I have a year and a half old dell inspiron 9300 laptop. One day stupid me thought that I wanted to upgrade the video card in it because it wasn't playing games good enough for me. So I took it apart and researched how much a video card would be for it. I figured out very quickly it really wasn't worth the money and so I never bought the graphics card. A little while later I decided to put the laptop back together. After everything was said and done I plugged it in and all it does is the power light comes on, the hard drive light comes on for a few seconds and then while all of this is happening the second light with the row of green lights. The one that has a A with lock around it, blinks and then after about ten seconds of that it shuts down. Nothing happens on the screen. I tried taking the battery out and booting it but the same results I got. I'm hoping it's something very simple that I'm not seeing. I'm hoping that it's not the motherboard, because I really don't think I 'll spend the money for a new one cause it wouldn't be worth it. I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Kyle

Sounds like you have one of the screws on too tight or too loose. Usually the CPU heatsink if you went that far. Best thing you can do (for free) is to take her apart again and RESEAT ALL THE PARTS youve taken out before and ensure everything is in place. The 9300 is still a good machine and although its tough considering putting money down into upgrading you may still have plenty of life in the machine to warrant keeping it alive if it has to come to that.

Thanks for the info! But I just got done reseating the processor and the video card and tried not screwing the screws on the heat sinc to the video card to tight, but the same thing happens. Is it possible that the video card is not any good? Or is it the motherboard? The light that blinks when you don't have the case on, the letters on the chipset are D2. It blinks quite a few times then it shuts down. I've had to replace motherboards in Gateays and Emachine laptops before because of a similar problem.

Ive had issues like this before when doing the pinmod for my friends 9300 and usually reseating parts made it go away typically it was the ram.

Well I just tried reseating the memory and still nothing. I'm coming to the conclusion that it is the motherboard because the fans don't even start up. But the thing is on the chip that has the five lights on it, the one that blinks is D2 and the chip that is screwed on the top part of the case that tells the computer when the screen is closed has the same D2 written on it. So maybe it could be something to do with that or a display problem. Right now I am at those three conclusions, motherboard, the chip that tells the computer when the screen is closed and then the video card. Any other suggestion?

Yeah you couldd have accidentally gave the board a shock I say this because most users tend to work with the computer without anti static wear. Its probabaly you accomplished this and fried the part. I dont suppose you know anyone with a M170, XPS2, or i9300 to lend a hand?

Well this is the thing! I actually just started my own computer repair business. I know how to do everything and yes I always wear anti static bands. I just wanted to know if someone had a good idea what it could be. Thanks for the edvice though.

I bought a 1 gig chunk of ram off ebay for my 9300 and it made my system do the exact same thing. system would start couple lights on about 10 seconds and shutdown. try only one chunk of memory at a time and see if it boots.

I don't have another stick of ram right now but I'll see if I can get a hold of one. Thanks for the advice, I think this might actually work. Let's hope at least.

Yeah so I know it's been a while since I've posted a comment on here. But I just got another stick of ram just to try it out. And guess what? It was the ram. It came with two sticks of DDR2 256 Meg pc4200. I got a hold of another stick and tried to boot it with that stick, it booted up with no problems. So I tried the new stick with one of the other sticks that came with it and no problems. But the weird thing is it would boot with either one of those sticks or the new one seperate. But when I tried to boot it with both of the sticks that came with it nothing. I'm not sure if somehow the bios got a glich and doesn't like the two sticks together or what. But all I know is that it is working now and I am happier then ever. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

no prob dude. I thought it was the ram after the prob I had. Glad to see you got it workin.