Inspiron 8200 boot problems

Question

A friend of mine brought his wifes 8200 for me to look at because it would not start. I only know a little about laptops but figured I would give it a try.   I tried several times to start it up, both on battery and on AC power, and the result was always the same, the lights come on, keyboard lights only flash for a second, the drive light comes on and remains solid for several seconds, then the drive light goes out and the power light remains on.   Nothing ever displays on the screen, there are no beeps, nothing.   Following instructions on web site I removed components, reseated memory, etc all with no change. Then I tried only one of the two memory modules and it booted. Wow I figured I had it figured out. Booted all the way up after first message about change in memory size. Everything in Windows was fine but slow with only 128 megs of ram.   Decided to shut down. Shutdown went fine. Try to reboot and same symptoms as before. Swapped for the other memory module, no difference. Tried them both again and it booted with no errors. Shut down. No reboot after 20 tries.   Tried external monitor, monitors says frequency is too high, no screen from the laptop showsup at all. Tried external mouse, external keyboard. No boot.   I'm at a loss. If I remove all components as instructed and try to boot I get a quick flash of lights and then everything goes off.   Basically what he has is a laptop that will boot perfectly about every 30 or 40 tries and I have no clue what might ause this behavior, especially no error messages, no beeps, no sign from the system that it sees something is wrong.   If any of you can offer advice I would sure appreciate it.   Thanks Woody

jocase · Answer

@woodyga wrote:

A friend of mine brought his wifes 8200 for me to look at because it would not start. I only know a little

about laptops but figured I would give it a try.

I tried several times to start it up, both on battery and on AC power, and the result was always the same, the lights

come on, keyboard lights only flash for a second, the drive light comes on and remains solid for several seconds,

then the drive light goes out and the power light remains on.

Nothing ever displays on the screen, there are no beeps, nothing.

Following instructions on web site I removed components, reseated memory, etc all with no change.

Then I tried only one of the two memory modules and it booted. Wow I figured I had it figured out. Booted

all the way up after first message about change in memory size. Everything in Windows was fine but

slow with only 128 megs of ram.

Decided to shut down. Shutdown went fine. Try to reboot and same symptoms as before. Swapped for the other

memory module, no difference. Tried them both again and it booted with no errors. Shut down. No reboot after

20 tries.

Tried external monitor, monitors says frequency is too high, no screen from the laptop showsup at all.

Tried external mouse, external keyboard. No boot.

I'm at a loss. If I remove all components as instructed and try to boot I get a quick flash of lights and then

everything goes off.

Basically what he has is a laptop that will boot perfectly about every 30 or 40 tries and I have no clue what

might ause this behavior, especially no error messages, no beeps, no sign from the system that it sees

something is wrong.

If any of you can offer advice I would sure appreciate it.

Thanks

Woody

Sounds like an intermittent bad connection in the system board. Try hitting F12 when you turn on power and run Dell diagnostics.

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   As mentioned above, it could be the MBD. Removing the memory will move it a little, and may have been enough to let it boot.                                                                                                     Regards Chris

woodyga · Answer

I don't have any of the CDs that would have come with the 8200, friend just dropped off the computer and power supply.   When I hook it up to my VGA monitor the monitor senses the laptop when I try to turn it on but gives a message about frequency being out of range or too high. I have tried Fn F8 combo several times, no luck. Even stranger is that one of the times that it booted I had VGA connected and both the laptop video and the VGA came on, then the VGA went out and laptop continued to boot.   The total blank screen when I try to boot seems to mean that video does not initialize, but on a desktop if video fails you get beeps or something to let you know.   When I remove both memory modules and try to boot I get the two keyboard light message indicating a memory error.   It drives me crazy that I can't even get into CMOS settings, I should be able to get there even if half the hardware was missing. When I did get into CMOS (once) it had correct settings so it is not a CMOS battery issue like another IBM laptop that I got working.   Is it possible that taking everything apart inside and making sure all connections are tight etc that it might help?   There are hundreds of posts in here from people with the same issues with 8200 and other models, maybe the real problem is that laptops get banged around and the stresses break things inside?

woodyga · Answer

Thanks for the responses. Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is pressing F12 while booting supposed to do? Tried several times and nothing happens. Truth is I never see anything on the screen at all when it won't boot. When it does boot screen appears normally. On one of the successful boots I got into BIOS settings and changed POST to thorough thinking it might test memory like a desktop does, but no difference, there is never any sign of BIOS init on the screen, even when it will boot. On a desktop I can always see the CMOS stuff on boot, of course my desktops are custom built and not Dell machines.   I can't even seem to force it into setup on boot. It has not booted again in over 200 tries.   Thanks Woody

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   F12 will let you run Diags. Try an external screen, ie VGA . The MBD is likely at fault, but it is worth trying other things before spending big dollars.                                                                                                 Regards Chris

woodyga · Answer

This is driving me crazy :smileymad:   I took it apart, reconnected all cables including video, reseated the CPU, everything I could think of. Still no boot.   If I remove all but one memory module, remove HD, CD, batteries, etc and try to boot I get quick flash of keyboard lights, power light, and nothing else. Is it not supposed to give me some sort of error message when it can't find anything to boot from. i get zero on screen.   Even stranger, I saw someone mention on here that if computer was not warmed up it would not boot. So I left power on for a while and kept trying and trying to reboot. Finally it booted as if nothing was ever wrong? What the heck?

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   You have ruled out most things, so an int. fault is the issue. The problem is, the Diags wont run when it wont boot, so wont find much. You are at the point where you need to change parts, the Latitude C840 uses the same parts, the MBD being a sought after part. [ not cheap ] The int. fault may be affected by heat, hence the booting.                                                                                                  Regards Chris

woodyga · Answer

:smileymad:   OK I want to run the Dell Diagnostics on this thing on one of the rare instances where it will boot up, which is about one in every hundred tries. BUT i don't have the CD that came with the 8200. When I checked the downloads yes I can download the diagnostics, but it appears they all have to be used to create bootable floppies? This laptop has no floppy :smileysad:   So my dilemma is how can I create a bootable CD with the diagnostics on it? Why are they only available in floppy format when a lot of people don't have a floppy?   If anyone can hook me up with an image of the diagnostics CD that I can burn to CD and boot from I would really appreciate it. Otherwise I have no idea how I can really run the diagnostics on this machine.   I get the feeling that it might be the video card that is causing the failure to boot. Yes it has been removed and reseated three times. External monitor makes no difference. My question is if the video fails to initialize what is the laptop normally supposed to do? There is no video corruption when it does boot. When it does not boot nothing not even a flash appears on either monitor. When I try to boot I get the keyboard status keys flashing on for only an instant, and power and HDD lights that stay on for about 10-15 seconds, then the HDD light goes out and power light stays on. If I leave it run like that the heat fans do start to blow hot air which makes me think that the CPU is in fact operating and generating heat.   The only thing I can hear of failed boots is a single click that sounds like speaker static, the DVD/CD initializes, the HDD starts to spin up then stops.   Having built and worked on hundreds of desktop machines, I would have to say that the biggest drawback to laptops is that parts are not something you have laying around from old systems that you can swap out to test individual components and systems, and even used parts are pricey so buying them only to find out they are not the problem makes no sense. Thus my desire to run the full diagnostics to see if the testing can tell me of problems with any specific components.   Thanks Woody Message Edited by woodyga on 09-24-2006 12:47 PM

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   A video card can stop booting, normally they dont go int. You can download the Diags and put them on a bootable CD. The I8200 should have come with a floppy drive.                                                                                        Regards Chris

woodyga · Answer

Well I managed to get the diagnostics onto a bootable CD and ran them all night after it took 57 tries to get the machine to boot. And the strange thing is that all 57 tries were with the laptop sitting on a hard surface and not being moved or flexed in any way. I would have thought that if it was indeed a broken circuit in the MB or CPU not seating, etc that if I did not move it in any way that it would never boot up. But with it sitting still it booted after 57 tries. Diagnostics show no problems anywhere. Also flashed the BIOS from A06 to A11 thinking it might help. Made no difference. Except maybe by sheer luck it booted after only 17 tries this time.   Also I thought that the new BIOS supported some special tests that could be done by holding down the Fn key when booting, using the keyboard status lights as LEDs to flash codes, but doing this shows no errors. Not sure if it is just not doing the tests or if the tests find no problems even when it does not boot?   It does seem like an intermittent connection problem, but if true then why once it boots can I move it all over the place, press on the case anywhere I want, flex it, and it keeps running?   If it was my computer I would just toss it in the river LOL.   Since I can flex, press, twist and do just about anything to it and it makes no difference in if it boots or not and won't shut it down once it is running I really don't think that it is a broken circuit or short. It seems more like some subsystem fails to initialize on boot.   The CD/DVD spins up every time, and the HD light stays on about 5-10 seconds, I hear the HD spin up briefly and then stop. Then the HDD light goes out, power light stays on. If I leave it like this the cooling fan does cycle on and off.   So I guess my question is if indeed the video card is not firing up, should I not be getting some beep or error message from the laptop?   If the CD/DVD spins up and the HD spins up doesn't that mean that POST has completed?   Thanks for all the tips and advice, I really am a laptop/notebook newbie :smileywink:

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   The CD and HDD start up when power is there, to a degree, it does not mean the Post has happened.                                                                                         Regards Chris

woodyga · Answer

Near as I can tell since there are never POST errors and holding down the Fn key while booting causes no flashing keyboard status lights on failed boots, it must be failing before any POST testing is done. If this is true then I guess I am looking at bad CPU socket connection to MB or some crack or broken circuits elsewhere in the system. The board does get power because CD and HD spin up and CPU fan cycles even if it does not boot and only power light remains on.   I have tried pressing down on the keyboard in the area of the CPU while booting, which actually should cause a keyboard post error, but it makes no difference in if it boots or not. Moving the case around between attempts and flexing the case also seems to have no consistent effect on if it boots or not. Neither does removing and reseating the memory, CPU, or video card.   I'd hate to tell him to buy a motherboard, which is $$$ even used, only to have that not fix the problem. I suppose it might be best for him to send it to one of the places that has the parts to swap and test with and have them fix it?   Is there really any way to be able to isolate these types of intermittent failures?   Thanks Woody

randvick · Answer

Your not alone on this, I have the same problem but with a Insperion 5160..here is a recent post I put on another site.   I am a fairly seasoned and knolegeable tech but yet I am stumped at this problem with a Dell Insperion 5160 notebook with Windows XP. This notebook came to me not able to pass post, it would turn on and shut down within 15 seconds and the (Lock) (A) LED on the top panel just flashes. After pulling all memory, modem,CD etc.. the normal troubleshooting stuff, it still would not pass post and would shut down. I then disassembled the laptop and reseated the processor and cleaned and applied heatsink thermal compound and the machine still did the same. I removed the ram once again and put a 128mb chip in and it booted up. The strange thing is that the original memory in the machine was tetsted good in another machine but with this memory in the Dell 5160 it will not post and shut down. The memory is pc2700 266/333 ddr 200 pin. I put a brand new 512 chip in of the same specs and still no post. Here is the really strange part, the 128 mb module that it will boot up with is pc2100 266mhz DDR. Is this a corrupt bios issue? If it is unfortuanatly a bios flash will not take for some reason on this machine either. anybody have some ideas on this?

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   A corrupt Bios wont boot, and so it is likely an int. MBD in both. As a guide, a mem problem give no display, then a power down. The Caps lock light flashes also. [ in later models ] A bad CPU, the display wont start, then it stays powered on. This is a rough guide to what I look for, but the symptoms can vary. A MBD or video card can cause various symptoms.                                                                                                Regards Chris   Edit. Woody, if you can get a MBD, you can always resell it. A shop will charge you for all parts most likely, not what fixes it. Run it by the owner, explain the options. This will make it not your choice, there may be bad ones for sale, you can test with. A common fault is the MBD wont see the size of the adapter, and then runs slow. Message Edited by AussieChris on 09-27-2006 06:17 PM

woodyga · Answer

Yes if I remove all memory and try to boot, it powers up briefly then shuts all the way down.   With memory in, it powers up, KB status lights all light for only a second, HDD light stays on for maybe 5-10 seconds, then it just sits there with the power light on, no keyboard status lights, and the exhaust fans will cycle if left on.   The only thing I did notice is heatsink can be moved up and down slightly even when locked into place. It has the foil tape on it but no thermal paste.Trying to boot while applying pressure to CPU makes no difference. I think that some component on the MB is leaking or shorting 99% of the time, but flexing and pressure seem to make no difference.   Thought maybe bad CMOS battery but unless I disconnect it it always remembers time and date and settings. I was able to flash the BIOS to latest version with no problems so I don't think BIOS is suspect.   Thanks for the tips Chris Woody

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Inspiron 8200 boot problems

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