Dell Inspiron 1501 absolutely no power

[The PC Resort]

A friend from my day job brought in his Inspiron 1501 laptop and asks if I can do anything to fix it. He says that before he realized it wasn't charging, the battery went dead.

I did a little research on the 1501 at home. I removed the battery, held down the power button for about 30 seconds and plugged in his power adapter to see if I could get anything. Nothing lit up at all.
I didn't have another Dell power adapter, but I plugged in a universal (with correct settings) I have used on other units including Dells, and still got nothing.
Externally I checked the power adapter plug and it seemed OK, so I opened it up down to the MB and checked the adapter. The solder joints look and feel OK so at the moment I am not thinking it has anything to do with the adapter nor the jack. I read that there is a filter next to the jack that may lose contact over time that may cause this problem. The contacts (what I could see of them) looked OK there too.
This is a freebee, so I don't want to spend much time on it. Have any of you run across this problem with this laptop?
So far I am thinking that he would be better off buying a new laptop rather than spend money to replace a MB on a 5yr old Dell. But if it's something simple I am missing, I'd like to know.
Thanks for any responses.
Rick

 

[FoolishTech]

Maybe I'm not as thorough as your average tech, and I'm not mr. laptop specialty either, but sounds to me like you have a clear cut case of bad board.

As for replacement vs. repair, I usually advise clients to do what's in their hearts and wallets If they give me any lip about it, I'll tell them that if the repair exceeds half the cost of a new laptop, and they have the spare cash, then buy a new one. That's just a general rule of thumb for me, but of course age should play a significant factor as well.

 

[ATTech]

But if it's something simple I am missing

A Multimeter?

Solder joints can look and feel right, but still not be. A Multimeter is a sure fire way of ensuring that voltage is getting to the board.

 

[Mr I]

and plugged in his power adapter to see if I could get anything. Nothing lit up at all.

Did you measured the current with a multimeter before plugging the universal adapter?

 

[Eddie]

Check for bad capacitors around the dc jack, I fixed one recently where the cap had blown just beside it.

 

[wtigger]

This is probably NOT a problem you can fix yourself. I see this a lot, and I have a subcontractor I send my boards to that fixes them quite nicely, for $80 plus round trip shipping (can be another $20-40 depending on distance/speed of transit). If it's a large chip (video/chipset) it's another $20. 90 day warranty on all repairs. They do laptop and desktop motherboard repairs. I'm a satisfied customer, no ties to them...

This is what I do regularly for "no power" issues, I have a 100% success rate in these issues, and all happy customers when you consider getting replacement "used" boards off of ebay...

 

[732914TECH]

plug the adapter into the laptop, and use a multimeter on multiple spots on the motherboard where there should be power, ie; battery charging fins, or a fuse. if theres 19v it probably isnt the dc jack, if not it might be, even just temporarily resolder the jack to see if it makes it work, if it does, remove it completely and resolder using flux.

 

[Ccomp5950]

This should have been posted in Tech to Tech help.

Remember, this forum is only for sensitive information that you wouldn't want your client to see. This includes:

* Mentioning a specific client or situation that you dont want your client to potentially find
* Your markups and suppliers
* Basically anything you don't want associated with your name that will be visible on Google

This forum is NOT for:

* General Technician to Technician talk
* General Computer Help

The answer has been given already though, get a multimeter and first check for Continuity, depending on where the problem is it could be fixed with a 5 dollar replacement part or it could be a short in the motherboard. We don't know yet.

 

[TimJacobs]

This should have been posted in Tech to Tech help.

I agree, unless there is a valid reason for it to be hidden........ I asked a mod to move it

 

[The PC Resort]

Sorry about posting in the wrong forum. I was on my phone and didn't realize where I was.

Thanks for the replies. This weekend I will have the time to check the board power with a multimeter. Being a freebee, I'm doing other customers first.

My gut feeling is telling me it's motherboard or the F1 filter I have read about.
I don't feel the adapter jack is the problem at all....but I have been surprised before.