Dell Inspirion 1501 won't power on?

[adammitchell]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this. For some reason, my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1501 will not power on at all - no lights, no fan, no beep, nothing.

The AC adapter is plugged in and the light on it comes on when it it is plugged into the wall, and stays on when it is plugged into the computer. It is the original adapter and the battery is a replacement - about 2 years old. However, the computer won't turn on with the battery out and just the adapter plugged in(isn't it supposed to?).

Over the past few weeks she has been saying that the thing almost immediately dies if the adapter is not plugged in. Other times, it overheats when she is watching a video and it shuts down. She turned it on a couple days ago and used it without any problems and then she shut it down. Now, when I hit the button to turn it on, it is acting like it is dead.

I don't know if it is the battery, or maybe more serious? I read that there have been problems with the F1 filters on these, but I don't have a multimeter to test the mobo, so I have no way of knowing if I have got a bad connection or not. Any ideas?

 

[joshuatree1959]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this. For some reason, my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1501 will not power on at all - no lights, no fan, no beep, nothing.

The AC adapter is plugged in and the light on it comes on when it it is plugged into the wall, and stays on when it is plugged into the computer. It is the original adapter and the battery is a replacement - about 2 years old. However, the computer won't turn on with the battery out and just the adapter plugged in(isn't it supposed to?).

Over the past few weeks she has been saying that the thing almost immediately dies if the adapter is not plugged in. Other times, it overheats when she is watching a video and it shuts down. She turned it on a couple days ago and used it without any problems and then she shut it down. Now, when I hit the button to turn it on, it is acting like it is dead.

I don't know if it is the battery, or maybe more serious? I read that there have been problems with the F1 filters on these, but I don't have a multimeter to test the mobo, so I have no way of knowing if I have got a bad connection or not. Any ideas?

The issue w/ shutting down is probalby that the fan inside the unit has died. The heatsink needs the fan to pull the heat out or the unit will shutdown rapidly to protect itself.

The Power issue with the battery could be a bad DC-in jack (where the plug attaches to the PC) or the mobo itself. Vissually inspect the jack on the pc (where it plugs in) to see if it looks damaged. Also look at the plug itself from the AC adapter to make sure it still has a center pin.

If it is the mobo, the part itself will run about $150 - 200 depending on where u buy it. That doesn't include installation cost. If the PC is less than 5 years old, you might be able to contact Dell and extend your warranty for a reasonable cost which would include repairing the unit.

Hope this helps.

JT - Dell Certified Tech

 

[adammitchell]

Upon inspection of the adapter and the port on the PC, I could not find any visible issues. The pin is still in place, and the port on the computer seems fine - it isn't pushed in and there doesn't appear to be any damage. The computer was purchased in 2008, but I don't know if it was brand new when it was purchased.