Inspiron 5150 down!

Hi

Have a Dell Inspiron 5150 and been very pleased with it over the last 4 years, but suddenly it started turning off by itself when I tried to turn it on.

It goes on for about 3 seconds, then turning off while making a clicking/beeping sound. Meanwhile one of the three lights are turning on in a splitsecond by the time it dies, its the one to the right with an arrow...

Sometimes I get lucky and it turns on, but it cannot be lifted or in anyway touched while its on, then it will die instantly...

Others that have faced similar problem?

I have no warranty anymore, so I have accepted that I might just have to get me a new laptop, but if any of you can give me a hint it would be nice...

Had it to the computershop one time, they had it for weeks and couldnt fix it... Called Dell support, but it was some kind of newbe, it took ages, so I didnt relly that much on him, said it might be the processor...

 

You may have a warranty.

http://lundellsettlement.com/

Basically, your motherboard is probably shorting out. Mine did that. The 5150 laptops had motherboard/flex/shorting problems a lot.

Mine did what yours is doing and Dell replaced the motherboard under warranty.

 

I may not have a warranty because the settlement is for people in the US... I live in Denmark, so might not qualify...!

Thanks for the answer anyway, nice to know whats going on, when your laptop is acting weird...

I will call Dell Denmark tommorow, maybe they will give in... ;0)

 

Well, good luck to you. My first inclination was a hard drive failure, but that wouldn't explain why touches would make it go out. You may be in the market for a new laptop soon in any case, since the 5150 is really starting to show it's age. If you are, just hop on here; there are a lot of helpful people that can give you good advice.

 

With my 5150, resting your palms on the hand rests under the keyboard was enough to induce the flex and the laptop would just shut off instantly.

Shutting off suddenly is definitely a common problem with the 5150 and it's usually motherboard related.

It was a decent laptop. It was stable before the motherboard issue. The fan ran all the time, but, the Pentium 4 3GHz was just a hot chip for a laptop. It was heavy and big, but, it had a 1600x1200 screen and a P4 3GHz.

That seems to be Dell's problem of late, that last 5%. Great laptop, but had a fatal flaw.

My E1505 is a great laptop, but the external monitor glitches and I can't use it for Powerpoint which is why I bought. Awesome laptop, fatal flaw.

 

to resurrect a new thread and after doing some research, it seems the "C" door on the bottom of the laptop has a little tab near the center of the computer that presses on a chip and breaks the solder. this chip is partially covered by the black plasic lining inside and you should be able to see the marks in the plastic. simply shave off the tab on the door with an x-acto knife and re-solder the chip using a magnifying glass and micro fine soldering tip. DO NOT use any extra solder! simply melt the broken leads back together. each little leg of the chip should only take 2-3 seconds.