Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

E1405 No power

by Jul 14, 2016 2:58AM PDT

Hello everyone! So i have a very interesting problem. Got a secondhand Inspiron e1405. When i laid my hands on it, it had a problem of not getting power. Turned the power circuit had a SOT23 packaged diode blown. Ordered a matching circuit, replaced it but still no luck. It has an original PA-12 charger. When i connect the charger to an outlet the led on it comes on, measured with a multimeter, it gives off a steady 19.4 volts. I connect it to the lappy but no led on the lappy come on, and the led on the charger remains lit, so there are no shorts in the power circuit in the laptop.
So here is a list of what i tried:
- Took the lappy apart ( everything from ram to cpu to cmos battery, and also i replaced the battery )
- Reseated everything, cleaned contacts with compressed air. Still no leds light up when trying to turn on.
- Took my trusty multimeter and started measuring around, at the battery contacts i get around 4,8 volts. At the power button i get 2,92 volts, at the power button circuit connector i get 3,5 volts.
- Tried it with a different working ram and cpu, still no luck. I get no sound, no fan spinning, nothing. It seems dead as a brick.
Can someone suggest where to start looking?
Replacing the motherboard would be my very very very last resort.
Any suggestions would be welcomed!

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Answer
Small world.
by Forum moderator Jul 14, 2016 10:02AM PDT

I have the Dell Inspiron E1505 and this is a 2006 laptop. As you are the tech you would be hunting down schematics which I can't do for you. But I wanted to share an off thing about the E1505 and the power button trouble that I ran into.

Lucky for me the office had a spare W7 license so I installed that. So far, so good. A hot deal came along for an 120GB SSD so for under 30 why not. Now this machine is starting to look like a great college laptop. OK, up to Windows 10 and all seemed well at first.

Then the power button started to not work. Ouch. But being the old hand at this I know the BIOS plays a role so I found the BIOS was many versions old.

It wasn't as easy to update since Dell only had a W7 BIOS updater. My planning paid off here. I slipped in the W7 HDD and updated the BIOS. Then I shut down and swapped in the W10 HDD.

-> All good now. The power button is working great now.

- Collapse -
interesting
by darthdevil Jul 14, 2016 10:08AM PDT

Very interesting problem. The previous owner told me he had used the lappy with xp, and one day it didnt work. However i am going to try this out once i get home. Thanks for the tip!

- Collapse -
Interesting
by Shepbob Jul 14, 2016 11:37AM PDT

[Have you tried Bob's tried and true method.
remove battery and power cord
Hold down the power button for at least 60 seconds
put battery back in and plug in power cord
press the power buttoon

Back to Laptops forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info