Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue
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sirchief @ 8th Oct 09:43AM:
Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

Hello,

We have a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop that's been sitting for quite some time(several months) without being used.

We could not locate the power cord so I bought a new one. I plugged it in and the battery light stays yellow and does not light up green.

I thought the battery was the problem so I bought a new one. Same thing, the battery light will not turn to green and the laptop will not turn on.

My question is..... Would a dead CMOS battery cause these symptoms?

Any idea what else could be going on?

Thanks,

Steve
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psafux @ 8th Oct 07:02PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

does the power jack (where you plug it in at the rear of the laptop) seem loose? real common issue, the jack is not making contact with the motherboard. Cheap to fix if you are comfortable tearing apart the system and doing soldering on small spaces

You have ruled out the other 2 common items, the battery or power cord, assuming the power cord is putting out the right voltage.

if its not a loose jack, its a bad motherboard. Probably the charging circuit.

Inspiron 1100's are notorious for bad boards, too. you can find refurb or used ones pretty cheap on ebay and such though.
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psafux @ 8th Oct 07:02PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by sirchief :

H
My question is..... Would a dead CMOS battery cause these symptoms?

forgot to nail this one - no.
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Yes. the cat in my avatar is indeed mine.
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sirchief @ 8th Oct 09:25PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

Thanks for the replies...

I power is very tight.

One thing I did notice tonight is that when the battery is installed in the laptop and the power cord is plugged in and I remove the power, the green power light and the yellow battery light stay on until I pull the battery.

Is this laptop worth replacing the motherboard? I realize it's a low end laptop.....it's my mom's for occasional web/email.

Thanks again,

Steve
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psafux @ 8th Oct 09:59PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by sirchief :

Is this laptop worth replacing the motherboard? I realize it's a low end laptop.....it's my mom's for occasional web/email.

I certainly wouldn't pay to have it fixed. You are right, the 1100's are cheap systems. Dell has new laptops that will beat the 1100 around the bush for $400 +

If you can pickup a motherboard cheap on ebay etc, and have someone that can do the labor (its physically pretty easy to replace a laptop motherboard, just takes time & patience. and try not to lose any screws, which happen to be all different lengths). I hate laptop screws.

Spend $20 on some nice magnetic tools and a magnetic bowl or part-holder, to keep the screws from rolling away. Once they drop on the floor they are as good as gone usually.

A reputable local repair shop will probably charge ~$200 to install the board, plus the part, and that becomes not-worth-it really quick.
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sirchief @ 29th Oct 09:23AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

OK....just wanted to post an update and possibly look for some additional help.

I ended up taking a risk and bought a motherboard and base on Ebay. The seller noted that their LCD stopped working, but it still powered up....so I bought it for $25.

I received it yesterday and hooked up my LCD from my broken laptop, but unfortunately the screen won't come on. I can hear the fan and HD come on, but the laptop doesn't seem to be booting. I don't get any beeps or anything from it. Also, just to rule out the video to the LCD being bad I hooked up an external monitor to it and that will not come on either.

Questions....is the video card for the LCD tied to the external monitor port? Is there anything else I can try to get this to boot?

Thanks again,

Steve
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psafux @ 29th Oct 09:55AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

did you plug in both the inverter & the LCD itself (it is 2 seperate cables)

the motherboard may be shot on the one you purchased too.

Does the system make any noises, POST beeps, indication of booting to windows (windows startup sound) ? If you hit the scroll-lock or caps key do the appropriate lights turn on? If the system really is working and booting to windows, the caps lock key should turn on and off when the button is pressed, once the system is in windows, whether or not you can see it.

I have clients frequently tell me 'the system powers on but there is no video'. When I look at it, I find the system just isn't going through the POST process. (power on self test). It powers on and lights blink but there's nobody home, so to speak.

Its very possible the person you bought it from mis-diagnosed his system. It happens a lot, in my experience.

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Yes. the cat in my avatar is indeed mine.
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sirchief @ 29th Oct 10:22AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by psafux :

did you plug in both the inverter & the LCD itself (it is 2 seperate cables)

the motherboard may be shot on the one you purchased too.

Does the system make any noises, POST beeps, indication of booting to windows (windows startup sound) ? If you hit the scroll-lock or caps key do the appropriate lights turn on? If the system really is working and booting to windows, the caps lock key should turn on and off when the button is pressed, once the system is in windows, whether or not you can see it.

I have clients frequently tell me 'the system powers on but there is no video'. When I look at it, I find the system just isn't going through the POST process. (power on self test). It powers on and lights blink but there's nobody home, so to speak.

Its very possible the person you bought it from mis-diagnosed his system. It happens a lot, in my experience.

I only plugged in one cable from the LCD. I thought the inverter cable was under that plastic LCD housing and was already plugged into the LCD.

No, the system makes no noises at all. Hitting the num lock and caps key does nothing as well. So it probably isn't booting, correct?

Sounds like I now have 2 dead motherboards/bases!

Thanks for the reply.
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psafux @ 29th Oct 11:08AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

the inverter gets its power from the laptop. If you are not powering the inverter with your 'old' laptop, it needs to be plugged into the 'new' laptop for power.

hope that makes sense :)
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psafux @ 29th Oct 11:09AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

and yes, it sounds like it isn't going through POST, which could mean a dead board, if troubleshooting finds no other culprits. You could pull your memory from your 'old' system and put it in the 'new' system. Bad memory is a common cause for that problem.

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Jahntassa @ 29th Oct 11:15AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

Did you get the Dell branded specific power adapter for that system, or a generic?

Did you verify that the adapter is putting out the correct voltage and amperage for that system by comparing the power requirements stamped on the bottom of the laptop to that of the adapter?
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sirchief @ 29th Oct 11:26AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by Jahntassa :

Did you get the Dell branded specific power adapter for that system, or a generic?

Did you verify that the adapter is putting out the correct voltage and amperage for that system by comparing the power requirements stamped on the bottom of the laptop to that of the adapter?

No, I bought a generic "OEM Replacement" power adapter. I will verify the voltage.

Thank you.
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sirchief @ 29th Oct 11:32AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by psafux :

the inverter gets its power from the laptop. If you are not powering the inverter with your 'old' laptop, it needs to be plugged into the 'new' laptop for power.

hope that makes sense :)

Hmmmmm..... When I unscrewed the LCD from the old laptop there was only one cord coming out of the bottom of it. I plugged that cord into the motherboard. I didn't see another(inverter) cord.

Sorry if I'm confusing things..... I replaced an inverter board on another laptop a couple of years ago, so I kind of now what you are referring to.

Thanks again!

-Steve
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psafux @ 29th Oct 11:57AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

theres a ribbon cable on the back of the LCD which provides the video.

there is a power cord to the inverter (2 prong vertical plug usually), and there is a cord that comes from the inverter and disappears into the LCD housing.

On your 'old' LCD, you should have the ribbon cable plugged in from the 'new' system, as well as the power cable from the 'new' system plugged into your inverter.

Alternatively, you could use the 'new' inverter and plug your LCD cable (the one that disappears into the LCD housing) into the inverter on the 'new' system.

A system will POST with or without an LCD panel correctly hooked up though. I suspect the 'new' system has further issues.
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sirchief @ 29th Oct 12:00PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by psafux :

theres a ribbon cable on the back of the LCD which provides the video.

there is a power cord to the inverter (2 prong vertical plug usually), and there is a cord that comes from the inverter and disappears into the LCD housing.

On your 'old' LCD, you should have the ribbon cable plugged in from the 'new' system, as well as the power cable from the 'new' system plugged into your inverter.

Alternatively, you could use the 'new' inverter and plug your LCD cable (the one that disappears into the LCD housing) into the inverter on the 'new' system.

A system will POST with or without an LCD panel correctly hooked up though. I suspect the 'new' system has further issues.

Thanks for the further clarification!

I think your last sentence probably nailed it.

Oh well....I think it was worth the $25 investment to see if I could revive a dead(cheap) laptop.
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psafux @ 29th Oct 12:30PM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

no problem :)

depending on how the auction was described, you may be eligible to return the item.
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sirchief @ 30th Oct 08:55AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

I checked the voltage and the amperage of the laptop and the power adapter and they match!
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Jahntassa @ 30th Oct 09:10AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by sirchief :

I checked the voltage and the amperage of the laptop and the power adapter and they match!

Was worth a shot. It just seemed odd to me that the system would be dead just from sitting around for a few months.
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sirchief @ 30th Oct 10:45AM:
Re: Dell Inspiron 1100 power issue

said by Jahntassa :

said by sirchief :

I checked the voltage and the amperage of the laptop and the power adapter and they match!

Was worth a shot. It just seemed odd to me that the system would be dead just from sitting around for a few months.

I know....me too!
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