. And your pictures and instructions were quite clear and useful. Thanks!

 

Thank you, just saved my laptop from going to warranty for few weeks, i guess motherboard battery problem is common around these laptops, the disassembly was a little hard but everything vent well , and replacement solved problem, of booting, because i had the same problem where at start up fans start to working but laptop wont boot up even, to bios. Thanks once again. Great manual

 

I had the same issue. Black screen when I power on and perform a POST test, FN+Power keys, I was getting a flashing numlock and the two LEDs to the right lit solid (not blinking), e.g. flashing-solid-solid. After trying battery pulls, etc. nothing worked.

I tore it down and replaced the CMOS battery with a CR2032. I tested the old one and it was at 1.8v. Put it back to together and it was still black with a POST test of flashing-solid-solid LEDs. Next, I pulled the CPU and heat sink. Unlocked the CPU holder, plugged it in, locked it, cleaned the top of the CPU and applied some Artic Silver 5 Thermal paste (got it Radio Shack). The video chip had some type of foam cover that tore slightly, so I applied a dab to that, too. Put it back together and it booted. So, mine must have have been a combination of CMOS battery and re-seating the CPU.

 

Thanks for the info. I followed instructions and replaced the cmos battery and put it back together and tried to power on but it wont. The indicator lights come on but it does not make any attempt to boot. I am wondering if I forgot to hook something back up correctly. The first picture under the paragraph that starts "congratulations, you've exposed the motherboard" it shows a ribbon cable with one end hooked to the board and one end unattached standing straight up. When I opened my laptop the end standing up was not attached to anything and I could not find anywhere to plug this end in when putting it back together. Should that end be connected somewhere? Thanks

 

I'm glad this has helped a few people and for those still trying to find a solution, I hope one comes sooner than later.

@alexander1: as shown in this picture Dell Inspiron 1526 :: IMG_1232.jpg picture by Micman1022 - Photobucket
there was nothing plugged into the other end of the ribbon cable on this model. I honestly don't know what it would be for, probably some upgrade Dell would charge you an arm and a leg for.

 

Ok just wanted to make sure it was not hooked to something (seemed kind of odd). Do you have any other suggestions? Before I changed the cmos battery I was able to eventually boot after turning the system on and off numerous times and i would get the error message date/time not set but once i went into setup and set them it worked fine and now I cant get it to boot at all. When I press the power button sometimes it will come on and sometimes it wont and it seems like I have to unplug the power cord from the pc after every try. When I do have success turning it on the power light comes on and the cd rom drive light comes on and if I touch the volume control lights they also come on and the fan will run but there is nothing on the display and no attempt to boot. I can hear the harddrive running also. Seems like some kind of power issue or blown motherboard to me.

 

Disregard the last post. After further investigation i found that the battery was popping out of the seat every time i put it back together so it turned out to be the cmos battery after all. Apparently the seats they have these batteries in are not very reliable. I could not get the battery to stay in firmly so I finally decided to superglue a piece of plastic on top of the battery to keep it in. Works great now. Thanks so much for the information.

 

Thanks for the guide Micman. I tried it with my computer and it worked... sorta. I've been having problems booting my computer for a while and the few times it worked, it always gave me a message that the time an date weren't set. So I figured the problem lied in the CMOS battery so I changed it using this guide. It powers on fine now, but the video display is all wonky and it wasn't like that before I changed the battery. I can only see a bunch of colored stripes and that's it. I don't know if I messed up something on the motherboard or if I'm missing a cable, or worst if the graphic card is also damaged and I'm gonna need to change the whole motherboard. I tried to be really careful, but I'm lost now. Do you have any suggestion fo this? Thank you!!

 

Hmm, you may want to try re-seating the lcd cable on the motherboard. If it's not in all the way you can get funny stuff on the screen.

It should be the wide cable to the left of the screwdriver in this photo

If that doesn't work then it would help for further troubleshooting to know what was happening when you first started noticing problems on boot. For instance, did your computer suffer power failure one day that started all your date and time issues? Have you ever seen weird video quirks before on your screen? I hope it's an easy fix.

 

Micman, nice tear down.

I've been having this issue for a couple weeks. Unfortunately the laptop is a must need 8 hours a day for my wife. I had to buy her a new laptop almost immediately. However, I feel the need to salvage this one instead of junking it.

I will try this cmos battery (never even would have thought of it) tomorrow and get back to you.

1 question I did have is do you know of any other motherboards that may fit into the chasis.

I ask because the laptop originally had an intel cpu and mobo. Geek squad replaced it under warranty and put in an amd cpu and mobo. I fought tooth and nail for 2 months until they finally just started ignoring me. I would like to get back to my intel born roots.

Thanks again.

 

@Notavirus.exe - I don't have the part numbers for those motherboards so I have no way to tell which is the amd and which is the intel. I would say though that it's relatively cost-ineffective to swap out the motherboard at this point, even if you found one for around $150. You'd still need the cpu on top of that, so you're talking around the same price as a new notebook at that point. I'd stick with the amd if you can get it working even though I know it seems a tad slower.

If you still want to find an intel, I'd recommend starting a new thread to see if anyone has the part number.

 

I have an Inspiron 1526, but it had a slightly different mother board, I had one last wire attached from the Fan to the Mother board by a connector which I could not disconnect, but saw that CMOS battery was accessible at this point, and changed the battery out just by lifting the front part of the mother board.

Thanks

 

I was having this issue and I followed the instructions and it worked! It boots up great! BUT I'm having a display issue now.

Here are pictures from my phone of the display



And here are Screenshots via print screen of what they look like to the computer



Any suggestions or a different thread that might better assess my issue

 

Easy fix, just replace the screen cable. If that doesn't fix it, you may have damaged the pins on the motherboard when you pulled out the screen cable. That will probably put you out $15, and you have to pull the keyboard out again. Hope this resolves quickly for you,
Micman

 

HI!! I need your help. I wanted to get some clarification from you about your experience with the 1526. In particular, the lights that were on solid and flashing. I am getting nums lock solid, caps lock flashing and scroll lock flashing. I wasnt sure from what you wrote if that was the same error code you were recieving.

I also wanted to how you were able to get the memory loose on this model. I am having trouble with the getting the memory loose and prying the access panel above the keyboard apart. With the panel i can pry it up but then there is no give, and I do not want to break it! So I was hoping to get a little help.

Thanks!
FG

 

Whether it's the same error code or not is almost moot. There are a lot of possible error codes, but this type of error code is being caused by the motherboard, which sounds really scary at first. Someone over on the ifixit site way more knowledgeable than me figured out that it's just being caused by the cmos battery. The error codes are difficult to figure out and more for Dell's benefit than yours.

There are two "hinges" on either side of the memory. These must be sprung open before the memory comes loose.

I know that plastic seems frail, but as long as you apply pressure as close to the inside as you can, it will come right up. Just make sure nothing is getting in the way, like the lcd panel. As long as the access panel has room to come off it will give eventually. I would apply about as much pressure as you would apply when opening the handle to your car door.

If anyone else who has already done this wants to chime in and help, feel free. By now we should have almost a dozen experts in this thread. Good luck to you flygirl.
Micman

 

Thanks! I will try that.

 

I did this on my 1526, and at first it worked, but then it started turning off by itself, and then when I turned it on, it gives memory errors. I reseated the memory, but that didn't help. I guess I must have put it together right or it wouldn't boot, but I couldn't see how to tell which way the ribbons went. I think the hardest one to get back on was the ribbon that goes to the track pad.

The one thing I wish I had done, well other than taking pictures, is kept better track of where which screw went. I used up the longer screws and the shorter screws won't fit anywhere.

edit: I redid it tonight, but it keeps crashing with errors. I'm not sure if it's overheating or what. I can't tell if the fan is coming on. I am getting various stop errors and sometimes a irql_not_less_or_equal error. It boots into windows and tries to repair the problem, so maybe it's an issue with the hard drive.

One thing that might also be beneficial is a copper shim to replace the pad between the heatsink and the GPU. Several people sell copper on ebay for this, but I'm not sure of the exact size needed for this application. My first guess would be about 0.8mm...

 

Thanks for the help. Changed my cmos battery and fixed the problem on my dell 1526. After repair my computer will only run on battery. Tried a different ac adapter with same results. Any suggestions?

 

Does it still charge the battery? Will it start up with the AC adapter plugged in but the battery removed? Was this problem there before the repair? It may be a bad connection on the ac jack, which is soldered to your motherboard. If the connection came loose or was already prone to come loose before you started the repair it might have finally kicked the bucket once you did the cmos repair.

Check those variables at the beginning of my post to narrow down the possibilities. At least you already know it's probably not the ac adapter itself. One more thing, see if you can run a battery calibration in the Dell BIOS, which is the screen that loads before windows right after you hit the power button. Just press escape or f2 or delete or f10 (not sure which one it's been a while) to access the BIOS.

 

Sounds like you could benefit from re-applying thermal paste to the CPU. There are probably dozens of guides on here about how to do that, just google search or NBR search for "TIM application" or "thermal paste application".

Make sure the fan is plugged in. Also, try running with only one DIMM module at a time per slot. What I mean by this is place DIMM 1 in slot 1 and try booting. Then try DIMM 1 in slot 2. Then DIMM 2 in slot 1 and lastly DIMM 2 in slot 2.

That's one way to test memory quickly, but you should also run memtest86 and if possible Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool which is pre-loaded in Vista and Windows 7.

I'm not 100% sure which shim you mean, but it doesn't have to be copper if I'm thinking of what you're describing. You could just use more thermal grease, which will dissipate heat more efficiently than the manufacturer's shim ever did, provided your application is proper.

Hope you can get this sorted.

 

Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to micman for posting these instructions. I was able to replace the cmos battery in about an hour and a half, and my daughter's computer is running like a charm again. MANY MANY thanks and much appreciation!

 

My Inspiron 1526 "died" last Sunday and with all my work in it and no way to get a second laptop at all, I was in a panic. I work with computers everyday but I've never had to disassemble a laptop. After searching the internet for hours, I found the CMOS solution and it worked! At least for the power on part.

But I do have a new problem - the system boots to the DELL logo on startup but while the status bar gets filled, it slows down then stops at around 70-80% mark, then powers down. I was able to get into BIOS setup 2x and checked the settings (reset the date and time the first instance), but it would still freeze after I save the settings.

I tried to do Fn+Power to get into diagnostic mode but same thing happens. Sometimes, it doesn't boot at all.

I tried re-seating the CPU and the memory modules, even one at a time, and still no success. I have my aunt's old laptop (same model) and tried the CPU and memory modules from there as well but to no avail. I don't have any thermal paste as of the moment but will get some as soon as I go out, and will try that.

I think I did a decent job in putting the laptop back together except for breaking a few plastic clips along the way. If the thermal paste doesn't work in getting me past the BIOS splash screen, would you have any other ideas on what I should check?

Thank you for bringing this solution (with pics and patient answers) to the rest of the internet!

 

thank you micman, i found your post and and it saved me from buying a new laptop. the battery only cost me $2.50! i should have followed your first step though LABEL THE SCREWS!! I have four left over but no issues so far. Thanks!

 

MICMAN
Help please. I replaced CMOS battery in Inspiron 1526 and now I get an error.

UNSUPPORTED MEMORY
PRESS F1 TO SHUTDOWN

I have tried memory sticks individually and reset them nwith no luck. Now What? I was so happy to finally see DELL logo on startup and not a black screen.

 

Thanks for the help. I broke the computer down and it booted up, it actualy worked! But the story was just beginning.


1. The fan was not turning on - it was overheating - I had to break it down again and saw that I did not have the fan plugged in. So I reassembled it and it worked again.
2. But then I saw that the AC jack was not connecting - it was not getting the AC power into the PC, but it did boot up with the battery. So I tried once more - broke it all down, and just tried to make sure the AC jack was in the right place exactly, and after re-assembling it a third time, I plugged it into the AC cord with the battery out of the copmuter, and when I plugged it in, I saw that it is now getting AC power (the battery light starts to flash) so I am happy about that, but now it won't boot up at all.

I think I somehow didn't get the overall power connected this time. I don't know what could be causing this - did I miss another plug? I am afraid to keep breaking it down or I will surely ruin this computer.

Is the lack of any power an easy fix? Thank so much in advance. You are such a great help!

 

@ dls4968: can you borrow a memory stick from a friend with the same specs? It's improbable but still possible that your memory is bad. I honestly would be surprised if it was bad, but it's still good to check. One thing to make sure of is that the memory is seated correctly. Make sure the springs lock it in place and that it isn't upside down, backwards, or any other incorrect orientation. I think there are pics on the first page of this post showing the correct orientation. I know this is really, really basic sounding stuff and I'm sure you've tried it, but it's the first thing I would do. If that's not helping, try a friend's memory. If that doesn't help, it may just be an indication that the CMOS wasn't the only problem to begin with. The flashing lights can mean a bunch of different error codes, most having to do with the motherboard, so it's never a good sign.

@kkennison: I didn't pay much attention to the AC jack when I tore mine down so long ago. Can you take a really close look at where the jack is soldered to the motherboard? Is the connection solid, or is it cracked or broken from years of use? AC jacks are cheap online so as long as you know how to solder, it can be pretty easy to replace one.
If that's not it, it could be your power brick or just the cord leading to the brick.
If that's not it, did you try charging the battery? Does it take a charge now? Will it power on and charge with the battery and AC plugged in?
Thanks for the encouragement, I hope I was of further help. Any more information you provide would help me diagnose it further.

 

Thanks so much for the reply. The AC jack was not soldered to the motherboard. I could actually take it out of the machine. I'm not sure where to solder it back to the motherboard. It needs to be soldered to work? Or do the screws help establish the connection to the motherboard? It was strange, because when I plugged in the laptop the last time with no battery in it, the orange light at the palm rest area of the machine was flashing so I know it was getting power. But when I plugged in the battery, the light indication for charging the battery would not light up, and it also did nothing at all when I pushed the start button, both with and without the battery. I know that I somehow caused this to happen, but I am not sure what exactly, because it was working before this last re-assembly.
The power brick is good - Before I broke the machine down, Best buy tested it and it was good.
Is this enough info? Should I break it down again and see if I forgot to plug in any of those small plugs to the motherboard? It's like the Motherboard gets no power from the battery or the AC, so it doesn't seem like it's the AC jack, but I'm just not sure.
Thanks again for the help - this is literally the only place on the entire internet with this level of detail on how to do this. I bought this laptop for the wife's birthday so I really want to get her back up and running.

 

Would you be able to take some photos of the ac jack area? There should be some pins on the back or bottom of the jack itself that connect it to the motherboard. That's the only way I've ever seen them connected myself but I can't look at a 1526 right now because the one I fixed was for a friend and she is still using it. I'll go through my pile of old computer junk and see if I have a Dell model similar to yours but if I don't some pics would really help.

If the part isn't soldered to the motherboard the only other way it would provide power might be through a cable that plugged in to the motherboard somewhere. But laptops don't use cables, they usually take up too much space. I'm posting from my iPhone right now, but I'll get on my laptop later today and see if we can get to the bottom of this ac jack problem.

 

Awesome - I am at work now so will see if I can take some pictures of it and post them. It will be later tonight or tomorrow when I post them. I am pretty sure there wasn't a cable coming out of the ac jack. This particular 1526 motherboard actually was a little different from the one you had as the motherboard was connected to the frame through a large copper wire that I think is the cooling mechanism but not sure. I couldn't actually remove that part so I could totally remove the motherboard, but I was able to lift the outer edge of it high enough to access the coin battery underneath. It is possible that I tore any soldering from the ac jack that was there when I lifted it to change our the coin battery, but I am not sure.
I will post some pictures as soon as I can. Thanks again.

 

OK - I took about 10 pictures - I will try to get the rest on the next post.

 

Here are the rest I took. Let me know if you need different angles, etc. THANKS AGAIN!

 

If you want to replace that whole board and forgo soldering, I found it online at this site: Compare Dell Inspiron 1525 DC Power Jack USB Board 48.4W006.021 | DHgate.com

There may be others out there. Just search for part number 48.4W006.021.

For ten to twenty bucks, I'd say it's worth replacing to see if that fixes the problem. Without a multimeter and the technical skills to use it (which I personally lack), it would be pretty hard to find out if your current board is faulty.

 

Thanks again. I'll give it a try. So I could just install this whole piece into the computer and screw it in like the old one was, with no need to do any soldering, right?

 

Exactly. Sometimes the easy way out is the better way. This is one of those times, I can't tell you how annoying it is to solder those tiny connections on the power jack. Keep me posted on how it goes, I hope I was of some help to you.

 

Definitely a huge help. I will keep you posted on if it works. Might be a few days to order it and everything. I really appreciate it!!

 

..........

 

I too just registered in order to thank you for these instructions. I was about to replace the power inverter in the screen and saw this. I thought (incorrectly) that replaceing the battery would be easiest. However, it did actually work, so despite how completely redonkulous it is to get at, replacing the battery fixed the computer and my daughter is now VERY happy. Thanks again for the instructions and help.

 

FYI - replacing the power jack did work. I must have damaged it, or maybe it was going out in the first place too. Anyway, I am back up and running. Thanks again.

 

Hi,

First of all thank you for a great post, it has been a huge help so far. I have a 3-yr old Inspiron 1526 which has been "dead" for a few weeks now. Before I throw it as far as I can, I thought I would first give it a shot here....

I originally got the black screen issue. Although I was able at times to bring it back to life by hitting F8, then I lost it again when I rebooted.

So I decided to change the CMOS battery hoping I might save myself the $200-$300 cost for the motherboard...unfortunately it didn't work as expected which brings me to the next step.

The motherboard. You cannot find a new one for this computer so I decided to invest on a refurbished one. I took the old one out, put the "new" in, and put back all pieces nicely . I plugged the power in, the fan starts for about 5 seconds and then silence (as in silent night).

I have run a diagnostics test, and it gives me a flashing "9", while the two other lights remain solid, i.e. from left to right I have FLASHING-ON-ON.

I am not sure what else to do, but any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thank you.