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Inspiron 1521 will not power up...
Recently I got a used 1521 with Windows Vista Home Premium. The original owner had spilled water on the lap top (the LCD panel was closed at the time) and the lap top would not power on. I tore the thing down and cleaned up what residue I could see, reassembled it, and then powered it up.
The first couple of times the lap top would not complete POST, so i did some more cleaning and tried again. Success. The laptop booted to the "System Repari" screen. I tried to run System Repair twice with no success. I down loaded all of the documentation I could find and learned how to run a compete system restore.
I ran the restore and every thing seemed to be going fine. I got a desk top, tweaked some OS settings and started installing updates. I got to a point of installing the latest Vista updates and the system requested a reboot.
I rebooted but the system never came back. The system shut down with a complet power off, blinked on for a second or so, and then it just died.
Since that time I have taken the system apart several times looking for signs of damage. The only thing if found was some green corrosion on 4 or 5 solder connections for memory slot A. I cleaned this off as best I could, reseated the memory and tried to power the system up, with no success.
At this point I am totally stumped. The symptoms are when I press the power button the power light comes on for about 10 seconds or so and then it goes out. No fan, not other lights except the battery light when the power adapter is plugged in. If I press the powe and Fn keys and hold the power button, all three keyboard status lights bilink until I release the power button. If i do this with the battery removed, the status lights will blink even when I release the power button. If I push the power button a second time the status lights go out.
I have verified the hard drive is still good, and I have installed a new memory stick, and I have tested the cooling fan in an Inspiron 1150. When the lap top ruse runningprior to the shut down and rebbot attempt, all of the hard ware was functional, the lap top was connected to a wireless net work and was running on the power adapter. The power adapter was also tested using my 1150.
Any advice or assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Cliff Hipsher
ejn63
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July 9th, 2009 13:00
It's at least a faulty mainboard - possibly other faulty components as well.
http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=4353
oldgazer
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July 9th, 2009 14:00
Well I sorta figured some thing like that. is there any way to tell for certain, or perhaps find out what exactly the problem is?
oldgazer
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July 9th, 2009 15:00
Funny you should say that. I used to teach multi-layer repair when I was in the Navy...
ejn63
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July 9th, 2009 15:00
Short of replacing the board, not really - chances are the water shorted the board out, and it's all but impossible to repair multilayer mainboards - at least not economically.
ejn63
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July 9th, 2009 15:00
Maybe on older or custom boards with discrete components - PCs are built with boards with highly integrated components, stamped out on automated assembly lines and finished in countries where labor runs at most a couple of dollars an hour. Repairing them in a country where PC labor is $75+ an hour, makes little economic sense.
oldgazer
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July 9th, 2009 16:00
I wasn't saying that repairing the board was economically feasible. I was saying that I'm familiar with the techniques, tools, and skill level requirements that are required to make such repairs.
The Navy's Miniature/Micro Miniature Repair Program (aka NaVSea 2m) is deigned to provide for the ship board repair of certain parts that may be in either short supply, or are "mission critical" and require the shortest turn around times possible.
What really gets me is that as far as our technology has come, there is no real way to trouble shoot contemporary consumer electronics besides playing musical parts and hoping for the best. Being a "fix it your self" type, that just goes against the grain a little. Another "pet peeve" is that no one seems to know, or is willing to share any meaningful diagnostic or troubleshooting codes or tricks. As an example, I know that the flashing keyboard status LEDs means something, but no one seems to know what. Same thing for the power on light. The fact that it comes on for a short time and then goes out isn't just a case of coincidence. In fact, now that I think about it, the power light is telling me the power on circuit has timed out, but apparently no one knows why.
I would really like to get this thing running again, but I suppose that at this juncture my best option is to part the machine out and get a suitable replacement.
Thanks for your input.
Cliff ICC USN (Ret.)