Dell Inspiron 8600 Problem

[zagood]

We just moved offices and found a Dell laptop hiding in a corner somewhere. I asked my boss about it and he said "doesn't work." Tracked down the power converter (or at least a compatible one) from our junk box, plugged it in, pressed the power button, and it fired up. At least I thought it did. The screen flashed quickly but stayed black. I could hear the hard drive crunching a little bit.

I don't have a lot of experience with laptops, so I'm wondering if someone could point me in the right direction...whether it's a site with troubleshooting tips, or just some basic advice. It's way past warranty so that's not an option.

Thanks in advance,

-z

 

[TheStu]

I like to frequent NotebookForums.com since they have sub-categories for all the major manufacturers, and within those, sub-categories for stuff like Support. I would check there.

 

[Abhi]

Look at the three lights on the left of the power button....

are any of them flashing after you turn on the machine? If yes, which one and how many times?

In case its dead, check if it has a 9600 video card. If it does, I ll buy it

 

[dementedlemur]

Try hooking it up to an external monitor and see if fn+F8 displays anything for you.
You could also try a different stick(s) of ram as I had a similar issue with a laptop and swapping ram fixed the problem.

 

[PotatoMAN]

Actually, if it has the 9600 it may most likely be the cause. I got a little adventurous with my 8600 and ATi 9600 video card and tried to make better contact with the gpu and gpu cooler by inserting a small copper plate in there. When I powered it on I had the same thing happen. If you dont have warranty support for it anymore (they are about 3 years old now) then you may want to crack it open and make sure the monitor connector is plugged in and everything. Beyond that your best bet would be to find a video card out of another 8600 and give it a whirl. Good luck!

 

[zagood]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll be trying out your suggestions tomorrow when I'm back in the office.

-z

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: dementedlemur
Try hooking it up to an external monitor and see if fn+F8 displays anything for you.
You could also try a different stick(s) of ram as I had a similar issue with a laptop and swapping ram fixed the problem.

Same here, I had a problem with the RAM too.