Inspiron 5100 Shuts off

I have an Inspiron 5100 That when turned on turns off after about 5 seconds. Once in a while I can get it to turn on but it blues Screens (memory Dump) after the Windows Splash screen about 80% of the time and the other 20% it runs fine. I saw this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=149214 and thought I would try Cleaning it out, The Fan turns on so its not that. I also Put new thermal Grease on the Cpu since the old stuff was dried and flaking off. This, I am sad to say, had no effect what so ever. So I Thought I would Ask the Laptop Guru's here to see if my assumption may be right. Do you think that the Proccessor is bad and needs replacing? Or is there something else I can Try? Thanks to everyone in Advance.

 

Do any of the lights (num lock, scroll lock etc) flash or does the notebook beep?

When it blue screens, what is the message you get on the display?

 

no none of the numlock caps lock or scroll lock lights come on. No beeps, and the Message I dont quite remeber, I do however remember the Memory Dump at the Bottom of the blue screen. Ill have to wait and see if i can get it to get that far again.

 

OK, so no flashing lights no beeping. When booting, at the Dell logo screen, press F12 (I think) to get startup options and then run the diagnostics.

Does it let you get that far?

 

No it does not... At least not all the time.......sometimes I have to wait days before I can get that far

 

Can you get into the BIOS?

 

no I can Not

 

Do you see anything on your display at all?

 

OK, well the fact is that you can't even get into the BIOS, so I guess it's not showing you the BIOS screen? In which case, without a POST test device, this is a difficult one to diagnose. It could be pretty much any system device; the fact that it's not giving you a beep code is unusual though. It could be your processor, but it could also be the motherboard, or even the RAM.

You could try re-seating the processor and re-seating the RAM, but beyond that I'm stuck as to what can be suggested that wouldn't require purchasing replacement parts. It could be that there is also a problem with the speaker, which is why you don't get to hear any beeps. Or possibly the battery is completely dead, but I'm going to guess you've already tried keeping it on AC power?

 

I know the battery is not dead, I also removed the Ram and then I heard the beeps...and replaced the ram and same thing. Ive reseated the Processor Already. Next time I get it started Im gonna run the Diag utility.

 

Ok so I was sitting here turning it off and on trying to get it to start and it did something it never has done before. The power light stays on and the Caps lock Button is blinking off and on.....does this mean anything? I couldnt find anything relative from a google search.

Update: Ok so me being impatient and all, I tried some more of turning it off and on and now i get a steady caps lock with a blinking numlock. I tried again (turning it of then on) and now its doing what it was before, just shutting off

 

The blinking lights and / or beeping noises typically refer to an error during POST. I've had a search, but can't find what the codes mean for your machine - don't know if anyone else can help with that?

 

Here is an Update and Conclusion to my Problem, I started from the begining and tried all of my steps again. IU strated by cleaning it out ( but there was nothing to clean) and i tried reseating the processor, That didnt help then i came to the Ram........I noticed I could see the pins more thatn usual, So I reseated them and made sure they were in there good. I actually had to use a little force to get them in the way they were supposed to be.....Itried my laptop after that, and Presto I havent had a Problem since. This would explain all the differnt erros and problems I was having and Why it was intermittant. Never had a problem like that with any other ram from any other Laptop. Now I know what to look for and so do the readers of this thread! Thanks Again!

 

Odd that it was intermittent, and very odd that it gave no indication of what the problem was, but glad we managed to get it sorted.