Dell Inspiron 5100 won't power up

[mrs.alifeofreilly]

I've been having this problem for a few weeks, but it seems that the damn thing has finally decided to die. In the past few weeks when I try to turn on the laptop the lights flash and it beeps, but it won't power up and the screen stays black. Usually I would leave it alone a few minutes, and then try to turn it on while tapping on it and that would work. The other day nothing would work and I'm noticing that when plugged into the a/c adaptor the charging light doesn't come on.

My husband doesn't have much experience with laptops, but his thought is the motherboard. I figured I'd ask here to see if I can get any suggestions of things to try before throwing it out the window.

[Ferrit]

Sounds a lot like it is the board or the something like that.
If you tapped it, and it started it may have something thats been getting llose like a cold solder joint

[NooNoo]

Try powering it up with out the battery plugged in.

[street1]

You may want to read at the below site.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=De...roups&ct=title

[3fingersalute]

We've had motherboards replaced in several of the 5100 series (under warranty). I actually have a 5150 myself and I'm on my third different motherboard, one was reaplaced for the exact problem your experiencing. It was definitely a loose connection, because jiggling the power cord would cause it to make a connection.