sage19175

Estimable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510
Ok, so I consider myself fairly decent at repairing computers but this one has me stumped.
Warning....If you don't care why I need to repair this laptop instead of replacing it, Just pretend that hypothetically repairing this laptop is the only option and skip to the second paragraph......
A few weeks ago my (really old)trusty laptop kicked the bucket, and at the time I wasn't too upset because I recently built a desktop and really don't need a laptop until next year when I start college. But I found out that I am required to have a laptop for a competition I am participating in later this month. I really don't want to buy a new laptop because I will be getting a new one for college in less than a year.

Anyway the laptop (a Dell Inspiron n5110 with i5-2450m) gave the dreaded dell 7 beeps of death, no screen no nothing just beeping, when it died a few weeks ago. with the 7 beeps it can either be cpu or mobo, but most likely mobo. So I ordered a NEW Dell manufactured replacement on ebay for ~$45. after installing it I powered up the laptop I got the dell logo and then the windows 10 logo, after about 15seconds of the windows loading screen the computer abruptly completely shut down. then about 5 seconds later it powered itself back up and started loading windows again but this time it had "preparing automatic repairs" under the logo. but soon after it crashed again and is stuck in that bootloop. So I grabbed a windows boot disk and popped it in (it actually was a windows 10 preview disk that I thought was a windows disk) but it did the same thing, so I popped in a Ubuntu boot disk and it also did the same thing. At this point I realize I must have some other hard where problem. so I see if I can access bios and bios works fine. Then I get into Dell's ePSA diagnostics and everything passes and I can't see any problems anywhere. But I realise my battery is almost dead so I plug in the charger and immediately the laptop shuts down.
Itthen goes into a very rapid boot-loop, fan, lights, hdd, shutdown, fan lights, hdd, shutdown..... nothing on the screen. It does this anytime the charger is plugged in. The battery will still charge if the laptop is off. Also it never gives me any error or beep codes at any time during this whole process.

AS a side note, this laptop has already been revived twice. When I got it someone gave it to me and it wouldn't turn on no lights no nothing, and they said if I could fix it I could have it. So I found out it was the keyboard $14 and replaced that and it worked fine. 6 months later the hdd went bad and then I replaced that. But other then that it never really gave me any trouble, it was fast, it has windows 10, it never once crashed accept when the hdd died. Full specs, 6gb ram, i5-2450m cpu 2.5ghz and 3.1ghz boost with integrated Intel hd3000 graphics. travel star 500gb hdd.

So I guess my question is what the heck is happening?? and also is there any way to fix this or should I just return the mobo I just bought, throw the whole thing in thew trash, and use my brothers laptop for the competition. My bothers laptop, AKA dumbness, is a Compaq presario from the stone ages that barely runs win 10 and takes more hours to open the web browser then I get sleep in a night.

Anyway, thanks in advance!
Sage.
 
Solution
Hello Sage,

The only thing that comes to mind from my side is the apparent correlation between the odd behaviour and the charger. Next repairs I'd try would be to replace both the battery and entire charger cable for the laptop (if you can even find them) and see if that seems to help. The battery isn't the first place I'd usually look for that kind of off bootloop, but bad power can do all kinds of strange things to a system.

Someone else might also be able to see something I don't, but that is certainly my 2 cents for what to try next. Best of luck, and if you end up being able to replace the battery and charger I'd love to hear an update!

Cheers

Luminary

Estimable
Nov 29, 2015
16
0
4,590
Hello Sage,

The only thing that comes to mind from my side is the apparent correlation between the odd behaviour and the charger. Next repairs I'd try would be to replace both the battery and entire charger cable for the laptop (if you can even find them) and see if that seems to help. The battery isn't the first place I'd usually look for that kind of off bootloop, but bad power can do all kinds of strange things to a system.

Someone else might also be able to see something I don't, but that is certainly my 2 cents for what to try next. Best of luck, and if you end up being able to replace the battery and charger I'd love to hear an update!

Cheers
 
Solution
New motherboard for $45 seems a bit low, are you sure it was new?

Seems like a motherboard issue with how it's shutting off. Is the charging port on the motherboard and was part of what you replaced? Assuming you try new other parts like RAM and it was put together properly.
 

sage19175

Estimable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510


Thanks for the reply hang-the-9!
No, the charging circuitry is on a daughter board. I know dell's ePSA isn't perfect, but wouldn't the ram or charging board test bad if that was the problem? I do plan on testing the ram today. Also I will see if the laptop will boot without the charging circuit attached. The store I bought the motherboard from had 100000+ reviews with a 99% positive rating, I wouldn't think they would want to hurt their ratings by false advertising, but that's just my thought.
Thanks!
Sage

 

sage19175

Estimable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510


Thanks Luminary!
I do have a second power cord. So I guess ill try plunging the second cord in without the battery attached and see what happens.
Sage