Dell Inspiron 6400 doesn't switch on - Help

WelshSaver

For a while my laptop has been sending me a message stating battery needs replacing, then one day I was in the middle of using the laptop and it just died on me and hasn't been working since. I bought a new battery and it still doesn't work.

The Power Light is on. The symbol that says that it should turn on when the computer reads or writes data - does not flash or come on at all.(looks a bit like a cylinder symbol). Then the symbol which looks like a battery with a lightning sign inside - That does not come on at all.

Other symbols that are lighting up are the box with a 9 - which states that the numeric keypad is enabled. The box with an A which is on when the uppercase letter function is enabled - that light is flashing. The box with an arrow pointing downwards which states turns on when the scroll lock function is enabled - this light is also flashing.

Hope this makes sense, any ideas as the screen is totally blank and I cannot use laptop at all. I hope someone can help

closed

remove the power lead, and battery, replace power lead, and try to power on without battery installed. Is the light on the power supply?

macman

What happens when you use it on mains power with the battery removed?
Is it booting up properly and passing the POST (a bleep or series of bleeps before it would go to the Windows splash screen?)
Can you hear the hard disk spin up and thefans working?
Have you tried plugging in an external monitor in case it is just a screen problem?
If it won't work on mains power, sounds to me more like your mains adaptor has failed and won't charge the battery, new or old. Test the mains adaptor with a multimeter (borrow or buy one if you don't have-only a tenner) to see if it is outputting the correct voltage.

WelshSaver

closed wrote: »

remove the power lead, and battery, replace power lead, and try to power on without battery installed. Is the light on the power supply?

Hi closed. I have done this and the power supply light comes on as before, but does go out after about 1 minute. But no sound from the hard drive or the fans.

WelshSaver

macman wrote: »

What happens when you use it on mains power with the battery removed?
Is it booting up properly and passing the POST (a bleep or series of bleeps before it would go to the Windows splash screen?)
Can you hear the hard disk spin up and thefans working?
Have you tried plugging in an external monitor in case it is just a screen problem?
If it won't work on mains power, sounds to me more like your mains adaptor has failed and won't charge the battery, new or old. Test the mains adaptor with a multimeter (borrow or buy one if you don't have-only a tenner) to see if it is outputting the correct voltage.

Hi macman just posted to closed about what happens when battery removed and just used with mains power. It is not booting up properly at all, the screen just stays blank, doesn't go on at all. I will try testing with a multimeter, but do not have one at the moment. My brother has just brought his dell computer down and is now trying his mains adaptor on our dell.

WelshSaver

Right my brother has just plugged his mains adaptor in and it is still doing the same thing. All lights that do come on are turning off after about 1 minute. But no changes.

WelshSaver

Thanks closed and macman, does anyone have anymore ideas. Does it sound as though the processor has gone?

closed

motherboard is more likely, how old is it

WelshSaver

closed it is about 3 years old.