Laptop Electronics Engineer or Technicians needed (Laptop isn't Turning on )

[mohammed_samir]

Please Read the story well so that u can figure out how the problem is going on ...


Laptop Type :: Dell inspiron 15R N5521
(3517U core i7 processor-8Gb ram-1Tb HDD)

yesterday i shutdown my laptop normally . and now trying to start it and nthing happen

NOTES FOUND ::::

1-Not working with battery(full charged) or AC charger

2-Ac charger led is turning on normally

3-NO BEEPS

4-Only the first left led of laptop is working

5-Screen don't turn on (VERY SILENT)

6-AC charger led dont turn off when i press power button it is just working well as before !!

7-NOT IN WARRANTY

I TRIED :::

1-Connecting each power source separately -->no change

2-Disconnecting any power source and pressing power button for 30sec -->no change

3-Replacing rams and HDD --->no change

------------------------------------------------------------
However after leaving laptop for about 3hrs without working on it .. i tried to open it and it worked normally . i ran diagnostics on every component and everything is fine ........... but after turning it off again the main thing happen (when turning it on first time it doesn't work -->leave it some time then try it works normally !!!!!)

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I want someone who is expert in this things to reply with what is going on
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i feel that my battery have leakage current which remain in motherboard and as a type of protection motherboard don't turn on when i try to turn it on ... but after some time these static charges escape and hence it can work normally !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[BradtheRad]

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop. It's older than yours.

Did you disconnect all peripherals?

Did you remove the hard drive?

Could the problem be heat related? Since it starts after you let it sit a while, this suggests it needs to cool down before it will work again. There are chill pads made to cool a laptop.

Are air vents clear?

My laptop stopped doing anything after I pressed the power button. Eventually I found the problem was a ram chip with goo on the contacts.

I tried things like removing the hd, ram chips, etc.

after some time these static charges escape and hence it can work normally

Manufacturers build in safeguards against static charge. However if your laptop is close to a source of static (such as a CRT tv, etc.), then it might help if you were to clip a wire between a chassis contact, and an earth ground.

 

[Mattylad]

When you leave it for 3 hrs, is it plugged in & charging the battery?

It may be that the battery is what technicians call "knackered" ans its dragging the psu down, some laptops have been known to require a battery to be inserted before they run & a duff one causes it to not run.

Have you access to a multimeter?
Test the voltage on the PSU output lead is correct also, it does not take much to turn an led on

 

[D.A.(Tony)Stewart]

Sounds like a moisture problem thru keyboard. Same symptoms happen to me from a small splash near power switch.

If possible, flush keyboard and motherboard clean by pouring alcohol sitting then sitting on side for excess to drain with potential contaminant. May require a full large bottle flushed thru and drained thru left power side vents.

Most important let it dry with force air fan in vents for at least 3 days, which is slow in trapped spots inside.

You can also test it without a battery with AC charger.

 

[mohammed_samir]

Thanks BradtheRad for ur response

1-yeah i disconnected all peripherals and nthing change
2-yes i tried to remove HDD and nthing change.
3-um sure itsn't heat problem becoz um always cleaning vents also .. laptop when it is turned on it doesn't get so hot .....

4**-- I tried to remove both Rams and the same when i turn it on --> it do nthing just power led and silence even there is no beeps identifying that there is no rams !!

5-um not that expert in static charges ... but how to make an earth ground ??

Thanks again

M.S

- - - Updated - - -

thanks Mattylad for ur response

1-it was with battery only not charging ....
2-today in fact i shutdown windows and then removed batteries .. and due to these bad events i was sure that when i try to turn it on again it will only power led and be silent .. However when i tried it turned on immediately without any problem .......I feel that it may be the battery but um not sure
3-Could u please let me know the test procedure exactly ......
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i will make extra test and tell u with results ....... But please let me know may this be a motherboard failure ?!!!!!!?!!! or it is so far from this point ..

Thanks in advance
M.S

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks SunnySkyguy for answering me

In fact i havn't poured or spilt anything near my laptop ..... But it maybe me moisture as u said , i will try cleaning the motherboard and keyboard as u said ..........

Thanks alot

M.S

 

[ads-ee]

Does a "restart" work after you've performed your 3 hour wait to power up the computer with the switch? If this works it might indicate that the power management hardware is okay, and it is as others suggested a mechanical switch problem, or the battery.

 

[mohammed_samir]

Thanks Ads-ee for ur response

yeah it started well and i will do extra tests on turning on laptop with charger only ...so that if it worked normally then its a battery problem ....... and if not i will return back here (in case of not working -->what will ur opinion will it be motherboard or power management sector failure or what ??

Look what makes me come here .. is Dell Tech support when i told them about my problem the answer was replace motherboard it is going bad .....this answer made me crazy enough to encounter all electronics communities and share this problem

Thanks again
M.S

 

[D.A.(Tony)Stewart]

It could either be a failed battery or something on motherboard logic that disables startup if battery voltage is too low.

 

[mohammed_samir]

guys here is the updated news ------>
i left laptop without battery and after 12hrs i tried to turn it on and it turned on immediately without any problems ---> therefore it may be as u said a Battery problem ! (maybe there is a leakage from it )


But is it really a battery problem it or it is a problem in motherboard PSU !?

how can i know the source of failure ?

taking into consideration that battery is fully charged and i haven't encountered any problems with it before ; however (SOMETIMES when battery is inserted and charger isn't connected ,when i try to turn laptop on , it turn on but tell me that battery can't be identified ,the only solution for this is just to shutdown and remove battery then insert it again! i don't know if this info will be helpful or not!

Thanks alot all for ur help ........APPRECIATE THIS
M.S

 

[ads-ee]

taking into consideration that battery is fully charged and i haven't encountered any problems with it before ; however (SOMETIMES when battery is inserted and charger isn't connected ,when i try to turn laptop on , it turn on but tell me that battery can't be identified ,the only solution for this is just to shutdown and remove battery then insert it again! i don't know if this info will be helpful or not!

This indicates the battery isn't communicating it's status with the motherboard properly.

1) battery circuit that monitors and reports is bad
2) the motherboard circuit that communicates with the battery is bad
3) the contacts in the battery bay are not contacting well (corrosion, damage, dirt, oil, ?)

Check if the contacts on both the battery and the battery bay are clean and undamaged.

Do you have more than one battery? If so can you check using the other battery and see if it still has a problem or not.

 

[mohammed_samir]

thanks again ads-ee
Unfortunately i haven't another batteries ... however something new happened as we said here it maybe a battery problem ... however i connected the battery and left the device for about 3 hrs then turned it on ( as we said before leakage must have been occurred and the laptop won't turn on as a type of safety ) but the opposite happened it turned on without any problems "Charger wasn't connected"

i don't really know what is going on ---> if trying the battery failed i would be able to say its a battery problem ,,, But what now ?

 

[BradtheRad]

The charger connectors may be ailing or intermittent. It may be a bad contact inside the plug, or it may be a fractured solder joint on the board in the laptop.

Look for a light on the laptop, whichs tell you whether the charger is plugged in.

At times when the computer was operating, have you opened the control panel which indicates the condition of the battery?

 

[mohammed_samir]

um charging with charger and it is charging the battery well ..... and its light is working as well ...... Diagnostics say that battery and adapter are running well .......... something strange is going on

 

[ads-ee]

You never mentioned if you checked the contacts on both the battery and the computer. If there is corrosion make sure you clean them (a pencil eraser works great for that).

From your previous descriptions of the LED that always turns on if you plug it into AC (whether it will turn on or not) looks like the connector for the AC brick is okay.

The laptop didn't get any mechanical stress on it from the time you turned it off until you attempted to turn it back on again and found the problem?
e.g. lifting laptop from one corner only. Laptops without a rigid frame tend to flex and may cause the motherboard to also flex, which could have damaged a solder joint.

 

[mohammed_samir]

Well thanks ads-ee

i did clean the contacts of everything by a suitable substance ... and till now when battery is connected and then trying to open the system it turns on without any problems ..... Btw the laptop is working normally now (battery alone or Adpater alone or both together) ..But i feel that this problem may arise again ----> i don't know what makes it gone as i havn't did any significant thing to solve the problem !!

What i have did is only (turning on laptop using adapter for about 1 day without using battery --cleaning battery contacts --and of course replacing HDD and Ram ) thats all .......

Finally when this problem appeared the laptop was in its place i havn't changed its place by anyway ....

um very sorry for this long post ,, but its really annoying to hear that ur laptop motherboard is going bad as it was said !!!!!!

M.S

 

[mohammed_samir]

hey guys sry for being inactive for a while .....

what i have noticed these days --->
as it was indicated before that the problem is from battery .......
However i found :::::

-- working on adapter only was fine .. till yesterday i did opened laptop with adapter and it did as before (power led only and silence) "no battery connected"

-- tried alot to open it after this error .. but invain..

--left it for 3hrs and tried with charger, it worked normally "battery and charger were disconnected before trying" ...

--And Finally the last notice "in the past when i disconnect the power source of charger it has a led which turn off after some seconds but 2day i noticed this led turned off after a minute (i know this is due discharging of Caps inside) but why do it stay longer this time ...

i feel that this may indicate a motherboard problem
Please let me know ur opinions

Thanks in advance
M.S

 

[ads-ee]

AC (wall outlet) --> DC (adapter) --> LED (shows adapter is connected) --> DC-DC converters (~19V-to ??/1.2V/3.3V/5V/12V/??)

Given your description it seems the DC-DC converters are probably not coming up and therefore the Voltage on the LED is not dropping as fast due to no load (other than the LED) on the 19V (typical laptop battery voltage), which would mean a motherboard problem.

I'm inclined to believe it's probably some intermittent RoHS solder joint. From what I've experienced RoHS solder is prone to more problems with thermal cycling than the old 60/40 stuff. It's like the stuff (solder) is made to ensure a product eventually fails. :thumbsdown:

 

[mohammed_samir]

well i don't really understand most of what u have written ,, i don't know about RoHS
But here is some questions u asked about (Adapter output 19.5V ,4.62A) (Battery 11.V)

supposing its a motherboard problem ---> can it be repaired ?
also Supposing RoHs solder problem ---> can it be repaired ?

i believe that motherboard still can be useful because main parts are working well !! (CPU-GPU-Fans-other peripherals)

Taking into consideration laptop usage havn't exceeded 30hrs continues use .... and it's now 2 years old
temp max was : 75 C , and it always like 55 on browsing and 65 while gaming ......

Thanks ads--ee
and sorry for any inconvenience Caused

 

[ads-ee]

well i don't really understand most of what u have written ,, i don't know about RoHS
But here is some questions u asked about (Adapter output 19.5V ,4.62A) (Battery 11.V)

supposing its a motherboard problem ---> can it be repaired ?
also Supposing RoHs solder problem ---> can it be repaired ?

i believe that motherboard still can be useful because main parts are working well !! (CPU-GPU-Fans-other peripherals)

Taking into consideration laptop usage havn't exceeded 30hrs continues use .... and it's now 2 years old
temp max was : 75 C , and it always like 55 on browsing and 65 while gaming ......

Thanks ads--ee
and sorry for any inconvenience Caused

RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances), the solder used now is not the old lead/tin stuff but something else entirely as lead in solder is considered a hazardous substance. Though I think having electronic devices dying early isn't a great way to save resources or prevent hazardous substance from getting into the environment.

Only 30hrs total usage over 2 years, or just the longest you've run it in one session was 30 hrs?

The temp numbers are typically just the CPU, not something like the DC-DC converters. And it's the thermal cycling not the actual temperature that causes problems with metal fatigue (resulting in potentially cracked solder joints).

I also didn't ask about the adapter output, it's just that the LED is being fed from the adapter off of the 19.5V DC from the adapter, when the problem occurs you are seeing the LED stay lit for minutes instead of seconds, which means there isn't much current draw off the PS capacitors in the laptop that are on the 19.5V. So the LED stays lit for a long time instead of only a short time when the DC-DC converters, which supply all the internal voltages of the CPU and everything else, is loading the 19.5V.

I don't know what is exactly inside the laptop but I would suspect it has something to do with whatever switches the input voltage to the DC-DC converters between the 19.5V adapter and the 11V battery. Either it's faulty or it's needs to be reflowed.

 

[mohammed_samir]

-i got what is RoHs now .. :thumbsup:
-30hrs was the longest time i run it .... in normal days its about 15hrs
-i understood what u said about temp :thumbsup:
-this means that adapter is somehow acting normally
-well so, do u suggest trying another battery or adapter ?! or just go to a technation and let him deal with it ....

Thanks alot Ads-ee