Dell Inspiron 600m wont boot!

My Dell Inspiron 600m wont boot! The light usually turns green when I turn my computer on turns on for about 5 seconds then turns off. The same thing happens when the AC adapter is plugged in. Im pretty sure it has nothing to do with the battery or power. After it crashed about 3 years ago, my laptop used to get really hot, where it was almost to hot to sit on my legs. I had left it on all day yesterday, and Im wondering if something could have overheated? What do you all think?

Add a reply

Register or log in to remove.

Leaving the laptop run all day should not cause it to overheat because it is just sitting idle. What power setting do you use? Most settings will shut down the display and hard drives after a short amount of time to conserve power. They also hibernate soon after shutting down the components.

Most, if not all laptops, have a built-in safety feature to shut themselves down in the event of overheating to avoid damage to hardware. So unless that is disabled in your laptop, I doubt that is the cause.

I would not rule out a power issue as it is most likely the least expensive to fix. It could be a faulty power jack. Is the battery charged? The AC adapters fail on laptops quite frequently and is normally the cause of power issues.

First thing to do, is to rule out the easiest things. Find an alternate battery and AC adapter and try those first. If you can't, then get a voltmeter and test the current from adapter. Also, check the LED indicator on the battery to see what it reports. You can also inspect the jack for signs of cracked soldering.

Anything more requires you to disassemble the unit.

Reply to ibleet

I'm not sure about the power setting. I know I messed with it after my computer initally messed up because my battery would run down really quickly, so I tried to make it last longer by putting it on a setting where it hopefully didn't use as much power. The setting I used before it crashed I couldnt find. But I cannot remember what it was called. The battery is charged and works because my sister has the same computer and we checked my battery and ac adapter in hers and it seemed to be fine. My husband called around some shops this morning and most people said it sounds like the motherboard (not sure exactly what that is bc I know nothign about computers) but they all suggested getting an enclosure for my hardrive and getting information off of it and buying a new computer! I just hope they are wrong so I dont have to get a whole new computer!

Reply to LDM

Most shops will say its the motherboard. Its the easiest diagnosis and the most profit for them. Laptops can be difficult to diagnose so they tend to take the easy way out.

Ok, since you upped your power settings to conserve the battery, that can sometimes cause overheating because the high settings lower the fan speeds, or even turn off the fans. My lappy overheated when I changed my power settings to high. Once I lowered the settings, the fans began spinning at full speed and the overheating subsided. Thinking it shouldn't have overheated in the 1st place, I opened it up and found a huge dust bunny blocking the fan exhaust near the video card heatsink. I removed that and the laptop ran nearly 20c cooler. I can now increase my power settings safely.

If you're sure the battery is fine and the AC adapter works, then next to check is the power jack where the adapter plugs in. You need to open up the laptop to get a good look at it and check for any cracks in the solder points.

Reply to ibleet

The only way to be sure its the motherboard is to eliminate everything else first. That is why I always check the battery, adapter, jack, dc power board....Then I swap out the Ram. You can also try to boot into the bios with the hard drive removed to check that. Other than that, I just disassemble and reseat every component in the laptop and clean thoroughly. Components can become loose and excess dust can cause havoc. I remove the display, keyboard, video card, power board, and anything else that is not attached to the motherboard itself.

I once had a customer bring me a Dell laptop that had the same symptoms that your laptop has. I found out the she dropped it a few times, so I tore it down and found a loose board. I cleaned it all up and replaced the board securely and it booted right up into windows.

I hope some of this helps. If none of it does, then you may have a bad motherboard. I would look for signs of anything that appears to be burnt out. Other than that, not much I can offer without having the computer in my possession.

Good Luck

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to ibleet

ibleet wrote :

The only way to be sure its the motherboard is to eliminate everything else first. That is why I always check the battery, adapter, jack, dc power board....Then I swap out the Ram. You can also try to boot into the bios with the hard drive removed to check that. Other than that, I just disassemble and reseat every component in the laptop and clean thoroughly. Components can become loose and excess dust can cause havoc. I remove the display, keyboard, video card, power board, and anything else that is not attached to the motherboard itself.

I once had a customer bring me a Dell laptop that had the same symptoms that your laptop has. I found out the she dropped it a few times, so I tore it down and found a loose board. I cleaned it all up and replaced the board securely and it booted right up into windows.

I hope some of this helps. If none of it does, then you may have a bad motherboard. I would look for signs of anything that appears to be burnt out. Other than that, not much I can offer without having the computer in my possession.

Good Luck

Reply to SPD

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - Dell Inspiron 600m wont boot!