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Question

Dell 1501 crashed. Black screen, cd rom crashed

by Oct 9, 2012 2:45PM PDT

I recently purchased a used Dell laptop 1501 fairly cheap. It has a 160 gb hard drive, and 2 gb ram "vista". The girl I bought it from said it didn't connect to the internet and sold it me for 25.00 dollars. Upon getting it home I realized she never gave me the password so I used the hirens boot cd to reset the password. I then tried to connect to the internet wirelessly. It wouldn't connect, but would connect via ethernet cable. I researched the internet as to why the wirelesss wouldn't be working and tried several things to try and get it to connect. I downloaded winsockfix 1.1.0.13 and that seemed to help as it did connect after that. I then decided I wanted to do the factory restore on it. At boot up I hit the f8 key and did the whole factory restore procedure. After it was complete and back to factory settings I then got online with it and tried watching youtube videos which I couldn't do because it said I needed windows updates and a different internet explorer? I then went to the microsoft windows update page where it said I needed somthing like 92 updates. I then clicked to update and left it to update for around 2 hours. After it was done updating all 92 updates the computer began running very slow, so slow where it wouldn't do anything. I restart the computer and it didn't help. Still running very slow. Then out of now where the computer screen started doing odd things like different pixels and lines flashing and the screen looked like a flat rubics cube with colors and lines. I shut down the computer once again and went to go back and do a factory restore again but it froze up 1/4 of the way thru the process and the screen changed all sorts of different colors then went black. I shut down once again . Now its not doing anything black screen, although after about 100 times of turning it off and on I did get it to light up like it was loading but it then went back to wierd and pixel screen shapes and lines. Now it wont do anything. Black screen , and now the cd rom wont open either. I stuck a paper clip and did a manual eject on the cd rom and put the hirens boot cd in but it wont read it. I tried doing the f2 f8 f12 control f11 on start up but it doesn't do anything. I'm fairly new at computers with limited knowlege. im not a expert, but I do know after installing these 92 microsoft updates the compputer went haywire. Has anyone ever encountered this and suggestions of help of what I should do? thanks

Discussion is locked

11 Posts
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Answer
blank laptop
by Oct 10, 2012 12:11AM PDT

I have also tryed resetting the bios by unhooking the cmos battery for 24 hours, and also tried reseating each ram card. Any computer experts in here can give me an idea of what is going on?

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Answer
No POST
by Dell staff Oct 10, 2012 12:41AM PDT

Hi,

It seems as though the laptop is not powering on correctly.Try to run the Dell diagnostics:
1. Turn off the computer; press and hold the <Fn> key, push the power button and release the keys simultaneously.
2. Usually, a blue screen appears stating Pre-boot System Assessment. Please share the error code(s), if any.
3. In this situation, the diagnostics do not initiate. The Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll lock key illuminate in a specific pattern. Share the pattern in which the lights flash, it will help us determine the failure.

Please run the LCD BIST to check if the lines appear in the BIST.
1. Turn off the computer; press and hold the <D> alphabet key, push the power button and release the keys simultaneously.
2. This will initiate a grey screen, then Red, then Blue, then Green then White, to allow you to inspect the entire LCD.
3. If 5 solid colors don't flash on the screen, try an external monitor (if available).

Keep me posted with the status.

Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C

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Thanks for the reply Manpreet :) !
by synthetic11 Oct 10, 2012 1:40AM PDT

Ok it seems I made a typo the laptop is not a 1501 it is rather a Inspiron 1521. Sorry about that. Ok thanks Manpreet for sharing the info. I did the screen test holding d and power button and it did the colors that you said. I then did the "fn" and power button combination. The screen stayed blank or black no power to it by the looks of it, but there are 3 blue lights near the power button. From left to right it looks like a lock"9" is blinking blue off and on, then the lock"a" is blinking off and on, then the lock"down arrow" is staying a solid blue. I hope you understand how I explained it with out any pics.

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Inspiron 1521
by synthetic11 Oct 10, 2012 1:43AM PDT

Ok there are 3 lights near the power button. From left to right the first 2 are blinking off, and on, and the third stays constant blue

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Video Failure
by Manpreet_C Dell staff Oct 10, 2012 2:31AM PDT

Thank you for the response and the information.
Both the laptops have the same Lock light indicators. So, it does not matter.
The Lock lights pattern indicates video failure. Refer to the image for what other patterns indicate: Image

LCD BIST indicates that the LCD screen is intact. However, either the LCD inverter cable or the motherboard has failed.

If you want, you can try to re-seat the LCD cable. If this does not help, you may have to replace the motherboard.
Observe the following safety precautions before performing any steps:
1. Turn off the system and disconnect any attached peripherals (printer, USB flash drives, SD card, AC Adapter, battery).
2. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the system.

To re-seat the LCD cable, refer to this Owner's Manual.

Hope this helps.
Please revert for any further queries.

Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C

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To Manpreet
by synthetic11 Oct 13, 2012 9:25AM PDT

Thanks again for the info Manpreet as I'm kind of new to diagnosing computer problems. I tried re-seating the lcd cable but no luck in changing from a black screen. Im guessing now it is the mother board where the problem is? I have read certain things about the braphics card getting to hot and the soldier dry cracking? I took the cooling system off the motherboard and the thermal compound was dry and hard and not very much between the chips and the copper cooling pipe? Im guessing the bad graphics card is under the cooling pipe next to the main processor chip?

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Video Failure
by Manpreet_C Dell staff Oct 13, 2012 8:44PM PDT

Thank you for the response.

To remove the discrete video card, refer to the pictures and follow these steps:
1. Ensure that the hinge cover, keyboard, LCD and palm rest have been removed prior to removing the video card.
2. Loosen the three captive screws on the video card module: Image
3. Lift the video card module straight up: Image
4. Remove the video card module: Image
5. The image shows the system with the discrete video card removed.

Here is the Owner's Manual for your reference.

Hope this helps.
Please revert for any further queries.

Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C

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Video card disassembly
by Manpreet_C Dell staff Oct 16, 2012 1:53AM PDT

Hi,

Were you able to remove the video card?

Please revert for any further queries.

Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C

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Thank You
by synthetic11 Oct 17, 2012 3:59AM PDT

Thanks Manpreet! I looked at the pictures and instructions you posted and i'm grateful for that! , but I took my laptop apart again and it looks a lill different from the pics you posted. I can't seem to even find the big video card and cooling device that is in your pics as mine doesnt have anything that looks like this. I guess I meant to say by video cards or graphics cards I meant is a little chip called nvidia or somthing? It is known for failing or over heating causing the soldier to dry crack? If you watch this youtube video you will see what im talking about , but I guess its a common problem on alot of laptops with nvidia chips? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLC1voKDTqE

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Service tag
by Manpreet_C Dell staff Oct 17, 2012 9:47PM PDT

Thank you for the response and the information.

Please send an e-mail with the Service Tag of the computer to manpreet_chhabra@dell.com. I will check the type of graphics card sent with the system and help you further.

Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C

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Answer
I can't answer your video chip question.
by Former Forum moderator Oct 17, 2012 4:34AM PDT

Why? There are dozens of 1501 models and after reading these posts I can't figure out which one it is.

But there are certain video solutions that did suffer earlier failures and the fix was to replace the board this chip was soldered to.

Bob

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