I'm Dead, NO POWER

I have a Dell Inspiron. It
was processing info,
My foot hooked on the cord,
pulled the laptop off of the shelf,
I caught it mid-air upside down and
the lid closed. Didn't seem like any
damage would be done but wouldn't
turn on.

NO POWER whatsoever. NO led lights,
no fan, everything black.

Tried:
1) another power cord
2) another battery
3) removed battery, dvd, etc. and tried power
4) removed keyboard

FOUND:
tiny plastic hook broken off... don't know where it
came from. Size of two pin heads side by side.

wrote:
> I have a Dell Inspiron. It
> was processing info,
> My foot hooked on the cord,
> pulled the laptop off of the shelf,
> I caught it mid-air upside down and
> the lid closed. Didn't seem like any
> damage would be done but wouldn't
> turn on.
>
> NO POWER whatsoever. NO led lights,
> no fan, everything black.
>
> Tried:
> 1) another power cord
> 2) another battery
> 3) removed battery, dvd, etc. and tried power
> 4) removed keyboard
>
> FOUND:
> tiny plastic hook broken off... don't know where it
> came from. Size of two pin heads side by side.
>

The DC power jack is broken and taken part of the circuitry with it.
Mainboard replacement. If it booted on battery, it might have been a
damaged DC power jack alone. IF this notebook has a separate DC power
board - some Dell notebooks do - then it might simply have come loose.

Q

I took it apart and put it back together
again real quick yesterday ...
didn't see anything broken in that area.

I'll pull it apart again real quick
and have a good look.

It never booted on battery either so I'm
afraid it probably doesn't have a DC power
board.

IF this is the problem, you say I'll need to replace the
jack and Mainboard? No chance for repairing it myself?

wrote:
> I took it apart and put it back together
> again real quick yesterday ...
> didn't see anything broken in that area.
>
> I'll pull it apart again real quick
> and have a good look.
>
> It never booted on battery either so I'm
> afraid it probably doesn't have a DC power
> board.
>
> IF this is the problem, you say I'll need to replace the
> jack and Mainboard? No chance for repairing it myself?
>

It is possible to do a simple repair, around the DC plug, for example.
The problem is that most boards are layered and the damage could be
interior and that can't be repaired. The damage might be hard to spot
if there is a flexure crack in conductive traces - a microscope is
useful here. There a large stresses induced on the jack and its
connections when foot-launched, but those can propagate elsewhere to
anything connected to the board. IMO, if you can't readily spot the
problem around the DC jack, then the board is toasted.

Q

I removed the hinge cover and keyboard. I got a pretty good view of it
and don't see any signs of damage.
Also, remember, with these Inspirons the DC jack is heavy square
plastic and a bit more solid. The plug was still in after I caught it.

NOW, before I pull out the SystemBoard to make sure nothing within view
is broken, please give me your opinion and wisdom.

I think it could be the automatic shut off when you close the lid.(it
either Hybernates of shuts down) It might be jammed.
Where might that be located?
Awhile back I replaced the bezel and hinge and had it all apart... I
don't remember seeing any shut down switch there. Could it be in the
latch(I can't imagine) or ???

wrote:
> I removed the hinge cover and keyboard. I got a pretty good view of it
> and don't see any signs of damage.
> Also, remember, with these Inspirons the DC jack is heavy square
> plastic and a bit more solid. The plug was still in after I caught it.
>
> NOW, before I pull out the SystemBoard to make sure nothing within view
> is broken, please give me your opinion and wisdom.
>
> I think it could be the automatic shut off when you close the lid.(it
> either Hybernates of shuts down) It might be jammed.
> Where might that be located?
> Awhile back I replaced the bezel and hinge and had it all apart... I
> don't remember seeing any shut down switch there. Could it be in the
> latch(I can't imagine) or ???
>

Many of these shutdown switches on the screen are magnetic - they are
usually LCD shutdown only. See my above post, and there is no "wisdom"
involved on usenet, only experience, FWIW!

Q

I've checked the manual and other forums and nobody seems
to know where the auto shut off switch is located. I'd like to
be able to definitely rule that out before I run out and buy a
new System board.

Another thought from a guy on another forum.

"Another possible place is the power socket itself... when you plug the
power unit in it may operate a switch so that you don't use the
battery while using the power unit... abit like they do with battery
& mains TV, Radios, etc for example.

To save the battery there's usually a change over contact in the
actual socket, could this not be the actuator that pushes against the
contacts to open or close them.... only a guess"

Well, it's been awhile and nobody has replied with any details of
how this laptop's power is setup... one last try and if I don't hear
I guess I'll just take it apart and guess.
I'll post if I figure it out.



wrote:
> I've checked the manual and other forums and nobody seems
> to know where the auto shut off switch is located. I'd like to
> be able to definitely rule that out before I run out and buy a
> new System board.
>
> Another thought from a guy on another forum.
>
> "Another possible place is the power socket itself... when you plug the
> power unit in it may operate a switch so that you don't use the
> battery while using the power unit... abit like they do with battery
> & mains TV, Radios, etc for example.
>
> To save the battery there's usually a change over contact in the
> actual socket, could this not be the actuator that pushes against the
> contacts to open or close them.... only a guess"