Notebook Not Starting

I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.

For a few weeks, sometimes when loading Windows it would just stop
loading and stop where it was. I would have to hold down the power
button to restart it, but it would then reboot and load. Once Windows
was loaded it worked fine. I assumed this was a Windows loading
problem, and it might not be at all related to what is hapening today.

Today, after it had been working fine, I tried to turn it back on and
it stops loading at a very early stage. When I start the middle light
is on as long as the power cord is attached. Once I push the power
button, a light on the left turns on and the fan starts up. Most
times, after just a couple of seconds, it then stops up with the left
two lights remaining on. I have to hold down the power button to turn
these off and try to restart.

Most of the time I get nothing on the screen and it makes no attempt
to boot from hard drive or floppy.

A few times (out of many, many tries) I do get something on the screen
and it seems like it is starting to boot up, but each time it stops
booting (much earlier than I had the problem in the second paragraph).
It only got to the point where it was even trying to load Windows
once.

Any ideas on things to try? Even if I could just boot it up once it
would help to get some files I was working on since I backed it up the
previous day. Is it likely local computer stores would be able to work
on a Dell Computer if there isn't anything I could do on my own?

Ron Chusid wrote:
I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.

For a few weeks, sometimes when loading Windows it would just stop
loading and stop where it was. I would have to hold down the power
button to restart it, but it would then reboot and load. Once Windows
was loaded it worked fine. I assumed this was a Windows loading
problem, and it might not be at all related to what is hapening today.

Today, after it had been working fine, I tried to turn it back on and
it stops loading at a very early stage. When I start the middle light
is on as long as the power cord is attached. Once I push the power
button, a light on the left turns on and the fan starts up. Most
times, after just a couple of seconds, it then stops up with the left
two lights remaining on. I have to hold down the power button to turn
these off and try to restart.

Most of the time I get nothing on the screen and it makes no attempt
to boot from hard drive or floppy.

A few times (out of many, many tries) I do get something on the screen
and it seems like it is starting to boot up, but each time it stops
booting (much earlier than I had the problem in the second paragraph).
It only got to the point where it was even trying to load Windows
once.

Any ideas on things to try? Even if I could just boot it up once it
would help to get some files I was working on since I backed it up the
previous day. Is it likely local computer stores would be able to work
on a Dell Computer if there isn't anything I could do on my own?


Does the BIOS screen show up? Probably the BIOS has been infected by a
virus.

Reseat the memory and (if there) mini PCI cards in the bottom of the
machine.
Press down on the keyboard in the upper right-hand corner (it's over the
CPU, which may have worked loose).



"Ron Chusid" wrote in message
...
I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.

For a few weeks, sometimes when loading Windows it would just stop
loading and stop where it was. I would have to hold down the power
button to restart it, but it would then reboot and load. Once Windows
was loaded it worked fine. I assumed this was a Windows loading
problem, and it might not be at all related to what is hapening today.

Today, after it had been working fine, I tried to turn it back on and
it stops loading at a very early stage. When I start the middle light
is on as long as the power cord is attached. Once I push the power
button, a light on the left turns on and the fan starts up. Most
times, after just a couple of seconds, it then stops up with the left
two lights remaining on. I have to hold down the power button to turn
these off and try to restart.

Most of the time I get nothing on the screen and it makes no attempt
to boot from hard drive or floppy.

A few times (out of many, many tries) I do get something on the screen
and it seems like it is starting to boot up, but each time it stops
booting (much earlier than I had the problem in the second paragraph).
It only got to the point where it was even trying to load Windows
once.

Any ideas on things to try? Even if I could just boot it up once it
would help to get some files I was working on since I backed it up the
previous day. Is it likely local computer stores would be able to work
on a Dell Computer if there isn't anything I could do on my own?

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:02:38 GMT, "Default"
wrote:



Does the BIOS screen show up? Probably the BIOS has been infected by a
virus.

The BIOS screen usually doesn't show up, but it did a couple of times
before it froze.

I doubt it is a virus. It worked fine on Friday, and I do a weekly
virus scan on Fridays which was negative except for a few viruses in
unopened email attachments.

You might have something with something internal working loose. It was
after driving home that it stopped working, so perhaps something did
come loose with the motion. I don't have it started yet, but a couple
of times it went slightly further with pushing on parts of the case
(although it might be coincidence). It still stops very early, at
different places.

Would it make sense, and be safe, to open the case. Is there any harm
in opening it, and if something was loose would be be relatively easy
to find?

Another trend is that when it does seem to start it doesn't seem to
accept keyboard entry--could this be another sign of a connection
being loose inside?

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:37:06 GMT, "Edward J. Neth"
wrote:

Reseat the memory and (if there) mini PCI cards in the bottom of the
machine.
Press down on the keyboard in the upper right-hand corner (it's over the
CPU, which may have worked loose).



"Ron Chusid" wrote in message
.. .
I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.

For a few weeks, sometimes when loading Windows it would just stop
loading and stop where it was. I would have to hold down the power
button to restart it, but it would then reboot and load. Once Windows
was loaded it worked fine. I assumed this was a Windows loading
problem, and it might not be at all related to what is hapening today.

Today, after it had been working fine, I tried to turn it back on and
it stops loading at a very early stage. When I start the middle light
is on as long as the power cord is attached. Once I push the power
button, a light on the left turns on and the fan starts up. Most
times, after just a couple of seconds, it then stops up with the left
two lights remaining on. I have to hold down the power button to turn
these off and try to restart.

Most of the time I get nothing on the screen and it makes no attempt
to boot from hard drive or floppy.

A few times (out of many, many tries) I do get something on the screen
and it seems like it is starting to boot up, but each time it stops
booting (much earlier than I had the problem in the second paragraph).
It only got to the point where it was even trying to load Windows
once.

Any ideas on things to try? Even if I could just boot it up once it
would help to get some files I was working on since I backed it up the
previous day. Is it likely local computer stores would be able to work
on a Dell Computer if there isn't anything I could do on my own?

Ron Chusid wrote:
On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:02:38 GMT, "Default"
wrote:



Does the BIOS screen show up? Probably the BIOS has been infected by
a virus.

The BIOS screen usually doesn't show up, but it did a couple of times
before it froze.

I doubt it is a virus. It worked fine on Friday, and I do a weekly
virus scan on Fridays which was negative except for a few viruses in
unopened email attachments.

A virus that affects the BIOS may not show up with a conventional scan which
usually looks for files/infections on the disk.

Is the cooling fan running and or plugged up?
I just fixed my brother in laws HP ZE1250 that would just
lock up, or shut off. I popped off the keyboard and found
the CPU cooling fan connector was not seated properly.
After the CPU got hot, it would shut down. Reseating
it, and it's worked ever since.


On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 12:34:52 -0500, Ron Chusid
wrote:

I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.

The fan does run.

I did find out more, which I'll post as a separate message in more
detail. I found that it will do better if I'm firmly pushing on the
memory chips.

On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 01:29:37 GMT, Name withheld by request
wrote:

Is the cooling fan running and or plugged up?
I just fixed my brother in laws HP ZE1250 that would just
lock up, or shut off. I popped off the keyboard and found
the CPU cooling fan connector was not seated properly.
After the CPU got hot, it would shut down. Reseating
it, and it's worked ever since.


On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 12:34:52 -0500, Ron Chusid
wrote:

I have a very sick Inspiron 5000e (out of warranty) which won't start,
and wonder if anyone has any idea if there could be anything simple I
could try to get it going.