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    Inspiron 9400 not booting

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by bambi, Mar 22, 2009.

  1. bambi

    bambi Newbie

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    I have an Inspiron 9400 2.0ghz Core Duo, 7900GS and 2GB ram that currently wont boot.

    I was editing a mission in ARMA with a reasonable load of programs running in the background when the laptop switched off instantly in the same way if the power cord had been pulled out with no battery.

    When I press the power key the power and hard drive light come on for an instant and goes out, nothing else happens. My brother has the same laptop and I have tried his PSU and battery. Both of mine work and the battery shows 100% on his laptop.

    I opened it up to look for anything obvious and the DC jack appears fine, all soldering looks good. I have removed the GPU and tried to boot. Obviously no display but this time the power light stays on.

    My guess is the GPU. Its been running with a reasonable overclock but temps all below 70 with occasional artifacting.

    I would appreciate any advice to diagnose the problem before buying new parts.

    Thanks
    Bambi
     
  2. Blacky

    Blacky Notebook Prophet

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    If you brother has the same laptop, why not switch parts between them to figure out which one is to blame.
     
  3. bambi

    bambi Newbie

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    Thanks for the reply Blacky

    Ive tried that with the smaller stuff, but my brothers not too keen in lending his GPU in case mine is insta grilling cards.
     
  4. bambi

    bambi Newbie

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    update:

    I tried my graphics card in my brothers laptop and got the same results. I figure its the card.

    I guess ill try ebay for the card.