Dell D830 wont turn on and strange adapter behaviour

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martyyn

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#97793 20-Feb-2012 19:35

So, my D830 will no longer turn on. Absolutely nothing happens when I press the power button whether its on battery (which was ok and has 4 dots showing on the bottom) or power. No fans, no lights, nothing.

Ive done all the basics to find the problem, and the web tells me they often have problems with the adapter having trouble due to cracks in the solder between a daughter board and the main board.

Interestingly when I plug it into an adapter (genuine) its green LED goes off and it wont power anything (I have a couple of other Dells to try) until I unplug it and leave it for ten seconds.

Its done that with two adaptors and the docking station I have so Im a little stumped.

Any ideas ? All I can find when searching is people saying its the cracks in the mainboard but they can at least get it to show its charging whereas I have nothing.

Any thoughts ?

jpwise

jpwise
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#585153 22-Feb-2012 13:34

generally if the adapter led goes out as soon as you plug it in, it suggest a short in the unit itself, so there's reasonable odds it's a mainboard fault. if it's under warranty give dell a bell and they'll normally send an onsite tech out to repair it. if it's out of warranty get it assessed to see if it's a failure, or something shorting in the unit (loose screw etc). likewise if it's had any liquid spills etc you may see that type of symptom due to the board damage.

Jp.

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martyyn

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#585284 22-Feb-2012 17:36

Thanks for that. I took it all apart the other night and reseated all the main components but no dice.

I bought it privately and in checking the tag number I see its still under warranty with Dell, but I dont expect that warranty to be transferable.

I might try taking it apart completely to see if it is something attached which is shorting it out, but I may be resigned to a motherboard fault :(

jpwise

jpwise
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#585286 22-Feb-2012 17:38

Dell does actually have a facility for transferring ownership from one person to another.

That said if it's listed as still having warranty on it, it wouldn't hurt to ring them and see if you can book a warranty service, the worst they can say is "no".

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martyyn

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#585288 22-Feb-2012 17:42

Thats true, I might call them tonight.

KevinL

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#585290 22-Feb-2012 17:47

They're (usually) fairly reasonable - I had a problem with my M1210 laptop a few years ago, which was well out of warranty. I enquired about purchasing a new LCD - rather than selling me a new panel for $600 or so, they sold me a 1 year CompleteCover policy for about $400 and replaced the panel (then the mainboard, after they eventually tracked down the issue). What was even more fortuitous was about a month later I stepped on my laptop and cracked the screen - which was covered under the accidental damage portion of the CompleteCover policy!