Laptop won't turn on

[kirab]

Hey all, I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 that just won't turn on. While connected to an AC adaptor that is connected to a working electrical outlet - upon pressing the power button, the "power" and "battery" LEDs flicker briefly but nothing else happens.

The AC adaptor is working (it has a solid green LED), and the problem is not resolved when not plugged into one. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Kov-Ice]

Pull the battery and try booting it while on A/C power only. Maybe the battery is toast...

[kirab]

Originally Posted by Kov-Ice Pull the battery and try booting it while on A/C power only. Maybe the battery is toast...

Tried that this morning and it didn't work... tried it just now and it seems to have turned on.

However, I noticed a strange smell coming from the laptop and I noticed that the fans weren't working (and this model gets very hot with the fans working almost always), so I didn't bother logging into any XP account and just turned it off. Going to try cleaning the fans with pressurized air tomorrow.

[kirab]

Update: After applying pressurized air to the laptop (to clean any built up dust), the fans are working again and the computer is operating normally (can log on to Windows, wireless is working etc.) with one exception. The 2 USB ports do not seem to be working (i.e. plugging in devices does nothing).

Any suggestions for this?

Edit: It seems that the sound card isn't working either. Certain sounds will emit a high pitched beep or nothing at all. Device manager reports no problems however... I'm thinking maybe the motherboard has been damaged? USB and audio are through the mobo on a laptop if I'm not mistaken.

[thefultonhow]

Your diagnosis is probably correct. Inspiron 5150s tend to have many heat/motherboard-related problems anyway. They were not one of Dell's better models.

[kirab]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Your diagnosis is probably correct. Inspiron 5150s tend to have many heat/motherboard-related problems anyway. They were not one of Dell's better models.

True, this isn't the first time I've had to replace the motherboard on this computer. Going to call Dell and see how much it's going to cost. Thanks for the help.

[glc]

It's probably going to cost you more than the laptop is worth to have it done.

[thefultonhow]

My general line is "at least $500" -- I've never heard of any laptop motherboard costing less. Fortunately, if you do need to get a new computer, I've seen many fewer problems with newer Dells, yet they are still reasonably cheap.

[kirab]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow My general line is "at least $500" -- I've never heard of any laptop motherboard costing less. Fortunately, if you do need to get a new computer, I've seen many fewer problems with newer Dells, yet they are still reasonably cheap.

I have an Inspiron 1420 and it works great. I only realized that the 5150 model was particularly bad about 2 years after I bought it.