TR Forums

Hey everyone. Ive been fixing Laptops for quite some time now, but this one has got me stumped. I have tested the AC cord and reseated the ram and everything seems to be fine. The led lights on the laptop are on when i plug the charger in, but when i power it on the power led turns on for about 10 seconds then turns off (Laptop does not start, can't hear the fans or anything) It just seems like its really not powering on but all the led's are fine... No blinking, nothing. I've tried taking the battery out and letting static charge go. Very confused.

Any advice?

Thanks a bunch.

Maybe the fan is dead? Could be that it is detecting that the fan isn't spinning and shutting itself down.

How did you test the power adapter? Just because it seems to be putting out the correct voltage doesn't mean it will behave under load; it is probably worth trying with another (known good) power adapter.

Aside from that, sounds like a dead motherboard.

Not sure what you mean by "letting static charge go".

Try this:
Pull the battery.
Pull the AC.
Hold the power switch down for 30 seconds.
Plug in AC ONLY.
Power it on. If it powers on successfully, turn it off and add the battery .
Power it on with battery AND AC. If it works, it was a momentary confusion on the part of the laptop.

I've seen a lot of bad batteries act this way. I've also seen the above fix a lot of this across 3-5 different brands.

Always attempt to boot the laptop on AC power only (battery removed) as I have seen a few that won't boot with a borked battery. You can add the battery back once it boots up successfully, but if it turns back off after adding the battery, you know exactly what is causing the problem at that point.

Psychic powers diagnosis: motherboard failed.

More logical approach: Minimize the number of variables. Inspect fans during powerup, check for spinning or pulses. Remove and set aside battery, hard disk. If possible, test all removable parts in another laptop, ideally one of same/similar model.

Depending on the client involved, just being able to triangulate and price the failed parts is all most folks are willing to do. Putting the old laptop's HDD in a USB enclosure and helping them shop for a replacement laptop usually gets you full fee, gratitude, and often rights of salvage to whatever's still usable.