Dead e1505 question
 

Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty, the
thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can describe
it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power button, the
power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can unplug/plug in at the
wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing happens when I try to
power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so, is
it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and I'm not
averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John

Dead e1505 question
 

On 4/10/2011 12:12 PM, JohnB wrote:
Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty, the
thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can describe
it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power button, the
power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can unplug/plug in at the
wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing happens when I try to
power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so, is
it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and I'm not
averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John



not sure what you are describing, but it might be the ac jack in the
laptop - where the ac adapter plugs in. you can try to jiggle the tip
of the connected while inserted in the laptop to see if the power goes
on and off.
also, i think that there is a grade period of up to 30 days after your
warranty expires in which you can renew. call customer service and ask
to speak to someone in extended warranty sales... you can tell them that
you never received notice of the expiration. they will cover it
retroactively (so you loose a month of coverage in theory) but it will
be way cheaper than any out of warranty repair cost.

Dead e1505 question
 

On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:12:59 -0400, "JohnB"
wrote:

Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty, the
thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can describe
it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power button, the
power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can unplug/plug in at the
wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing happens when I try to
power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so, is
it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and I'm not
averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John



Think you may have a screen issue. I had one and I didn't feel the
cost to fix was justified so it went to the trash.

Dead e1505 question
 

Hi!

Just out of curiosity, have you tried powering the system without the
battery installed?

I don't think it's a problem with the battery or charging circuit. It
can't hurt to see, though. It really sounds like something on the
motherboard is shorted, overloading the DC-DC converter inside the
computer and causing the power brick to shut down.

If you want to fix it, I would start hitting eBay for replacement
motherboards. It may be cheaper to get a machine with a busted display
or something than to get a motherboard.

William

Dead e1505 question
 

On Apr 11, 10:17*am, "William R. Walsh" wrote:
Hi!

Just out of curiosity, have you tried powering the system without the
battery installed?

I don't think it's a problem with the battery or charging circuit. It
can't hurt to see, though. It really sounds like something on the
motherboard is shorted, overloading the DC-DC converter inside the
computer and causing the power brick to shut down.

If you want to fix it, I would start hitting eBay for replacement
motherboards. It may be cheaper to get a machine with a busted display
or something than to get a motherboard.

William

More to the point, a really EASY repair would involve getting a
working E1505 motherboard IN THE CHASSIS, swapping your screen,
keyboard, memory, hard drive, optical drive, and wifi card from the
dead system into the replacement chassis. Removing a dead motherboard
from and installing a new one into a chassis is a lot of extra grunt
work. I try to avoid it myself when I can, and I rip laptops to
shreds every day... Ben Myers

Dead e1505 question
 

On Apr 11, 8:57*am, "RnR" wrote:
On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:12:59 -0400, "JohnB"
wrote:









Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty, the
thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can describe
it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power button, the
power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can unplug/plug in at the
wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing happens when I try to
power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so, is
it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and I'm not
averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John

Think you may have a screen issue. * I had one and I didn't feel the
cost to fix was justified so it went to the trash. *

If the E1505 has a screen issue, the best way to determine this is to
attach a monitor to the 15-pin SVGA connector. Then diddle with the
Fn-key combinations to switch to the external monitor... Ben Myers

Dead e1505 question
 

On 4/11/2011 2:51 PM, Ben Myers wrote:
On Apr 11, 8:57 am, wrote:
On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:12:59 -0400,
wrote:









Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty, the
thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can describe
it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power button, the
power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can unplug/plug in at the
wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing happens when I try to
power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so, is
it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and I'm not
averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John

Think you may have a screen issue. I had one and I didn't feel the
cost to fix was justified so it went to the trash.

If the E1505 has a screen issue, the best way to determine this is to
attach a monitor to the 15-pin SVGA connector. Then diddle with the
Fn-key combinations to switch to the external monitor... Ben Myers

given the described symptom of the led going out on the ac adapter it
sounds like an electrical short which would most likely be a failed ac
jack connection to the motherboard, the systems dc-dc converter, some
other motherboard short, or a failed ac adapter (possibly a cut in the
cord or defective connector. not likely that it would have anything to
do with the screen.

Dead e1505 question
 

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

While the laptop was on warranty, I had the keyboard and part of the case
replaced in-home tech visit. Later, the AC connector pin got jammed and so,
on another complete care visit, they replaced the motherboard. I also went
through two power supplies, after the wires split at the connector barrel.
Gotta love teenagers.

I did try booting without the battery, but no dice. I don't think I can try
the alternate monitor idea, because the power supply blinks out as soon as I
hit the power button. I thought about renewing the warranty and then calling
in the problem. I checked it out and it was $250 fo a year. I passed.

I am leaning toward the idea of the MB being shorted out, because of the
suddenness of the apparent power supply overload. In the meantime, I will
look around to see if I can find something on eBay, with an MB in the
chassis.

- John

Dead e1505 question
 

Hi y'all, just an update on my issue and a couple of follow up questions, if
I may.

I did find a used MB, in the chassis, on eBay. It was fairly straightforward
using the online Dell manuals to swap in my WXGA+ screen and other existing
parts over and get the thing up and running.

So I am back up and running Windows Vista 32 bit. One thing I missed in my
haste was checking which motherboard I was getting (and why it's important).
What I got was an early one, with a t1300 processor ('single' I think they
call it). My bad motherboard supports a different FSB speed, so swapping in
that dual processor is out. I also realized that I can't swap in my 256MB
video card as this one uses integrated video, and without taking it all
apart, I'm trusting there is no connector for the card.

Now, is there a cost effective way to speed things up a bit? I believe this
will take up to a t7600, but I'm not believing the bang for the buck is
there, at around $150. Would a faster HD make a noticeable difference? Some
other lowlier CPU?

Thanks again. - John

I took the advice to look for a used motherboard
"JohnB" wrote in message
...
Hi -

I have an e1505 laptop. About a month beyond the complete care warranty,
the thing just "blinked" off while in use. That's the best way I can
describe it. What happens now is, when I plug it in and hit the power
button, the power supply's green LED immediately goes dark. I can
unplug/plug in at the wall to reset the power supply, but the same thing
happens when I try to power up.

The battery (Dell) is new, and the power supply checks ok (also tried a
replacement). So, is the motherboard likely gone/shorted out? And if so,
is it worth replacing, I think they can be had for a couple hundred and
I'm not averse to taking the thing apart.

Thanks! - John