Latitude C610 Just died

My Laptop just suddenly died.
I was thinking of getting more mem for my laptop. So I turned it off, like I normally do. I flipped it over and removered the cover, I looked at the ram type (without touching anything)and replaced the cover. I flipped back over, hit the power buttom and nothing happened. (Not lights, no activity at all)

I made sure it was plugged in and the battery full charge, tried it again and still nothing.
I open the back pannel the make sure the memory didn't move, but everything is in place.
It just stopped working.
I've never had a problem before and I always took very good care of it. I always had it on a laptop rack for ventilation.
I don't understand what happened.

 

Try this. Remove the ac power, remove the battery. Hold the power button down for a few seconds. Remove the ram and put it back in. Then put the battery back in and then plug in the ac. Try turning it on. If it does not, do you see any flashing lights on the laptop?

 

Just tried it and it didn't work.
The only light that's on is the "charging the battery light"
BTW, thanks for the responce..

 

Try removing the battery and turning it on...It might just be stuck in a weird sleep state.

 

Tried that too, I even tried using a freshly new charged battery. Zip!

 

I'm trying to think what else it could be...i support about 100 of those laptops still and they are rock solid reliable (minus a few problems here and there). Maybe someone else has some input.

 

Thanks for the help so far. I just hope I can get it fixed without having to bring it somewhere.
Hope a few more folks here can tag along and see if it can be fix with a group effort.
I do have a lot of knowledge when it comes to PC repair, but I never worked on laptops, with that said, I'm not worried if I need open it up.

 

grounding issues?

 

Maybe a loose wire inside? I imagine flipping it over had something to do with it.

 

Tried reseating the memory? it's a long shot, but perhaps the contacts have been disturbed...

 

mem, reseated, nothing.
I would think even if the mem was out something should still happend. i.e. Light come on...
I opened it up and see nothing out of place that I know.

 

No error messages? No blinking lights to indicate a problem?

 

Nothing.
I hit the power buttom, no noise, no blinking lights, nothing except a light to show it's charging the battery.

 

How's your laptop's warranty? If still available, maybe a Dell technician might come on over to fix the problem. I suspect loose wires or grounding issues as well... You or either the technician may have to open the entire machine to isolate the problem to test everyone of the components - If you hit the worst case scenario, that is.

I feel for you man, it's heartbreaking to see your companion ending up this...

 

No warranty, now that really sucks...
I don't like the though of bringing it to tech support, for the fear of getting my wallet drained.
Suddenly I feel sick
Thanks for the replied and help thought

 

Hi there, I am new to this forum but have been repairing all make and model laptops for some time... anyway, not sure if this is too late but just above your keyboard on the top most right corner you will see the plastic piece that runs along just above the keyboard and just below the LCD hinges. It goes from one side right to the other.. anyway, you will see a small notch in the right side of this plastic right where it meets the right outer top plastic. Use a small common (Flat Tip) screw driver or something of the like and list the edge up.. there are no screws in this piece it just clips down.. anyway, after you have the corner area raised gently "pop" the rest up going a little distance at a time so you dont bend or crack this skinny plastic piece. After it pops completly off you will see a daughter board with SW1 and SW2 and 3 leds.. It is very common for these little push button switches to "fall apart" or no longer make a good connection. Inspect them and push SW1 with your small flat tip.. good Idea to make sure this little board is pushed down securly as well (even though it has 2 screws in it i do believe). if still nothing then you will need to dig a little deeper into this power button daughter board because I can garuntee you that you do not have (a) Power issue including any jack or adapter issue..(very obvious because you said the charge light does come on when a less than full battery is plugged in.. Laptop only requires amps rated on battery, charger is always more because it has to be able to provide enough amps to run laptop and charge battery.. battery dont charge unless Amps are higher than battery Amps (b) ram issue of any sort (loose, dead etc.. No Laptop plays dead for any peripheral or secondary part problem.. NEVER). I will say that you should remove all devices that are easily removable to help positivly narrow down posibilities. Remove Optical, battery, HD, even mini PCI card and LAN card. All can be removed quite easily without having to dig very deep at all.. If still no go then unscrew the 2 screws from the power switch daughter board and pull straight up on it.. by the way, my rule of thumb while working on notebooks is.. if something doesnt want to come or move its always for a reason, take your time, look around and for sure you will find another screw or something. NEVER force any parts or plastics without a good inspection before you do, sometimes you have to but most times theres that little screw hidden away..lol.. ok, You will now need a multi meter to test continuity of SW1 ... A.K.A. the power button.. flip it over to see the bottom and around the male plug that went into the Video Board (Which plugs into the mainboard) you should see a 1 and a 10? or 1 2 and 9 10 to show the order of the pins on the connector. Set your meter accordingly for continuity testing or if your meter is more basic it should have a diode test atleast, that will work ok here. Look at your meter and then touch your meter leads together and you should get a reading, the reading is irrelevant.. its the point that there was a reading shows there is continuity. OK, back to the board, you need to put one lead on pin 2 and the other lead on pin 5 and then.... push the power button while watching your meter. A little tricky and may take a few tries to get a definitive answer. If you get a reading then SW1 is ok if not theres a fault there.. I will leave it at that but if you need more info then reply.

ROD