I think the motherboard is dead

[Alison556]

My niece has a Dell Latitude D630 and it's dead.

When you try to power up, the power light comes on for a second or two and nothing happens. I'm assuming the motherboard is dead?

I can get a refurbished one on eBay for about 30 quid - is it worth replacing it, particularly with a manufacturer refurbished one? She needs the stuff off her hard drive anyway - loads of college stuff.

 

[doitall]

For not a lot of money you can buy an external hD case that takes the hard drive from your laptop, then plug it into a USB socket and transfer the data .

Maplins probably best.

 

[Alison556]

Cheers, that would help - at least she won't lose everything.

To be honest, we can't afford to buy her a new lappy at the moment which is why I wondered if it was worth trying to fix the one she has.

 

[doitall]

Be worth getting it checked first, (maybe £40) around here plus any parts.

See what the nerds have to say when they log on.

 

[mattylad]

Take the battery out and then power up from the mains PSU.

The D630 is a tad old now but still worth repairing if its not too expensive a repair. £30 for a refurb mobo that's guaranteed to work is IMO worth it, assuming that it IS the mobo that's faulty.

When got working again it can have more RAM and then Linox put on it to speed it up

 

[Alison556]

I did that - same thing, it won't power up. The lights flash on for a second and then absolutely nothing happens.

I'll take it down to the local computer shop and ask them to check. I'll see how much they'd take to do the mobo but I reckon I can do it myself if it is that

 

[CylonRaider]

common "dead" psu fault.

Change the Psu and your good to go again

 

[Alison556]

This is where I'm probably going to show my ignorance - is the psu not part of the motherboard? I got a manufacturer refurbished motherboard and just got it changed over today - and nothing's changed. The flippin thing is still dead.

I went into two local computer repair shops and am none the wiser - first one was staffed by a little kid who could hardly see over the counter - but hey, little kids can be pretty knowledgable. This one wasn't. He said he'd speak to the tech guy who said he didn't have a clue - could be the CMOS battery.

Went to second shop and got the breath sucked in over teeth whilst he shook his head saying it could be anything.

Tried to tell him that it wasn't powering up at all and I really wanted to know a) what the problem might be and b) if the replacement motherboard was faulty (it's got a warranty).

More head shaking as he told me that it might be the graphics card if I was getting a blank screen. More agitation from me as I tried to tell him that I was only getting a blank screen because it wasn't powering up.

More head shaking from him and more "could be anything" but he didn't really know but I could book it in and pay for the privilege of being told it could be anything and he didn't have a clue.

So I'm no further forward and I'm really really peed off that I can't work out what the problem is.

 

[Monkeh]

CPU, possibly RAM.

Try powering up with no extra hardware plugged in (disconnect DVD, HDD, wireless card, battery).

Do you have two sticks of RAM or just one?

 

[JohnD]

Take the hard drive out and connect it to another pc and copy all the data onto dvds or pcs before you do anything else.

 

[Alison556]

Thanks, will try that.

There are two sticks of RAM - I tried swapping them out to see if it was one or the other (unless of course both are knackered) I do have a spare stick but it's not for the lappy that's dead.

 

[JohnD]

it's your PSU.

 

[Alison556]

JohnD, is the psu not attached to the motherboard? Is there any way of testing that?

I've taken out the HDD, the optical drive, wireless card, battery and it's still the same

 

[JohnD]

I don't know. I build and repair my own desktops and towers, but laptoys are not mender-friendly.

 

[Monkeh]

it's your PSU.

No it's not, assuming the battery has some charge (and I imagine they've checked it charges.. right?)

JohnD, is the psu not attached to the motherboard? Is there any way of testing that?

I've taken out the HDD, the optical drive, wireless card, battery and it's still the same

It is built in on a laptop.

I would now suspect the CPU.

E: On re-reading, have you actually replaced the motherboard?
Does this machine have an nVidia graphics card in it?

I don't know. I build and repair my own desktops and towers, but laptoys are not mender-friendly.

Laptops are no different at all to desktops. They are exactly the same technology with exactly the same troubleshooting steps. If you don't know how to handle them, please, don't butt in.