Inspiron 6000 won't Boot. Please help!

I just recently tried to power on my Inspiron 6000 and I got no display. The num lock, caps lock and another green light all lit up together briefly and that was it. The hard drive light blinked a couple times indicating the hard drive was trying to work, but nothing happened.

I put my ear to the laptop to see if I could hear the fans running and it appears the fans are on. The power button stays illuminated, so I know the laptop is on. The laptop just won't go through it's boot process at all and the screen is blank.

I just got my laptop back from Dell right before Christmas and the extended warranty expired the day after. They were fixing some cosmetic issues such as missing keys from the keyboard, the palm rest, etc. They also checked the functionality and performed all necessary changes to ensure my laptop was working properly as I purchased the complete care warranty initially.

I had just ordered new memory for it right before it stopped working. I have received the memory, but now the laptop doesn't work. I only had 512mb of memory originally so I ordered 2 Kingston 1 gb sticks to install. I've done some reading online and it seems my problem could be anything from a bad motherboard, memory, video card, etc. I don't want to post a novel but I can provide more info about the functionality of the laptop before sending it to Dell, if needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

is the RAM loose?

 

Yes, try reseating the RAM. If that doesn't work, try with the old RAM to ensure it's not something else.

 

I haven't tried the new ram yet. The problem occurred with the original ram before I even received the new ram. I can try the new ram and see what happens. I just didn't want to try the ram if there is some other problem.

 

Yes, I see. No BIOS screen or anything?

 

Nothing comes up at all on the screen. It seems like the monitor is off altogether. It doesn't flash, flicker or anything. I just get the power on light and the initial quick flash of the caps lock and num lock indicators when the laptop is first powered on.

It also seems like just the internal fans are on and that's it. If I press the caps lock or num lock buttons, the corresponding lights don't light up. The laptop is non-responsive to any keyboard commands except the play/pause button on the front of the laptop which causes all the associated buttons to illuminate blue.

 

Hmmm. Now, did the lights normally light up like that at boot? It could be that the screen is what's messed up. Maybe a loose cable...

 

I believe the lights follow the same pattern they always did when booting up. It just seems that once the hard drive is trying to be accessed, things just stop. I can hear the hard drive trying to start up then it seems like the whole star up process just quits.

I was also thinking the screen might be the issue at first. But wouldn't the boot process still continue as normal if it was just the screen or would a bad screen cancel the start up process?

I hope it's something simple like a loose cable or memory. Also, is there a diagram available that explains how to access the isde of the laptop to check the screen or other potential parts? I know Dell would charge an arm and a leg for something that they probably messed up when I sent it to them.

 

I installed both new memory sticks and still the same symptoms. I double-checked to make sure the memory was firmly seated in the slots. The monitor just doesn't seem to come on at all. Also it's weird, but pressing the play/pause media button powers up the computer

Would a bad monitor cause my laptop not to boot? Do you think I'd get a display if I hooked up a monitor cable from the laptop to my TV?

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

 

Well, you could try an external hard drive enclosure, and/or external monitor, and see what you come up with.

 

Do I have to load windows on an external hard drive? I have no experience with booting from another device. I have a couple of 2 gb thumb drives. Would that work?

Excuse all the stupid questions. I'm familiar with some of the basics to keep a computer running, but this problem seems to be out of my league.

I'll try the external monitor and see what I get. Thanks again.

 

Well, I was meaning that you could get an external enclosure, like these. Just a thought, but that would be a way to make certain that your hard drive is not corrupted. But that doesn't really make sense with the BIOS not even flashing....however, it might still be good so you could retrieve your data.

 

I got the same problem with an inspiron 6400/E1505, but sometimes boot, when you try several times to power up the laptop.
You should try to press and hold the "Fn" key, and then power up the computer, the LEDs of caps lock, num lock, etc will start to blink and/or stay on, if the first one blinks and the other two stay on (my case), it's a CPU error (look up No Post Dell Inspiron in the support web from Dell). I talk to some people from the support from Dell, and they said that the motherboard and CPU must be replaced. So far, I tried a different AC adapter, different memories, removed the hard-drive, and I got the same problem. Seems that the only solution is to send the laptop to Dell.

 

So sorry. Didn't post the link I meant to earlier. Here you go.

 

I tried holding down "Fn" while powering up the laptop and I got a blinking num lock indicator and the caps lock indicator remained solid. The third indicator remained off altogether. So basically the first light blinks, the second one stays solid and the third is off.

Would you happen to know what this means in the way of what's wrong? I guess Dell would charge me for any type of technical assistance now since my warranty just expired, right? Either way, if this tells me exactly where the problem lies then that would be somewhat of a relief.

 

Those are pretty good prices. Are all of these universal? Are they supposed to work with any laptop hard drive? I'm kind of new to the whole external enclosure thing. Will the laptop try to boot from the hard drive stored in the enclosure?

I don't know if this helps, but I removed the hard drive and tried to boot the laptop without it, and the same symptoms occurred but the hard drive indicator stayed lit the whole time until I turned the laptop off.

 

Well, you'll have to figure out if your laptop is ATA/IDE or SATA.

 

Found out the problem. The motherboard needed to be replaced. I called Dell Tech support and they had me hold "Fn" while powering on the laptop just like tonga petrol mentioned and they determined the motherboard was bad and needed to be replaced.

Luckily they let me extend my warranty which cost me $165 for another year. While it's not cheap, I figured a replacement motherboard would cost me a bit more than what I paid for the warranty extension. Also, if something else happens, I can get it taken care of without coming out of pocket.

I don't even know if I would have been comfortable replacing the motherboard. I'm sure it's no walk in the park. I wish it had been a simpler issue, but at least it will be fixed now. I contacted them today and the shipped the part next day air to a local service tech for repair tomorrow or Thursday. Not too bad I must say.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I've always read posts here for sometime but this was the first time I needed to post a problem. You all were very helpful. This website is awesome. I will post any future issues if I have them. Thanks again.