Laptop hassles

[kinglock]

i have a dell inspiron 8200 laptop, that has developed a fault. When i press the on button it turns on but nothing kicks in so loading of anything. Can someone help me on this cos i need to sort this out
Cheers

[ACtheTROLL]

whu?

I guess you mean the lights come on ... but nobody at home?

what operating system? (I assume XP ... but you never know!)
Also just to save time ... do you have/did you get any CDs with the machine?

Finally - when you switch on .... can you hear the hard disc start up .... does the CD/DVD blink on?

[kinglock]

thanks for this i turn it on and it seems to have power to it cos green led is on, but totally dead nothing on screen and no noise of anything kicking in, no fan and no drives of any kind
Give me a clue please

[ACtheTROLL]

Right
three things to try
will lappy power up if:

1 no power unit plugged in?
2 unplug battery - use power unit only?
(careful ... the case is fragile when batt out)
1 batt - 2 outputs ... possible for 1 to fail while the other is ok (unlikely)

last
when you switch on and the light comes on .... can you open the CD/DVD using the button?

if you can ... and you have a bootable CD/dvd ... can you start the machine?

finally - is the machine still in warranty?
best guess .... hdd faulty
worst .... mobo (power side) blown.
either way could be expensive

[kinglock]

Power is ok, cos after a while the fan kicks i. Nothing though from any drive at all. any thoughts

[ACtheTROLL]

Power tends to be split hi and lo demand
the fan coming on isn't as good as it sounds.
'cause the cpu feeds from the low side

does the screen light up?
does the bios show on screen?
can you open the bios setup screens?
can u boot from CDdvd, floppy or mem stick?

and - is the machine still in warranty?
best guess .... hdd faulty
but you'd expect an error
which makes me think
worst .... mobo (power side) blown.
either way could be expensive

[kinglock]

I have been quoted �179 to repair + about �60 postage there and back. The chap said it sounds like a power issue. Comp does nothing at all apart from to show the led light that shows its on. Thinking of buying a 2nd hand one and just swapping over hard drive etc. Cheaper than a repair. I will keep you informed of anything that can help other people
Cheers

[ACtheTROLL]

I agree

That's the trouble with laptops
no expansion ... expensive to fix.

you could get a desktop and mount the drive in a 2.5" enclosure - space permitting