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Hi,
i was watching a video on my computer when all of a sudden the screen froze. i couldn't do a thing:no mouse movements, no keybord reactions, nothing. so i decided to power off the pc and restart.
now it only displays a black screen with a cursor blinking in the top left.
the indicator from the hard disk never blinks. The CD-rom drive spins but nothing more. when i inserted the windows cd-rom, nothing happened, it just spon for a couple of seconds. ....
any ideas?
After inserting the CD, did you also Restart computer with CD in ????
May have to go into BIOS to set the Boot Order to boot from CD Drive first.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314...
Computer stops responding with a black screen when you start Windows XP
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yep, i restarted after inserting the CD-rom
i'm sure my cd-rom drive is set to boot first,but how do i get into my bios settings? non of the fkeys does anything
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Maybe this has the correct information ===
BIOS Key Sequences
http://www.kamputec.com/bios/setupk...
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I don't get into the BIOS to change things
Only things that happen:
-the power light goes on
- fan starts to work
- cursor blinking in the left upper corner
- CD-ROM drive spins up
- I can hear my hard drive spin upWhat doesn't happen:
- light of the hard drive/memory (I allways forget which one it is) won't show up
- no beeps what so ever
- no reaction to any keyboard entry so no Fkeys
- not a single word on the screen appears, just the blinking cursor. Normally it shows that cursor for a couple of seconds
- it doesn't boot from a CD-Rom, it doesn't gets to safe mode screen, it doesn't tries to start windows, .....
What I have done so far:
- tried to boot from Windows CD
- removed the RAM and put it back in
- removed battery and power supply, hold the power button in for 20 seconds
- tried to start up while holding the FN keyAny ideas?
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I just noticed that the bettery LED never lights up. Normally it should be green or orange, but is doesn't do anything.
Just now, I even got to start it up again. But not for long. It was overheating and the were doing extra time (known problem for the Dell 5150) and I did what I allways do then: put something under the laptop at the back so it has more and colder air to cool. It was at that point it froze again. Exacly the same as last time, I couldn't do a thing but to power off. Now I'm back where I was before: I only get to see a blinking "-" at the start.
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If the power supply is failing, why does the fan works, is the HD spinning, does the CD-ROM drive works?
I found out that if my battery is full and I plugged in to the net, the LED shouldn't light up, it's normal
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There are 5 different rails [circuits] in a psu. Any one can fail and the others seem normal.
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psura...
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The Dell Inspiron 5150 is a laptop. It seems fairly unlikely for the power supply to fail in laptops (never heard of it), but I suppose it's possible.
Switch the RAM stick to slot B and try it. If the PC has 2 sticks, remove one and try the other one in one slot. If it doesn't work, switch that stick to the opposite slot. If it still doesn't work, remove it and try the other stick in both slots. Make sure the power plug and the battery is removed while doing it. Also remove all USB and cardbus devices if any. RAM issues can cause a laptop to overheat more than usual. I know from experience.
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Didnt realize this was a laptop. If it is a laptop then try running off the battery to see if you have the same symptoms.
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I suspect harddrive failure.
I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.
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I agree that that's a possibility as well.
Make sure Jesus is your Saviour!
To avoid conflict, always Google before posting.
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I tried the 2 RAM cards in each slot, but nothing seemed to work. One time it did start up until the windows logo but then froze. I guess that that was just a lucky shot.
I also tried to start from only the battery, only the power net, the battery and the net together, but nothing changed.
I can hear my hard drive spin up, it doesn't get stuck or tries to restart all the time so I think it is doing just fine.
Any other ideas? Because I fear it is the motherboard and that would be costly.
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The UBCD LiveCD has a Bios reseter,that might work.
There's also a Madboot cd and floppy with these reseters.
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Where can I find the UBCD LiveCD or that Madboot cd?
I was able to reach the DELL helpdesk today and after some tests they told me that my motherboard died. And that it would cost me 570 euro's (about 900 dollar) without taxes to replace it. :( No way I pay that much to repair my laptop. By the way, is it normal that a motherboard just dies without reason after 3years and 3 months?
On ebay I can find some "new" and refurbished motherboards for a lot less. Can they be trusted or is it all rubbish?
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If your laptop got hot often, the heat can definitely shorten the lifespan of the motherboard. Heat is one of the worst enemies of a computer.
Make sure Jesus is your Saviour!
To avoid conflict, always Google before posting.
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