5150 Sudden Death

try powering up your system without the battery and jsut use your ac adapter instead. if you still cant power it up then try calling their phone support.

Thanks, I've tried that with no luck. The 5150 is six months out of warranty...I got dropped from phone support while on hold and couldn't get back to it.

The laptop is looking like a very expensive paperweight at the moment.

This is the second Dell laptop that has given me problems...grumble.

Mine did the same thing today, after 2.5 hrs on the phone with tech support they told me its the mother board cost to fix at dell $700.00

more info

http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=166703&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

FWIW, mine was produced sometime in 8/03. The verdict is the same, looks like $700 for me too. I spent most of the morning with support in the Philippines and Calcutta then on to Austin.

I wonder how many others have suffered the same fate but I suppose we'll never know. At least the $700 covers everything that might have been killed in the box. Small consolation, but at least I don't have to fork out 4 figures for a new laptop.

Just found these guys on the web http://www.aqstech.com/contact.html

I am sorry for your luck. It appears that you have run into a known issue with the 5150.

It is a form of motherboard death. Dell's stance is to simply replace the motherboard for those in warranty. In about 12+ months, it is likely to recur on the new motherboard. If you are out off warranty, Dell will charge about $700 for a new board (+ labor).

If you do some searches in this forum ("correct spot", 5150 dead, etc) you will see many posts of the 5150 motherboard death issue.

My 14 month old 5150 ( 2 month out of warranty) died new years eve. I tried all methods to have Dell fix it. But, if you are out of warranty, you are out of luck.

This guy below has really stepped up and helped many of these folks with the 5150 problem. He fixed my 5150 and it has been doing great. I sent it on a Monday and got it back Friday, fixed. You mileage may vary, but the $150 - $200 range is about par for the fix. But, he wont charge you if he can't fix it.

*** Blantant testimonial ***
Joe Kabalan
AQS Computer Services
2572 Sheridan Drive
Tonawanda, NY 14150

Toll Free: 1-866-204-4677
Local: 716-832-2473
Email: aqs12@adelphia.net

www.aqstech.com
www.laptopbios.com

Good luck!

Randyored

I'll sure give it a try, it's better than dropping the big bucks right off the bat. Thanks for the tips.

I really appreciate it.

Natch

AQS is a good option, especially for those out of warranty.  At a fraction of the cost of Dell and pretty darn good service, it's your best bet.  They even work on video cards too (had to send mine in again to see what's up with video cards) and it came back good as new, minus the lovely idea that Dell is a lovely, customer-centered corporation.

I have now the same problem with a Dell Inspiron 250N.  Just died in the middle of an application.  Looks like it gave a blue screen error for a second before killing.  Was able to restart it, but as soon as I got into Windows it gave a blue screen for a second then died.  Reset RAM, tried without battery, without A/C, reset hard drive, removed CD-ROM, let it cool off for a long while.  Totally unresponsive.  Called and tried waiting on hold with the Out Of Warranty Support line but got disconnected twice. Going to see if AQS can help me. 

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@fjorner wrote:
I have now the same problem with a Dell Inspiron 250N. Just died in the middle of an application. Looks like it gave a blue screen error for a second before killing. Was able to restart it, but as soon as I got into Windows it gave a blue screen for a second then died. Reset RAM, tried without battery, without A/C, reset hard drive, removed CD-ROM, let it cool off for a long while. Totally unresponsive. Called and tried waiting on hold with the Out Of Warranty Support line but got disconnected twice. Going to see if AQS can help me.

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This is not that same issue. The motherboard issue would in all likelihood not even initialize the screen. No beeps. Nothing. That fact that you are getting to the blue screen of death indicates that the motherboard is ok. Now, you may have issues with Windows, of the heat sink fan allowing the CPU to ovwerheat. But my take is that you have a windows issue.

RandyO

Actually, RandyO, if you read the rest of my post, you'd see that after the initial blue screen, the laptop became completely unresponsive. 

The folks a AQS, as mentioned previously in this thread, have determined that the motherboard is totally F U B A R and that they cannot repair it.  If I had only bought the three-year warranty...