R.I.P Dell Inspiron 1520

A month after getting my new toshiba (insignature) and letting my sister being to use my old laptop because her 9 year old system decided to fail at life.. the computer decides to fail completely. I have no idea what the issue is... The laptop will turn on, and turn on I mean the power light will come on for a second or two.. and then the light with go back out and the computer is completely off. No screen turning on or anything. The battery has a complete charge. Any idea what the issue could be?

P.S. Im in queue for tech support at the moment. I am under warrenty, luckily!!!

 

It sounds like the motherboard may need to be replaced! Thankfully, it's still under warranty because that would be a $400-ish repair otherwise!

What's your opinion of the Toshiba A500 after using it for a month? I loved the previous generation Satellite models (M305 & A305, in particular) and recommended them to anyone needing a sub-$1000 multimedia/entertainment system...so I'm hoping the new models are as good overall as the previous models were!

 

Well Im glad I got the warranty! It's up in Novermber or October. Hrm. Either way. YAY!

Also, I have a First Impressions board over on the Toshiba Forums doing a mini-ish review of my system. You may wanna go look. *shamelesspluglolol*

 

Were you able to chat with a Dell tech support rep? If so, are they sending you a box for you to ship it back to them? It usually takes two days for you recieve the box and about the same for them to get it once you send it back in. But once it's in their hands, repair times seem to vary quite a bit!

If they don't repair it correctly the first time, send me a PM or Email (both in my profile). I spent the first half of 2009 trying to get my Studio 1535 repaired, to no avail. I sent it to them three different times and it came back in worse condition each time!!! Eventually, I got the names and email addresses of employees that were capable of solving my problem! I got a brand new Studio 1555 to replace it! If you were to have any trouble, I'll be glad to give you the contact info that finally got results for me!

Hopefully, they'll repair it perfectly the first time and you won't need to worry about it again!

My brother and my niece both have 1520's that were ordered back in October 2007. They've been trouble-free for almost two years now. My nephew has a 1525 from March 2008 (a slightly thinner 1520 but looks identical) and it hasn't had any problems either. The 1520 has been one of the most reliable Inspiron laptops (if not THE most reliable) in recent years.

The only exception on 1520s with the optional nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card! The 8600M GT is one of the nVIDIA cards that is prone to premature failure.

Which graphics card does your 1520 have?

 

I have the intel family 965 chipset I believe? I replaced that laptop because it had to major issues. It wouldn't play any of my games.. and when unplugged, the laptop would freeze! After poking around the internet I heard it was a motherboard issue in 1520 and 1525 laptops. I dont know how true that statement is but it will hopefully be fixed!!

I talked to Raj.. or whatever his name is. he was the dell tech support. He is sending a service technician to my house and he is going to replace the motherboard. THey have done that for me before because the bezel got cracked. Hopefully that will fix the issue. He had me run diagonostics tests first and the computer wouldn't even make it to that, it'd crash and turn off. I'll reply to this again when it repair is complete to announce if was a fail or not!