Dell Inspiron 8000 won't power on

**zleviticus** · June 3rd, 2004, 11:24 AM

Hello all. We have struggled with this for a long time now and the problem has not been resolved... not even dell resolved the issue...

Here it is..

Whether we plug the laptop in the the ac addapter or run via the battery the laptop will never power on completely..

When the power button is pressed the power light comes on the harddrive comes on for a second and the caps loc, scroll loc and num loc come on.. the screen will flicker once and then the power will go off...

We are at our witts end.. we have already put the laptop on a shelf as a paper weight but I would like to get it running so i have it as a test machine.

Thanks for any information you can give in trying to fix this issue... I have reseated everything I can think of on it...

Thanks again.

**edball** · June 3rd, 2004, 11:36 AM

Sounds like a hardware problem. Could be the power supply. I'm not sure how you would troubleshoot it without any spare parts.

**edball** · June 3rd, 2004, 11:59 AM

I thought of one more thing, it could be over-heating. Make sure the CPU fan is spinning.

**zleviticus** · June 3rd, 2004, 12:01 PM

Well i too believe it is a hardware problem... but the fan never spins up because the laptop never powers on enough to do it. I suspect the processor but do not have one lying around to check for sure...

**Tekboy** · June 3rd, 2004, 12:02 PM

The last time I saw this issue, it was a failed mainboard.

**zleviticus** · June 3rd, 2004, 12:35 PM

Well i took everything out of the system and tried to power on and nothing.. i reseated the processor as well.. I think the MB has been replace but I do not know about the processor.. i think it has but can not swear to it.. i guess I pretty much have a large paper weight... I wish I had another one to switch parts out with...

**Vip2** · June 4th, 2004, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by zleviticus

Well i took everything out of the system and tried to power on and nothing.. i reseated the processor as well.. I think the MB has been replace but I do not know about the processor.. i think it has but can not swear to it.. i guess I pretty much have a large paper weight... I wish I had another one to switch parts out with...

Sounds like a bad BIOS flash to me. If it is you need to have another machine with the same kind of BIOS chip to do a "hot flash" (as long as the BIOS chip is removable).

You could try resetting the BIOS (I doubt it but its worth a try). Also, I've had Dells that did the similar thing with a bad battery inserted. Have you tried it without the battery?

**Bigtimbre** · June 4th, 2004, 07:43 PM

Check to make sure that you are not missing any screws from the bottom of the laptop. Several of these are integral in the proper operation of the power subsystem.. I had one that wouldn't recognize the battery because of a missing screw...

**Cooper420** · June 22nd, 2004, 12:46 PM

I have an inspiron 8000 as well.

This problem has plagued me 4 times since I bought the damn thing in 2001!

Now it has happened again.

This time nothing works, the thing seems like it's dead, what a waste of $3,000 (at the time)

I found that it happens after not using the thing for a few weeks / months.

I e-mailed Dell way back and they said the RAM needed to be moved to the other slot.

This doesnt work anymore, it worked once like that.

I plug the power cord in, and I can hear a Buzz from where the power supply would be..

I'm unfortunatley at a loss. Kind of pissed seeing as I spent $80 on a GeForce2 Go and PIII 700 for the thing back in december.

**NooNoo** · June 24th, 2004, 11:18 AM

Cooper Welcome to Windrivers.

I take it it's out of warranty? Maybe a laptop specialist can help you out with further troubleshooting?

**Cooper420** · June 24th, 2004, 12:07 PM

Thanks for the kind welcome!

Unfortunatley I am somewhat of a "specialist" as I am the owner of a computer store

) although notebooks are difnatley more troublesome than PC's as components are crammed together and very hard to troubleshoot with ease.

I ended up solving the problem yesterday after tearing the thing apart, I was showing someone the processor and how I had upgraded it 6 months ago.

Turns out that the CPU socket wasnt locked!

On mobile sockets you use a small screwdriver and turn the little "Lock" clockwise. Somehow this had come loose in the month i did not turn it on.

The thing is back to life now!

Hopefully this might be a solution for anyone else out there.

**NooNoo** · June 24th, 2004, 01:28 PM

heheh self caused problems are the worst to track down. Glad its sorted.

**dr_teknix** · July 23rd, 2004, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by zleviticus

Hello all. We have struggled with this for a long time now and the problem has not been resolved... not even dell resolved the issue...

Here it is..

Whether we plug the laptop in the the ac addapter or run via the battery the laptop will never power on completely..

When the power button is pressed the power light comes on the harddrive comes on for a second and the caps loc, scroll loc and num loc come on.. the screen will flicker once and then the power will go off...

We are at our witts end.. we have already put the laptop on a shelf as a paper weight but I would like to get it running so i have it as a test machine.

Thanks for any information you can give in trying to fix this issue... I have reseated everything I can think of on it...

Thanks again.

My work issued me this same laptop model. The only problem was that the drive (mine was an optical drive) located on the left side of the laptop was not working therefore they removed it. When they gave it to me, they had removed the drive completely - I said NOPE...I didn't want to be responsible for damages made inside the laptop. To cover the hole, they gave me the defective drive and I installed it myself. Guess what happens next - the computer doesn't boot (your problem). The fix - I had to pull the drive out a bit in order that the system does not recognize the drive.

Hope this works for you!

**Solprime** · July 30th, 2004, 02:41 AM

I am having the same problem, with a slight difference. I was using my Inspiron 8000 while connected to my wireless network, when *Poof!* It just shut itself off. Not a reboot, or a Windows Shutdown, but a hard power off. I thought to myself that was odd, and tried to power back on. Nothing happened. I swapped battery, and nothing. I plugged it into the wall, and still nothing. No lights, no drive spin, no fans... dead as a doornail.

I tried removing all the removable parts on the system, swapping memory around, etc to no avail. I have just recently read the power board itself could be bad. Is this a reasonable guess? How much would a new one cost? Any help appreciated here. Thanks.

-Sol

**NooNoo** · July 30th, 2004, 04:11 AM

Welcome to Windrivers Solprime

Yes it could be a bad motherboard, or bad cpu, or the power socket has gone... you would need an expert to check it. The cost would depend on your country.... If you call your local Dell support they will be able to tell you. You can also check places like ebay for parts, but you would have to fit it yourself, and laptops are not easy to mess with.