frequent black screen at start-up

Question

When I press the button to start my Inspiron 5160 in the morning, it rarely gives me the Dell logo and Bios screen, but the locked number pad light goes on and the fan runs, and then the locked number pad light goes off.  The screen stays black.  So, I press again and nothing changes.  So I press several more times and get nothing.  Then I press the start button really long to turn off the computer and try to restart, at which time I usually get it to go to the Dell screen with the F2 and F12 menu options and then it gives me the Windows xp welcome page.  I ran the entire battery of Dell Diagnostic tests and got no error messages. I've sent numerous emails only to have Dell Tech support suggest that at the boot I press Ctrl-Alt-D (which yielded nothing...)  another tech person told me I was pushing too long on the start button, but when I varied my pressure and duration, the screen remained black.  So, I called again and spent over an hour talking to a guy in Morocco who admitted finally that he didn't really know what to suggest other than to really watch which lights go on and then to call back when the screen doesn't light up correctly.  So I sent another email and Dell suggested I put in the Drivers and Utilities CD furnished with the notebook and push F12 to select the boot from the CD and then do the diagnostic tests...AGAIN!  Did that and got no error messages. Any ideas?  Seems to me like it's a matter of circuits.  Given that the problem is sporatic.  Is it possible that when the machine hasn't been used for an extended period-like overnight-that the circuitry is 'cold' and doesn't start like it should?  Other times after I've turned off the computer and then several hours later have turned it back on there is not a problem.  I taken to putting it in stand-by mode because this seems to better guarantee a correct boot--except when I try 'waking it up' in the mornings.

kjmarte · Answer

Same exact problem here. My 6000 is less than 1 week old. Had Dell on the phone Sat. night, tech had me disassemble machine..hard drive,modem,dvd drive,memory,battery, all came out, went back in with various configurations and power sources. No luck. Diagnosed it as a bad motherboard. Not having much confidence in the diagnosis I opted to return it for a new one rather than having a tech come out to install a new motherboard and have the same thing happen. On the phone, he went through the prodedure for so doing, logged in the whole call etc. (or so he said) then asked me to hold for a couple of minutes for a case # and RMA. Had the speakerphone next to me for 2 hours with no pickup, gave up, called the next day to find there was no record of my call and that the procedure explained to me was incorrect. How's that for service. Was promised a call at 9:30 AM on Monday at my office after going a couple levels up the chain. No call. Called them and now my replacement is to be shipped by this Friday. But guess what? Went into "my account" and saw my "order" for the second computer posted at a price higher than the first with tax included! E-mail then abounded from me...no response yet but obviously another error of some sort. Great service and solutions!

Is your computer new? Hope my replacement isn't another lemon. Please post again and let us know if you resolve this issue. Saw similar issues under "power management" but no definitive resoulution.

Ken

Douglas67 · Answer

Thanks for replying Ken, but your post did not reassure me!  Contrary to your situation of the computer being only a week old, mine is a week from having its one-year warranty expire!  I was assuming the company would still honor the guarantee because the problem arose before expiration of the warranty, but judging from your experience with customer service, that might be a pretty big assumption.  Dell did manage to send me a letter proposing an extension of the first warranty and offering an upgrade in service (not too hard to do...) and that a technician comes to my home---but only after an attempted telephone diagnosis and attempted repair.  I'm thinking that's not going to happen, but also realize this Inspiron is not going to survive until the summer!

kjmarte · Answer

If I were you I would take advantage of your one-week window on the warranty, arrange for service, get it fixed, make as many calls, diagnostics as they want. I would assume (I know, that's a bad thing to do) that the repair itself and hardware installed during the repair (motherboard, e.g.) would carry its own warranty (albeit probably very short) so in a sense you will have an 'extended' warranty in any event. Please don't be dissuaded by my post. I went through a lot of grief and incompetence but in the end, I WILL have a free replacement. Good luck!

BANGINTAN3283 · Answer

The same thing happened to me when I first got my Inspiron 6000. I sent it out to Dell to be repaired. It ended up being a palm rest problem. They had to replace it with a new one.

wildsparrow · Answer

I have an Inspiron 1000 and this happened to me the other night. No matter what buttons I pushed, the screen stayed black. Finally I tried pressing F2 and the ON button at the same time. Voila! It came up normally. It hasn't happened again. I don't know why it happened, but the landlord had turned the heat up too high and I suspected that might have contributed. Anyway, when I asked Dell about it they immediately sent me a new motherboard. (huh??)

I don't know if this helps or not. Good luck.

Joey23 · Answer

I have an Inspiron 5100 and had a similar problem recently. From time to time i would turn on my computer and get a black screen along with a beeping sound. Would have to unplug it and remove the battery to get it to stop. I did a system restore to a few months prior when i knew it had been working ok and i also installed a new hard drive as i was looking to upgrade my hard drive anyway. Have not had the problem since. Hopefully one of those two things have solved the problem.

Douglas67 · Answer

Thanks everyone for your replies, but the problem continues and this morning after my sixth attempt to get other than a black screen, I got a screen with a really poor resolution (gigantic icons and font--I resolved that by shutting down and restarting.)  Several days ago, I wrote to Dell once again to explain the black screen problem and they suggested that I needed to open the screen fully (180°) and close it fully and repeat this numerous times as sometimes the connections come loose.  Did that and what do I get....the screen with icons I can see from 15 feet!  Am I crazy or does this sound like a design problem?  I'm supposed to 'repair' their product by opening and closing the screen?  Is this any way to configure a portable computer?  I suppose their next advice will be to simply not turn it on to avoid a black screen.   What I find interesting is that all previous posts mentioned that Dell was good about replacing/repairing their defective computers.  Perhaps it is the fact that I am dealing with Dell France, and they appear to be pretty reticent about admitting a problem and honoring their guarantee. They seem to be happy to send emails and direct my service calls to North Africa.  I live outside of Paris and would be more than happy to bring the stupid thing into a Paris service center at my own expense.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

frequent black screen at start-up

Was this post helpful?