Laptop Failure

[GOA-E]

Hey,

First off, The model
Dell m1730 - Out of warranty

Problem:
Laptop is failing to boot up. The screen does not turn on/make it to BIOS. Tho, the lights come on, USB devices light up...

Things that happend up to this problem:
Very confident it's NOT virus related.
I put my laptop into hibernation for the night, in the morning, the laptop still being in hibernation, I took out my Ipod shuffle first gen. Later in the day, we expirenced a black out.
When I got home, My laptop was no longer in hibernation ( the blackout ) and thats when I noticed the problem. My AC Adapter is behind two surge protectors, so I think ( and hoping ) it's a minor hardware misshap with the Ipod.

Looking for some helpfull help on how to correct this issue

Thanks

 

[The_Other_One]

If you don't see the bios/post screen, it's almost certainly not virus or software related.

Are you sure you were using hibernation? I'm questioning this because in hibernation, the machine saves what's in the RAM then shuts down completely. It should remain in hibernation just as it would remain off during a black out/loss of battery power/whatever.

Anyway, what exactly does the laptop do when powered up. When the lights come on, exactly what lights are you referring to? How about keyboard lights, can they be controlled (capslock)? How about hard drive activity or a POST beep? How about a backlight? If no backlight, can you confirm if there's anything on the screen. If the backlight fails, you should be able to see a faint image if light is directed onto the screen.

 

[GOA-E]

If you don't see the bios/post screen, it's almost certainly not virus or software related.

Are you sure you were using hibernation? I'm questioning this because in hibernation, the machine saves what's in the RAM then shuts down completely. It should remain in hibernation just as it would remain off during a black out/loss of battery power/whatever.

Anyway, what exactly does the laptop do when powered up. When the lights come on, exactly what lights are you referring to? How about keyboard lights, can they be controlled (capslock)? How about hard drive activity or a POST beep? How about a backlight? If no backlight, can you confirm if there's anything on the screen. If the backlight fails, you should be able to see a faint image if light is directed onto the screen.

As to the laptop saving whats in the ram ,My laptop battery died a year ago. And since I use it as a desktop, didn't feel the need to fork out for a new one.

Keyboards light, Yes they are on. Other lights such as the speaker lights, the trackpad lights and the back lights.

Using keys like capslock and numlock, nop. When I press them it is not shown on the capslock and numlock displayer...?

There is nothing on the screen.

Thanks for the reply,

GOA-E

 

[The_Other_One]

Well still, I'm just saying if it's in hibernation, the machine's shut down. It then takes a different boot sequence when it reboots and loads the info back into RAM. Suspend/sleep essentially keeps the RAM powered while the machine's in a low power state.

Hmm...so you do see a backlight but with a black screen? And no response from the keyboard? Do you have a multimeter to test the power supply? Surge protectors keep you safe from surges, but not brown-outs and such. Maybe confirm the voltage is within an acceptable range, though it still could not be putting out enough amps.

You could also try popping the RAM out. That should cause it to give you a no RAM beep (typically a continuous BEEEP...BEEEP...etc). You could also remove some other things such as the hard drive or optical drive, perhaps even the wireless card if you want to eliminate all peripherals, though I'm beginning to lean more and more towards the motherboard.

 

[GOA-E]

Well still, I'm just saying if it's in hibernation, the machine's shut down. It then takes a different boot sequence when it reboots and loads the info back into RAM. Suspend/sleep essentially keeps the RAM powered while the machine's in a low power state.

Hmm...so you do see a backlight but with a black screen? And no response from the keyboard? Do you have a multimeter to test the power supply? Surge protectors keep you safe from surges, but not brown-outs and such. Maybe confirm the voltage is within an acceptable range, though it still could not be putting out enough amps.

You could also try popping the RAM out. That should cause it to give you a no RAM beep (typically a continuous BEEEP...BEEEP...etc). You could also remove some other things such as the hard drive or optical drive, perhaps even the wireless card if you want to eliminate all peripherals, though I'm beginning to lean more and more towards the motherboard.

Sorry my mistake in use of bad words, by backlight I was refering to the lights on the actual back of the laptop. The backlight for the screen is blank.

I don't have a multimeter unfortuantly.

The black out was in my whole area, and wasn't caused by a lightning storm, if that info helps

I tried connecting a second screen and it was blank.

 

[GOA-E]

Took it to a technician, he concured that the mobo was broken.