dell inspiron 1000, dead?

Dell inspiron 1000 with XP Pro started switching itself off after a few minutes. I have replaced battery with no improvement. Now the screen doesn't even light up. According to the lights the battery is holding a charge but unable to open the CD drive to attempt to boot externally.Any suggestions whether this is either HDD or processor failure or something else. I would like to avoid the cost of replacing the HDD if the machine is toast!

TIA

 

Even if the HD were toast you'd still at least see a boot screen, I think your problems are a little more serious than a new hard drive.

EDIT:

A little trick you can try is remove both battery and mains power, press and hold the power button on the laptop for around 30 seconds then reconnect battery/mains. Switch on and cross fingers.

I can't see this working for your laptop but it doesn't take long and costs nothing. I'm thinking your motherboard has gone and other than salvaging a few parts it's probably only fit for the bin but perhaps others have better ideas.

 

inspiron 1000

I thought that it is most likely dead in the water, I'll wait a few days just to see if there is a magic bullet and then I'll consign the skeleton to the recycling bin.
Thanks

 

If the battery is almost dead or damaged somehow, it can cause all sorts of problems.

See if you can find the Service Manual for download at Dell, they often tell you about most "no start" situations. Check if you can start up without the battery attached, just the charger, try that.

The screen might not light up, but do LEDS flash or stay on (like the drive LED)? If the drive LED stays on, it might be a drive problem. The CD/DVD should be easily removable, try taking that out. You can take the HDD out and start up, it might run and tell you that it can't find an operating system.

If things look bleak, you can start trying anything you like. Look at the back of the laptop, you will often see depictions of which screws will allow you to take the keyboard, palm-rest or RAM out. You can disconnect and reconnect whatever connections you can get at. For example, the system (all the systems I know) will not start up unless a keyboard is present, so check the keyboard connection.

Check the forums at the Dell website. There might be others in your situation.

The bleaker it seems, the more fun you can have by dismantling it, checking/testing and reconstructing it.

Matt