Dell Inspiron 1721 Laptop Dead?

iliketurtles · 23rd June 2009

Last night I went to turn on my laptop and it won't turn on.

It starts to turn on, the power light/HD light goes on, then makes a CHINK sound and shuts off and the battery light flashes. I have it always plugged into the wall.

I tried to take the back off to clean, but cannot get to the fan area to check that.

I have in the past used it on my bed a lot and it has gotten really hot, did I fry it? I really don't want to spend $150 on a new battery just to test it. Any other suggestions I can try? I did just recently move all my photos to my external HD but didn't get to my doc's yet, IF it IS dead, can I get to that info anymore or am I SOL?

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

**mattman** · 24th June 2009

Laptops don't generally have much you can swap-out or test for a "no start" problem. Try tapping (rapidly) the key that gets you into the BIOS/startup settings. It could be a simple as a loose connection. Read the system manual, go to the Dell website (www.dell.com/support) and put in the Service Tag, that way you will find your exact model.

The BIOS checks the hardware on the system at startup, it sounds like a piece of hardware is failing the check. It may be a motherboard problem.

The "CHINK" may be the HDD shutting off, apart from fans, there are no more moving parts. You should be able to see the CPU fan, and more importantly, if the cooling fins are blocked, by removing the keyboard of the laptop, not just "taking the back off".

To get the data off the HDD you may need to connect it to another computer, that might mean putting it into an external USB HDD (2.5") case. A SATA drive can go into a 2.5" or 3.5" HDD "docking station". An IDE/PATA drive is different and only has a separate external case (2.5", not 3.5"). There are adapters for 2.5" IDE to 3.5" IDE. It can be your choice how you might want to read/backup the data off the drive (hopefully it is working OK).

Matt

iliketurtles · 25th June 2009

Hello!

Well I'll see what happens tomorrow. I ordered a new cord. I read a big thread somewhere that these dell cords fizzled out about 18 months... and that's about where I am. SO, if it's not that then I'll have to try something else. I'm REALLY hoping it's the cord, lol I'll post back tomorrow with hopefully good news!! Cross your fingers!! THANK YOU!!!