Inspiron 8600 Won't Boot

[desktopper]

Notebook won't boot on either the battery or AC adapter. The battery will charge. The green power light comes on for a couple of seconds, no hard drive spinup, no sound, then the light goes off again. Out of warranty, of course. The Dell answer is a new motherboard. I figure that would probably fix it, for awhile anyway.

It worked fine when last used, and hasn't been moved, much less dropped. I've found lots of info online about 5150 problems like this, but no specific info on 8600's. Does anyone have any info? Can anyone recommend a reputable repair company? TIA

[Yoob@NBF]

Dell is by far the most trustworthy repair company because they lease the work of all the 3rd party companies who are even capable of this type of work. For DELL its no choice in states where they do not have an easy access to a service center such as NY. It does sound as if you have a part failure which could be the motherboard a tell tale sign of MB failure is your lock indicator lights (scroll, num, caps) all lit when turning on the machine before it turns off. If its a new MB you need you will get a working one from DELL probabaly not cheap or you can take your chances online and ordering one from eBAY or 3rd party sites who carry the parts. If you have limited technical experience in taking apart the notebook to do the replacement then in all honesty a new notebook may be the only solution that would lead to the least amount of headaches. Otherwise grab your most tech handy friend orde r a new MB and treat him to what ever dinner/drinks hed like to get it replaced ;)

[titantora]

Yeah, the Dell i8600 is very easy to work on. If you download the service manual from the Dell website, you should be able to do it yourself. I've taken apart my 8600 numerous times. I think getting a new Motherboard for a decent price would be more of a headache than taking apart the 8600 to replace it. I'd do it for free, it's that easy.

[joatmon]

My i8600 had the motherboard replaced twice for a similar problem. Found that if I flexed the case some I could get it to come up for a little while, but it would spontaneously shut off, which is sometimes worse than not booting at all. Mine was under warranty, which was lucky, but if it wasn't, I'd do cost comparison with an equal capability new model before I dropped the money on a new replacement motherboard.

[desktopper]

It is something on the motherboard, but flexing it doesn't make a difference. I'm thinking about getting a new board on ebay or somewhere. Thanks, titantora, the service manuals are very good, so I can install it. There's some risk it might not fix the problem, though.

I think the Dell repair costs are about $700 (motherboard only; more if it is something else). I'm with joatmon - if I can't fix it, it is probably better to get a new notebook instead of having Dell fix it. After this experience, I wouldn't get a notebook without 3 or 4 years warranty.