Laptop stopped powering on

I lent my nephew my spare laptop that was in running perfectly after a fresh install, but after 8 months it stopped working.

When I finally caught up with the laptop ( Iwas in another state) and first powered on I receive a blue screen with the option to run disk check, which I did. I left a few minutes and when I returned the laptop had shut down and now the laptop won't even power on. The power adapter's light is glowing when plugged in.

It's apparent in order to solve any software problems I need it to turn on. What would be the likely causes as to why it won't power on?

It's a Dell Inspiron E1505 (6400), about 4-5 year old with XP Pro, Intel T2300E Core Duo, integrated graphics.

I don't have any meters of testing equipment but is there something I can look for inside.

 

the blue screen could be from failing HDD, thus can not load OS properly. May need new HDD.

the power situation could be from failing battery, thus the charger wasting more power towards the battery into trying to charge it where the laptop itself would not have enough power to run. Try running it without battery and see if it powers up.

 

^ Those are 2 potential situations yes...

Generally speaking, if you have bad software issues like that they are usually caused by hardware failures. Potentially the hardware can either kill other parts of the laptop or prevent it from turning on.

Often the motherboard needs to be reset after replacing the faulty hardware. Could be RAM in this case. You can reset it by holding the power button for 30 seconds and/or shorting the CMOS battery.

 

Tried it without battery and a different battery with two lights (of five) . I also tried resetting by holding the power button for 30 seconds. Still nothing.

Later I'll try adding two other sticks of ram. I'll also stick the HDD in an USB enclosure to see if it spins using this computer.

No telling where my nephew visited. Noobnish aside, is it possible to have a laptop killing virus on the HDD, and a way to run an performance or AV scan without being in or effected?

 

Motherboard failure? At least that was the case when I experienced those symptoms.

That seem like a good life to me. If my diagnosis is correct, it's not really worth fixing.

 

Bummer.

Hopefully I can salvage the HDD and sell it for a couple parts on Ebay as parts.

 

Since the motherboard is probably the culprit, might be worth trying to figure out if there is a compatible pm965/socket P motherboard out there for around 50$. I didn't see one but sometimes you can find equivalent or next gen models that use the same mobo layout.

If you have a good WSXGA+ LCD screen, you should hold onto that. 15.4" CCFL LCDs are generally interchangeable, except into dells, where here yours might even work on picky laptops like the dell m1530.

In fact if there is a way you can get the EDID from it using another laptop I'd be willing to buy or trade + cash for it (so you can still get the money from selling it as parts). Asking because I need an LCD for my m1530, and I have tried 6 or so that don't work.

 

I put the HDD in an USB enclosure, attached it to a working laptop and although the power light comes on, it's not being recognized. It's making sounds like it could be stuck. Tried to power on the broken laptop again (without a HDD) and still nothing.

I wish I knew what what's happening before the failure but talking to my nephew is like talking to a brick.

 

Did the enclosure have two USB connectors, if yes did you connect both, if not, it could be lacking enough power to properly start.

 

Yup, I also used the power cord. It has a constant low pitched buzz with an occasional, hardly audible, high pitched beep.

Tomorrow I'll take to cover off to see what's happening.

 

If you open the drive itself without a clean room, you'll most likely kill it for good. You could try running it from another laptop and booting windows in safe mode.

 

...open the enclosure.

 

I thought that was a given , hence the confusion. You should see what people do with their tech sometimes