XPS M1730 will not boot

Welcome to the forums Mike :emotion-5:

Have you run any of the diagnostics tests (when the DELL logo appears, press immediately.  Select Diagnostics from the boot menu, and then press Enter )? 

Have you tried booting into safe mode?  Have you tried booting from the OS disc?

See <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell> for more XPS M1730 'troubleshooting' suggestions.

You may want to refer to the 'Video & Display Problems' section first.

When I boot the system there is no Power On Self Test, Dell screen or indeed anything.  I don't think it's a video problem since the monitor turns on and I don't think it's a power issue because the hard drive spins up and I can hear the r/w head arm move once.  Then nothing.  It's almost as if the BIOS was wiped out.

I received a refurbished Dell m1730 today, and I am having the exact same issues trying to boot it up for the first time.

When I turn it on, I can see a faint backlight, so the screen is working.  The lights on the right-hand side flash momentarily, then the hard drive head (or CD drive) kicks once or twice, then is silent.  Power light stays on, and nothing comes up. If I put in the Vista reinstallation CD, I can hear the drive spinning and working, but nothing appears on the screen.  I get no Dell logo, no BIOS information, there is just... nothing.

Isn't Dell supposed to check and make sure their computers work before they ship them to people?  This is my very first laptop computer, and I bought it so I could get out of the house instead of being chained to my work computer (I work from home).  I agonized over the decision on which one to buy.  I finally went with this Dell m1730 because it had all the specs I wanted for the right price.  And it won't boot up.

I'm furious!

A somewhat belated "welcome" to the forums XizorBlackSun :emotion-5:

Isn't Dell supposed to check and make sure their computers work before they ship them to people? ... it won't boot up. I'm furious!

Yes they are... so I don't blame you for being furious :emotion-6:  Even a refurbished M1730 won't have been cheap!

Unfortunately, I very much doubt there's much anyone on the forums (other than maybe an official Dell rep'?) can suggest that would help, so if you haven't already done so, you'd be best to contact tech support ASAP.

@ Mike:  Did you get yours sorted out?

Having similar issues with xps m1210, was told to purchase new lcd, first one was "dead on arrival", spent 2.5 hours with customer care, xps dept, tech support, out of warranty dept trying to get them to send another one.  $300+ for first, $270+ for second.  Dell installation came and deduced it was a motherboard problem...none available.  What the heck are we supposed to do with a 1.5 year old "top of the line" laptop that you can't get a replacement motherboard for???

Ok, you ran the built in test (Fn + Power). No beeps happened? The reason I asked was even if video is out, it will do a set of tones. if it failed to do this then the board has failed, since the PSA (Preboot System Assessment) is built in. if the LED's do not give a code and just come on then go off, looks more and more like the board. When you ran the test, were you on AC or battery? Try both ways. Also for giggles, pop out the CD/ DVD drive and try the test. Keep in mind that odds are the board went south.

K...I have the exact same problem with my XPS m1710.  No beeps, no post, no video, nothing.  Its been that way for almost a month now.  I should also mention that I've had a DCSE come out, as the system is still under warranty, 4 times to address the problem.  She's now replaced the motherboard 3 times, the processor 2 times, and the RAM once.  And still no dice.  So for those claiming it is the motherboard, my experience would seem to indicate otherwise.  I'm now wondering if the SW1 switch on the IO board, otherwise known as the power switch, is bad somewhere, or maybe the same for the IO board itself. 

I had this happen once on my desktop PC and it was a bad power supply. I popped in a new was and was good to go.

Exactly the same thing happens on my xps 1530. When i leave it off for a day or so it takes an age to switch back on, have to remove battery and hold down power button for 20secs, replace battery and re start. getting to be a pain now. Will contact Dell. Its under 4yr warrenty. Thanks for info. Now i now its probs power issue as when Ac Adaptor is attatched I get a low voltage message.

Hi. Does anybody in this thread figure out what to do when this happens? I have a XPS 1530 and the exact same thing happened to me yesterday. When I tried to do the Fn + boot up, there's no sound beeping, only the 3 icons flash up, with the first one going on and off continously. My laptop is not under warranty anymore, so any help is greatly appreciated :(

Hi did you solve your problem on your xps 1530?

i have a same problem with my xps 1530, num lock blinking after fn+power - pls help.

Yes what does two flashing and one lite solid mean.  Must be morse code for hey sucker you bought a dell and it's gona cost you time + money:emotion-43:

Hello everyone, I'm now having the exact same issue with my 3yr old M1730. It powers on the r/w arm moves one and the activity light blinks once or twice, then nothing. I have gone through and done the Fn + boot up and I do get tones after a little while + the num, caps, & scroll all blink.

I did contact Dell support who had me run a D 'key' + Boot up process and all that resulted in was a white screen with very faint fading colors at the bottom of my LCD. When I tried it again later on, the screen only turns a faint grey and no colors can be seen at all. The rep I spoke to suggested 2 things, 1.) Get a new LCD (which I am in the process of doing... $115) or 2.) Replace the system all together.

The two things I've deduced that the problem maybe is, 1.) The LCD has gone bad or 2.) The video-card has failed. I'm praying to dear sweet Jesus it's not the motherboard, but from what I've read here so far, since my Fn + Boot up resulted in tones, it couldn't be the video-card or the motherboard.

If anyone knows the exact solution to this issue please help me out, I'm currently being forced to use the library for internet access.