Dell inspiron 1150 will not start

[hawk4561]

laptop will not start. Intermitent lights. Power supply is good and there is power to the motherboard. I have seen a lot of postings of people having the same problem. Is there any help out there? :rolleyes:

[chrisbliss18]

Take the battery out and disconnect the power supply. Let the laptop sit for a few minutes. Connect just the power supply, wait a moment, and try turning the laptop on. If the laptop does not start, disconnect the power supply, wait a few minutes, connect the battery, and try starting it again. Let us know if the laptop starts up under either of these conditions.

[hawk4561]

i tried your suggestion and nothing seems to work.

[alc6379]

Pull everything that you can pull-- optical drive, RAM, MiniPCI cards, hard drive, any PCMCIA cards. See what happens then.

If you've got nothing, then, you're probably looking at either a bad motherboard or a bad processor. If you're out of warranty, then that stinks-- you'd want to contact Dell and purchase some replacement parts to fix your unit.

[hawk4561]

Thanks for the help

[alc6379]

Thanks for the help

Glad to help-- be sure to let us know how everything goes!

[siaohonda]

Take the battery out and disconnect the power supply. Let the laptop sit for a few minutes. Connect just the power supply, wait a moment, and try turning the laptop on. If the laptop does not start, disconnect the power supply, wait a few minutes, connect the battery, and try starting it again. Let us know if the laptop starts up under either of these conditions.

Hi There, mine laptop was unable to use power on when using power adapter, but the battery did start. However, when power adapter is plug in, the power LED & the Battery Led is blinking non-stop & can't be switch on. Worse is that my battery can't be charge too.....any solution guys??

[STBEAR007]

Hi There, mine laptop was unable to use power on when using power adapter, but the battery did start. However, when power adapter is plug in, the power LED & the Battery Led is blinking non-stop & can't be switch on. Worse is that my battery can't be charge too.....any solution guys??

YES any solution on this subject...I have same issues with blinking lights. I just took the whole computer apart piece by piece put back together and so far it seems to be charging the battery (no flashing leds after 30 min so far...this is good...I will repost something if it actually charges battery and runs under battery power. I always kept battery in while mostly having laptop plugged in when I did use it. I rarely used this laptop to begin with...Didn't know I could or should remove battery while plugged in. I thought once plugged in the adapter superceeds the battery?

Thanks
STBEAR007

[namenda]

I have been reading through the many postings from folks having issues with the Dell Inspiron 1150. I am working on an 1150 that was dropped while connected to the AC power adapter. Of course this broke the connector off the motherboard. The 1150 still worked with the battery until it died. I ordered a replacement power connector and soldered it on the other day. When I connected the laptop up to AC power the front power indicator came on and only the fan started, nothing else happens, no screen, no POST, no beeps, no BIOS, nothing. I reseated the RAM, no good, so I removed the battery and tried with just the AC power, same results. I then went to the Dell support site and dug around there and ran their support wizard and it is telling me the "reed switch" has failed. From what I can tell this is part of the LCD display assembly. I am confused as to why this would have failed since I completely disassembled the laptop and the LCD display unit was not attached . All I worked on was the system board and then only in the area where the AC power adapter goes. I was careful not to hold the soldering iron on to long so as not to heat up any surrounding parts.
Anyone else have this issue? Or find out why their 1150s won't power up, just getting the power indicator on the front edge?

Thanks

[vamsi2k5]

My inspiron 630m had a similar problem. I works fine if the battery is removed from the system, but if the battery is connected, orange light blinks and cannot be turned on(even with AC). The battery looks fine with 3 LEDs on when checked for charge.
Can anyone please help me?

[Barton3000]

This problem is very common on this model. (Inspiron 1150) (5100)
But it is very easy to fix, if you know how to solder .
There are two voltage regulators (A little black square with eight legs.)mounted almost directly after the dc-jack connector.
At the edge of the motherboard
Remember that the positve line is not the one in the center of the DC-jack.
The troubble is almost always in the first one.
You can check with a volt meter while ac adapter is connected, you should have 19.5 volt on each side of it except for the signal leg.
if you check the other one you most probably will have 19 volt on the front side and about 11 volt on the opposite side.
but the voltage is pulsing. (Thats why the lights are blinking.)
This is not so easy to explain.
But if you replace them both you are home free.
I hope this helps at least someone.

[capt_terriffic]

I've got an inspiron 9300 that's acting kind of similar.

It began to make a crackling sound first, which I took no notice of. This went on for about 2 weeks, then while I was using it - it just died.

I noticed that the LED on the charger lights up when I plug it into the wall socket - without connecting it to the machine, but as soon as the connector on the other end makes contact with the power inlet socket (without being fully inserted), then the LED on the charger goes out.

I don't know which direction to go in with this, but I just wanted to share this extra observational detail with you all.

Any additional advice would be very much apppreciated :icon_cheesygrin:

[Barton3000]

Hi,
You have a full shortcircuit at the incoming circuits most likely at one of the mosfet transistors directly after dc input jack. (Charger-plug)
If you open it up you can probably see the burned circuit.
When the led on the charger goes out when inserted, the shortcircuit is total with only a few Ohm´s of resistance between positive and negative terminal.
This can be caused by a numerous of cases, but my guess is at the incoming voltage regulators, rectifiers and capacitors.
you have to disasemble it to see whats wrong with it.

Good luck / Sweden

[Adz09]

Hello all. I have just recieved one of these dell Inspiron 1150's, and it seems to be doing the same thing as yours, well not even that. I know that the power supplies im using are ok, so i plug in press the on button, the three lights flash green then go off.....no fans turning or anything. Does this sound like the power socket to you guys? Or could it be the cpu as it is trying to post and not doing. Not sure what to do, but i will strip it down later today and check the things you have suggested above. Anymore help would be much appreciated. Cheers Adz

ps. love to hear how you all get on, if i find a solution ill post and update :)

[Japsons]

Take the battery out and disconnect the power supply. Let the laptop sit for a few minutes. Connect just the power supply, wait a moment, and try turning the laptop on. If the laptop does not start, disconnect the power supply, wait a few minutes, connect the battery, and try starting it again. Let us know if the laptop starts up under either of these conditions.

No it does not start

[mhagen]

It sounds to me like the power connector on the motherboard has a short in it. The 3 lights go on because it is initially seeing some power and then not functioning from that power correctly and then trying to run from battery (which I am guessing is dead). The expensive solution is to replace the motherboard or the cheap solution is to have the power connector on the motherboard replaced. I know someone who can do option 2 for about $98 plus shipping. Hope that helps

[japsons001]

Hi
Where would you find these parts in Ontario Canada?
Thanks
John

[rjpoirier]

I had this problem. Finally, I cured my problem (accidently)!
I had this laptop sitting around for 2 years with the same problem and it was an accident that I discovered how to fix the problem and don't know if the process could be repeated -
Nothing worked, except the blinking lights so by chance I had the charger plugged into the laptop first and when I plugged it into the wall, zoom, it lit right up and no problem since then. These chargers have 3 wires as there is a syncronization chip in them, that's how the computer knows what kind of charger it is. Sometimes these chips burn out and your charger won't work. I suggest that you check the connections well, and note that these have had problems in this area where they actually caught fire because of the loose connection on the laptop where the charger plugs in. Perhaps, it comes loose from the board, or the center pin gets pushed in.
So I put battery in, plug the power adapter into the computer and only then plug it into the wall! That's all I did! Works fine now! Of course I had an adapter apart and was trying different power connections and probably had it on reverse polarity for a few seconds here and there, perhaps I jolted something inside, but all I know is that when I plugged it into the wall, after plugging it into the laptop, that is when it lit up and works fine now! Hope this helps.
[e-mail]
East Coast Canada.
Good luck all - and let me know if this works for you.
Thanks

[rjpoirier]

PS. I also put in a 2.8ghz CPU(purchased from E-bay) - which may have made a difference!!? For the 1150 remove the keyboard (I just pried it out being careful not to damage the ribbon cable) then the Fan and CPU can be removed easily after that. My 1150 runs at 2.8ghz plugged in and on battery power drops to 1.6 or something like that. The correct charger is necessary for most laptops due to the syncronization chips built in - one site recommended removing the chip and putting it into the laptop but.???!!
Okay, this is in addition to the post I made directly above.
again, hope this helps.

[JREAD19]

Hi i have a prob with my dell inspiron 1546, it powers on start up until it reaches after the inspiron logo there is a black screen and a white blinking light and ntn after that......help me out her pepople please. Appreciate it.