Check if the light is lit at the plug end of the AC adapter or on the adapter block. Does that light remain lit when you plug it into the laptop's jack?
For the moment, I will assume that the AC adapter's light does remain lit when you plug it into the laptop's jack. And, I will assume that there is no battery in the battery bay, that you didn't replace it after removing the swollen battery. Here's what I would do:
Try a reset:
Disconnect all peripherals: printers; USB devices; media cards; USB hubs and extenders; etc.
Disconnect the AC adapter.
Remove the battery (if you have a replacement battery, remove it now)
Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds to discharge any residual electricity.
Reconnect the AC adapter (if you have a replacement battery, leave it out)
If that doesn't work, I would be inclined to install a brand new CMOS battery. Normally the lack of a CMOS battery should not prevent a computer from executing POST sequence and reaching BIOS, but sometimes we see strange symptoms when CMOS battery is missing or degraded.
Unfortunately, your CMOS battery is the type in plastic casing with wires and connector, rather than a standard bare CR2032 battery. You can buy a replacement that comes in the casing with wires/connector. Or, if you're willing to do a little more work, you can use a standard CR2032 coin battery that is widely available. You just need to carefully disassemble the current casing and remove the contacts to reuse on the new battery. I did it recently, so I can give you more details if you want.
It's possible that the swollen battery damaged something that didn't entirely fail until a couple of days later. I would have expected that if it were damaged that you would not have been able to use the computer on AC power after removing the battery, but maybe a component was harmed and entirely failed later.
I hope I haven't overwhelmed you, but you now have homework to do.
Whenever touching components or working inside a computer, wear a grounded wrist strap, also called anti-static wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet. It's a cheap and sensible precaution. Rest the laptop on an anti-static mat or at least a reasonable alternative such as corrugated cardboard. (Repeatedly touching a metal case part is not sufficient mitigation with modern components.)
Removing the CMOS battery for 30 minutes got the laptop powering up again, but Windows won't load. I fooled around with diagnostic options a bit before choosing the option to reset. It's working on that now.
Any notes given the circumstances? And thank you for the help.
Well, you didn't answer my question about the AC adapter's light, so I'm lacking information.
Lack of Windows loading may be a Windows issue, or it could be hardware. As I say, it's possible the swollen battery damaged something.
It's possible that your system was set to use AHCI and now it has reverted to RAID mode. Current Dell laptops generally ship set to RAID mode. I'm uncertain when that began. Your laptop is from 2016/2017, and I don't know if those shipped in RAID mode or not. Anyway, it's something to consider, and you can change that in BIOS/Setup
Run Dell Diagnostics: Immediately after pressing the power button to turn on the laptop (or after clicking the Reboot command), press and hold (or repeatedly press) F12 to enter the One Time Boot Menu, select Diagnostics and press Enter. The Dell Diagnostics will test major hardware components. Choose to run the extended tests.
filbert
4 Operator
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1.8K Posts
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June 1st, 2023 11:00
Check if the light is lit at the plug end of the AC adapter or on the adapter block. Does that light remain lit when you plug it into the laptop's jack?
For the moment, I will assume that the AC adapter's light does remain lit when you plug it into the laptop's jack. And, I will assume that there is no battery in the battery bay, that you didn't replace it after removing the swollen battery. Here's what I would do:
Try a reset:
If that doesn't work, open the laptop and remove the CMOS battery (a.k.a. coin cell battery). Leave it out for half an hour, then reinstall it and try to power on the laptop.
If that doesn't work, I would be inclined to install a brand new CMOS battery. Normally the lack of a CMOS battery should not prevent a computer from executing POST sequence and reaching BIOS, but sometimes we see strange symptoms when CMOS battery is missing or degraded.
Unfortunately, your CMOS battery is the type in plastic casing with wires and connector, rather than a standard bare CR2032 battery. You can buy a replacement that comes in the casing with wires/connector. Or, if you're willing to do a little more work, you can use a standard CR2032 coin battery that is widely available. You just need to carefully disassemble the current casing and remove the contacts to reuse on the new battery. I did it recently, so I can give you more details if you want.
It's possible that the swollen battery damaged something that didn't entirely fail until a couple of days later. I would have expected that if it were damaged that you would not have been able to use the computer on AC power after removing the battery, but maybe a component was harmed and entirely failed later.
I hope I haven't overwhelmed you, but you now have homework to do.
Whenever touching components or working inside a computer, wear a grounded wrist strap, also called anti-static wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet. It's a cheap and sensible precaution. Rest the laptop on an anti-static mat or at least a reasonable alternative such as corrugated cardboard. (Repeatedly touching a metal case part is not sufficient mitigation with modern components.)
MatthewCarlos
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
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June 3rd, 2023 13:00
Removing the CMOS battery for 30 minutes got the laptop powering up again, but Windows won't load. I fooled around with diagnostic options a bit before choosing the option to reset. It's working on that now.
Any notes given the circumstances? And thank you for the help.
filbert
4 Operator
•
1.8K Posts
0
June 3rd, 2023 15:00
Well, you didn't answer my question about the AC adapter's light, so I'm lacking information.
Lack of Windows loading may be a Windows issue, or it could be hardware. As I say, it's possible the swollen battery damaged something.
It's possible that your system was set to use AHCI and now it has reverted to RAID mode. Current Dell laptops generally ship set to RAID mode. I'm uncertain when that began. Your laptop is from 2016/2017, and I don't know if those shipped in RAID mode or not. Anyway, it's something to consider, and you can change that in BIOS/Setup
Run Dell Diagnostics:
Immediately after pressing the power button to turn on the laptop (or after clicking the Reboot command), press and hold (or repeatedly press) F12 to enter the One Time Boot Menu, select Diagnostics and press Enter. The Dell Diagnostics will test major hardware components. Choose to run the extended tests.