Dell Laptop

[Mullen07]

I have recently come across a Dell Inspirion 5100 laptop. It has got some serious issues though, it won't even boot up. What used to happen was that I would hit the on button, and the hard drives would start to spin, and it would start to boot, but then it would crash within seconds, and shut off. Now it won't even do that. I think that it has something to do with power somehow not getting where it needs to go. I really don't have any experience in working on laptops, so I'm not sure how to go about getting it back into at least a somewhat working condition. It is a Pentium 4 2.4GHz laptop, so it's defientally not a piece of shit, so I would really like to see if I can get this :per working.

If you've got any ideas or anything, that'd be awesome.

Thanks,
Mullen

[FlyingPenguin]

Hi, if no one has done so yet, welcome to PCA!!

QUESTIONS:

- Is the laptop under warranty? Some Dells have up to 4 year warranties. If you're not sure, go to the Dell website, go to the Support section, click on the warranty information link and enter the service tag number (it's on a sticker on the laptop somewhere - usually the bottom). It'll tell you if it's under warranty and what type (onsite or mail in). If it's under warranty (especially on site warranty) there's no reason to screw with it. Call Dell and have them deal with it.

- Does the laptop power on at all? If not try pulling the battery and see if it'll start (needless to say the power supply needs to be connected).

- Is the powersupply the type with a light on it, and is that light lit?

- If the laptop does power up, do you see the Dell logo and an option to press a key to run the Setup Menu?

- If you can get into the setup menu (BIOS MENU) see if the hard drive is detected. It should be listed as one of the IDE devices in the main menu.

Laptop hardware issues are VERY difficult to troubleshoot, and there's not going to be much you can do except replace the hard drive if it's bad. However if it's not powering up at all it's not a hard drive issue, it's a power, motherboard, or cooling fan issue.

Most laptops will automatically shut down if the fan is not working. Even in the BIOS menu, you should hear the fan kick on once in a while as the CPU heats up.

If it won't start at all your problem could be almost anything from a bad power supply, to dead motherboard. These aren't things easily diagnosed or repaired by a casual user.

If it's not under warranty I recommend you take it to a Mom & Pop computer repair shop in town (DO NOT take it to a big place like Best Buy or CompUSA!). Find a small shop that someone recommends. If it's a small enough operation they might give you an estimate without charging you for it.

If the laptop is not salvageable, IT'S STILL VERY VALUABLE! Even dead laptops sell for a nice chunk of money on Ebay. The screen alone is worth a lot. Do a search on Ebay for "Dell 5100 not working" and you'll be amazed. There are always people buying dead laptops for spare parts.

If you don't want to deal with Ebay, there's someone I used to sell dead lappies to. Email or PM me and I'll be happy to give you his email. He's a trader here on our forums. I've dealt with him several times and he's fair and reputable.

Hope this helps...

[swinada]

after FP respondes I kind of feel inferior to respond, cause most of the time FP is the one providing solutions to my problems.
One thing he didnt mention here might be RAM problem. Had a similar problem on my Inspiron 3800, would start to boot and then for no reason shut down, switched RAM chips and everything was honky dory. Maybe try this before you junk it. If you decide to junk it let me know, as FP said, parts are always usable.

[FlyingPenguin]

Good point swinada. If the laptop has 2 memory sticks, try pulling one leaving the other in. See if it boots. If not, swap the sticks.

If there's only one stick you'll have to find a spare somewhere.