Laptop will not turn-on on a full battery. AC adapter light goes off when plugged in laptop, and laptop won't power on.

ronbarak

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Jun 8, 2010
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18,510
Environment: Dell Inspiron 14, Windows 7.

Problem description:
Battery at 100% full. Windows hibernated the laptop. AC adapter was taken off the wall. (note: Laptop was working flawlessly since purchase - a year ago).

    ■When plugging AC adapter into the wall, nothing happens, laptop does not power on, no lights (on front left of laptop) go on.
    ■When AC adapter is disconnected from laptop, and plugged into the wall, the AC adapter's light turns on, but - as soon as the AC adapter is plugged into the laptop, the AC adapter light turns off and nothing is happening on the laptop: no lights are on and power-on does not start.
    ■Trying to start the laptop with just the buttery (which was full a few hours ago) produce same results as in 2 above, nothing is starting and no lights are turning on.
    ■Taking the battery off and trying to start the laptop without it, produces same negative results as in 2 above.
    ■I also disconnected the battery and DC adapter from the laptop, and pressed the power button for some 60 seconds. did not help.


My analysis:
Seems to me that since the AC adapter light does go on when it's not connected to the laptop, the AC adapter is not the culprit.

Likewise, since the battery was okay last night (it would keep the laptop working for longer than two hours) and there were no events that could damage it physically, the battery should not be blamed also.

Thus, the clues point to something in the laptop itself.

Questions:


    ■Do you have similar experience with Dell laptops: what cased your problem?
    ■Or, from your experience, what may cause my non powering-on laptop?


EDIT 1:
A Dell technician solved the (known, he said) problem which were some metal clips inside the laptop that may cause a short. He took then out of the laptop (didn't replace them, nor glued them).
 
Solution
Hi

One final thing to try
Look up service guide to laptop for CMOS battery replacement. Dell have very good documentation compared to many other PC & laptop manufacturers .

Some button cell batteries are hidden in main battery compartment and can be unplugged.
Others are soldered to motherboard and much more difficult to get to and remove

Leaving CMOS battery out for a day may enable CMOS to be cleared and laptop start up

It seems quite common for laptops to fail to boot up after a few years use and require a new or recon motherboard .

One common fault is failure of soldered connections between motherboard and chipsets when manufacturers moved away from lead based solders because of new environmental regulations

Regards
Mike...
Hi

One final thing to try
Look up service guide to laptop for CMOS battery replacement. Dell have very good documentation compared to many other PC & laptop manufacturers .

Some button cell batteries are hidden in main battery compartment and can be unplugged.
Others are soldered to motherboard and much more difficult to get to and remove

Leaving CMOS battery out for a day may enable CMOS to be cleared and laptop start up

It seems quite common for laptops to fail to boot up after a few years use and require a new or recon motherboard .

One common fault is failure of soldered connections between motherboard and chipsets when manufacturers moved away from lead based solders because of new environmental regulations

Regards
Mike Barnes
 
Solution

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