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!help! Dell Inspiron 5100 Won't Boot

post #1 of 11
11/5/04 at 12:15am
Thread Starter 
I am hoping that this is something which can be fixed somewhat easily...
I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 that when plugged in and I press the power button, it lights the power led and the fan spins for about 2-3 sec, then you hear a click and it turns off.
If you only use the battery, it lights the battery led in green, the power led in green and the fan begins to spin. After about 3-5 seconds, the number lock led to the top of the keyboard beging flashing steadily, and the unit remains turned on, but the screen stayes black and the laptop doesn't go any further; but it remains turned on.
I tried an external monitor to test for screen problems, but nothing happened.
Does anyone have any iead what could be the problem and how to resolve it?

Appreciative of any assistance you can offer.
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post #2 of 11
11/5/04 at 11:51am
I have no idea if this will resolve the issue, but why don't you try unplugging it and take the battery out for a few minutes. I had a sony vaio for a while that would sometimes get into a mode where it wouldn't boot and this would solve the problem.
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post #3 of 11
11/5/04 at 11:56am
Thread Starter 
It has ben unplugged for over a month now and the battery has been removed, but the problem still persists.
The thing is that I am in the Caribbean and there are no servive centers for Dell here, so I can't even take it in to a Dell center.
Thanks for the reply to attemp some help.
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post #4 of 11
11/7/04 at 6:01pm
Hi LucianToy,

I already posted a reply to you in another thread, but just in case I thought I'd post here, too. I don't know if this will work, but have you tried turning on the computer with ONLY the battery and no power cord? This is what works for me and I have the exact same problem as you do. Exact to the last detail! I remove both the battery and the power cord, wait about 15 seconds, then insert ONLY the battery to power up. After it has powered up, then I plug in the power cord. It sounds like this might not work for you, but I figured it would be worth a try.
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post #5 of 11
11/8/04 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 

Still No Luck

I have already tried this with no luck.
When it is only the battery, the computer just hangs with a blank screen, but the fan stays running.
It doesn't even reach the point of the setup utility.

Thanx for the feedback... I appreciate it
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post #6 of 11
11/8/04 at 11:40am
this problem sounds hardware related...

it is very difficult to trouble shoot this, especially with a laptop and you being in the Caribbean ...

do you hear any sounds or beeps when it boots up? do you have the manual with you? im looking for any signs of error messages to narrow the problem down.. if you have the manual, try looking up the flashing NUM LOCK key... or do a search on google for it...
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post #7 of 11
11/8/04 at 11:41am
i did a quick search on google...

a 'Num Lock LED flashing green' for a few vendors is a sign of memory failure...

you may be in luck and all you need to do is replace the memory...
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post #8 of 11
11/11/04 at 5:57am
I have the same problem I got it to boot once when I also had this... I don't really get what the problem is it was working without any problems at all yesterday. I have no flashing num lock so that's not it

What happens is basically: Power on light is on consistently then a quick green battery flash. Then an orange flash and it goes 'phew' and it's off... It's basically the same problem as Lucian Toy described. Luckily I'm not in the carrabean but I'm not really wanting to go to the dell ppl and let them have my laptop for a couple of weeks...

The solutions given don't work I'm going to try a few more times...
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post #9 of 11
11/11/04 at 6:08am
Alright Solved it what you would want to try is:

On the back of the inspiron there is a 'hatch' with an m on it. that stands for memory. You should just try and open it ( just unscrew it's really easy) take out one piece of memory and try to boot. if that doesn't work put it back in and take out the other one. I actually took one out booted... and it worked... Put it back in and booted again and it worked again aswell... very weird indeed... I hope this helps

(btw like I said I had no numlock thing flashing so this might help you too)
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post #10 of 11
11/24/04 at 4:52pm
Thread Starter 

Sorry...

I was away for a bit and was unable to respond.
I am going to give this a try and then get back to you all.
I truly appreciate the support of every one.
Get back to you soon...

LucianToy
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post #11 of 11
11/25/04 at 9:32am
Hihi

most probaly the MB is dead, you will need to get it changed, i have fix these problems before, 9 out of 10 its the MB.

scryeder
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