Will a new Motherboard fix my power problems?

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jimtmich

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Jul 17, 2012
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I have a 4 year old Dell Inspiron 1720 with a graphics card. The machine won't run off the AC Adaptor (I have 2 and doesn't work on either one). The battery is fully discharged by the LED's on the back of the bettery. the machine won't run off the battery either.

When I push the power button it just flashes the power light and battery light. No attempt to startup.

I pulled the sims and coin battery to reset everything in case it was software.. no change.

I pulled the motherboard, no cold solder joints on the power jack. I touched them up anyway. I am getting the 19.5V onto the motherboard.

So I'm thinking I shoudl replace the motherboard. a search of the motherboard part number shows I can get new motherboards for $155.

Is there anything else I should check or try before I try a new motherboard?
 

lupinesithlord

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Feb 16, 2007
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is the pin solid on the power jack (ie is the jack broken.) Sounds like you are comfortable soldering motherboard, you could replace the jack if its not solid...5-10 bucks on ebay. I would think that replacing the motherboard would work, however there are some things to consider. a "new" motherboard at this point for that machine is going to be a refurb, or just a pulled board. if you replace the board and it doesnt work your out an additional 155, I have found that the wiser course of action when dealing with screwy laptop motherboards is to replace the laptop. its a 4 year old laptop, what else is going to go when you get it back up and running. Its a better investment to take that 5-10 from jack replacement, and the 155 from motherboard and put it towards a new more updated laptop with a fully functional warranty. You can always pull the hard drive and hook it up via enclosure/cable to pull your files off the old machine. sorry to sound dooom and gloomy....
 

jimtmich

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I agree with you 100%, so when this happened, I did buy a new laptop.

Now I have this broken laptop sitting in the corner saying "try to fix me, it will be fun" and I could let one of the kids use it and keep them off my laptop :).

So my approach has switched to "keep the kids off my laptof for $155, might be worth a try.
 

lupinesithlord

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ok this is going to sound silly..... try running it on ac again, without the main battery in it. if it powers up it would be a battery issue.
is the center post of the dc jack (in the laptop) wiggly or solid....if wiggly then its likely to be the dc jack, if not the board would be the next likely candidate.
 

lupinesithlord

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sorry last time really.....

ok I just want to verify that there is no fan activity, no hard drive activity, nothing except a light that blinks on then off...if you have any activity I would try hooking it up to an external display to see if it will run video out....if it does (therefore actually working) it would be an lcd inverter...this part provides backlight for the screen.
It does sound like the motherboard, with it not charging or running I'm tending to lean towards Motherboard. at one time the battery charging was a separate daughterboard, but has become part of mb for the mostpart. I'd verify that the charging system is part of the motherboard...and go for it.
 

jimtmich

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Update...believe it or not, my sister in law has the same laptop. To confirm that it was the power section of the motherboard, I switched her fully charged battery into my laptop and it ran off the battery just fine :) Still wouldn't work from any of the AC adaptors. I put my battery in her computer and charged my battery up just fine as well. So, looks like I''ll pick up a motherboard....
 
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