ACER Laptop Fried?

My mother in law's ACER 5720-4353 laptop won't turn on. When the power button is pressed it turns green and I can hear the whirling noise a laptop usually makes when powered up. After 6-8 seconds it turns off. I've tried to power it up without the battery (just AC) and with just the battery and nothing - same sympton - it powers up for about 6-8 seconds and then turns off.

Any ideas? PSU, MB? Here are the laptop's specs:

-Intel pentium Dual-Core Processor T2370 (1.73 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 cache)
-Up to 358MB Mobile Intel Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
-2GB DDR2
-15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LCD (*ms/220-nit) ----REALLY NICE SCREEN!!!
-250GB HDD
-DVD-Super Multi DL
-802.11 b/g WLAN
-Windows Vista
-Built in webcam microphone
-5-in-1 Media Card Reader
-Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

Thanks!

 

Try removing battery and mains. Press and hold Power button for ~30 seconds then reconnect battery/mains switch on as normal and let us know if it helps.

 

Wildfire, thanks for the suggestion - however, I tried it but it did not work. It still does the same.

 

It may be overheating. Do you hear the fan spin up or feel any air blowing out the exhaust port when starting? Try cleaning out the fan with a can of compressed air through the exhaust port.

 

Whiskeyman, I followed your recommendation and used compressed air on the fan exhaust - same result. I did notice that the fan spins during the brief time the laptop turns on. This is really weird.

 

Unless you have the ability to strip the unit down - my suggestion is that the CPU may need reseating.
Be careful blowing compressed air into your laptop, as this may cause the fan to spin up around 10,000 RPM! Bearing failure will be your next problem and this applies to all comps when using compressed air for clearing out dust.
You need to access the fan and STOP the fan blades from turning when blowing out dust including PSU fans (POWER DISCONNECT!!!)

I had a similar problem with a Compaq Laptop and it was CPU connections and heatsink (Thermal paste/tape). Take care. Neil.

 

Thanks for all of the responses. Retiredlearner, I have nothing to lose by opening the laptop and tinkering with it; it's almost dead anyway. I have to find some time to open it and check it out to see if I can find anything wrong with it, and I'll check the CPU and heatsink. Once I do I'll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks.

 

Getting to the fan and CPU on that laptop requires completely tearing it down, including removing the motherboard. The CPU is located on the bottom of the motherboard.

 

OK, thanks for the info. Let's see "how it goes... "