Inspiron 600m Laptop intermittent failure to power on

A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when the
power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan spin up.)
The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a charged
battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again it may start
normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no issues with RAM
etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint or circuit trace
that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe thermal
expansion/contraction affects.

Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
--

i know you mentioned that you feel there is no problem with the ram, but is
it the original ram that came with the system or did you happen to upgrade
it with something else?

"GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when the
>power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan spin up.)
>The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a charged
>battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again it may
>start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no issues
>with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint or
>circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe thermal
>expansion/contraction affects.
>
> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
> --
>
>
>

It's the original. I ran memtest86 for about 12 hours at one point with no
errors reported, and the machine runs normally when it does power up. The
symptoms don't really indicate RAM in any case, since RAM failures tend to
result in beep codes on startup or later crashes, rather than a failure to
power on at all.
Thanks.
--

"Christopher Muto" <> wrote in message
news:4Y9zh.39$5M1.28@trndny01...
>i know you mentioned that you feel there is no problem with the ram, but is
>it the original ram that came with the system or did you happen to upgrade
>it with something else?
>
> "GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when
>>the power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan spin
>>up.) The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a
>>charged battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again it
>>may start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no
>>issues with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint
>>or circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe thermal
>>expansion/contraction affects.
>>
>> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>
>

"GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when the
>power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan spin up.)
>The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a charged
>battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again it may
>start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no issues
>with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint or
>circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe thermal
>expansion/contraction affects.
>
> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
> --
>
>


Here's a post I made on the 1/21 to someone having somewhat similar issues
with their 600m. Your experience is much closer to mine though. I never
thought about the solder joint or circuit trace thing, but I did handle my
600m alot of the time with only one hand holding by a corner so there was
alot of flexing.

"My 600M was dying after about the same time. Symptoms were the power button
being unresponsive & taking several presses to power on with the LED's
nearby being lit when they shouldn't be. When it finally died I was able to
boot, but the screen gets garble shortly afterwards & shuts down. I was
within my 3 year warranty at the time so I sent it in & Dell replaced the
mobo & updated the bios. It worked fine for a few months after that, but now
I'm experiencing the same symptoms again. So I believe that there is some
defect in the design causing the motherboards in these 600m's to fail
prematurely. Of course I'm out of warranty now too so it's not really worth
it to get this fixed."

g'day
youth

"youth" <> wrote in message
news:G96dnXFbOb4YylDYnZ2dnUVZ_s-...
>
> "GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when
>>the power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan spin
>>up.) The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a
>>charged battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again it
>>may start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no
>>issues with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint
>>or circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe thermal
>>expansion/contraction affects.
>>
>> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
>> --
>>
>>
>
>
> Here's a post I made on the 1/21 to someone having somewhat similar issues
> with their 600m. Your experience is much closer to mine though. I never
> thought about the solder joint or circuit trace thing, but I did handle my
> 600m alot of the time with only one hand holding by a corner so there was
> alot of flexing.
>
> "My 600M was dying after about the same time. Symptoms were the power
> button
> being unresponsive & taking several presses to power on with the LED's
> nearby being lit when they shouldn't be. When it finally died I was able
> to
> boot, but the screen gets garble shortly afterwards & shuts down. I was
> within my 3 year warranty at the time so I sent it in & Dell replaced the
> mobo & updated the bios. It worked fine for a few months after that, but
> now
> I'm experiencing the same symptoms again. So I believe that there is some
> defect in the design causing the motherboards in these 600m's to fail
> prematurely. Of course I'm out of warranty now too so it's not really
> worth
> it to get this fixed."
>
> g'day
> youth
>
>
>
Thanks. That's interesting. I suspect there may be an issue similar to one
involving the Inspiron 5150 which ended in a class action suit. (
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43678/ ). My client is out of
warranty and probably out of luck.
--

"GTS" <> wrote in news:Pclzh.1534$TG6.172@trnddc06:


> Thanks. That's interesting. I suspect there may be an issue similar
> to one involving the Inspiron 5150 which ended in a class action suit.
> ( http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43678/ ). My client
> is out of warranty and probably out of luck.

Are you sure that you are powering it up at all? I find that after 2.5
years my power button (as well as the mic and the volume buttons) only
respond if you use a *lot* of pressure. I am sure pressing it so hard is
causing it to get worse. My thinking is that you don't actually make any
contact when you press the power button (that's how it was for me
initially).

In fact, recently I have got into the situation where, after forcing a
power on in the above fashion, the LEDs just blink rapidly and the machine
turns off without spinning anything up. Turns out this can be fixed by a
punch well-placed into the power-button area.

Who'd have thought this wonder of early 21st-century engineering would
behave just like my grandmother's old Soviet TV from the 70s...

Wigster

>
> Are you sure that you are powering it up at all? I find that after 2.5
> years my power button (as well as the mic and the volume buttons) only
> respond if you use a *lot* of pressure. I am sure pressing it so hard is
> causing it to get worse. My thinking is that you don't actually make any
> contact when you press the power button (that's how it was for me
> initially).
>
> In fact, recently I have got into the situation where, after forcing a
> power on in the above fashion, the LEDs just blink rapidly and the machine
> turns off without spinning anything up. Turns out this can be fixed by a
> punch well-placed into the power-button area.
>
> Who'd have thought this wonder of early 21st-century engineering would
> behave just like my grandmother's old Soviet TV from the 70s...
>
> Wigster

I'll run that by my client (I don't have the machine here now). Given that
the machine does start normally much of the time without unusual pressure, I
don't know how likely it is, but it's certainly worth considering.
Thanks!
--

I am not as familiar with the 600m as you, but certain Dell laptops have had
issues with ram not being seated properly that demonstrate the symptoms that
you describe. No beep, system frozen upon boot, sometimes an indication
made via the caps lock/scroll lock/num lock lights... but when they start
they would do just fine. Try reseating the memory and see if that helps.
Good luck.

"GTS" <> wrote in message news:l_azh.234$yg7.146@trnddc08...
> It's the original. I ran memtest86 for about 12 hours at one point with
> no errors reported, and the machine runs normally when it does power up.
> The symptoms don't really indicate RAM in any case, since RAM failures
> tend to result in beep codes on startup or later crashes, rather than a
> failure to power on at all.
> Thanks.
> --
>
> "Christopher Muto" <> wrote in message
> news:4Y9zh.39$5M1.28@trndny01...
>>i know you mentioned that you feel there is no problem with the ram, but
>>is it the original ram that came with the system or did you happen to
>>upgrade it with something else?
>>
>> "GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>>>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when
>>>the power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan
>>>spin up.) The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a
>>>charged battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again
>>>it may start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no
>>>issues with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder joint
>>>or circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe
>>>thermal expansion/contraction affects.
>>>
>>> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

That was one of the first things I tried, but thanks for the thought.
--

"Christopher Muto" <> wrote in message
news:1X1Ah.1979$Aa5.209@trnddc01...
>I am not as familiar with the 600m as you, but certain Dell laptops have
>had issues with ram not being seated properly that demonstrate the symptoms
>that you describe. No beep, system frozen upon boot, sometimes an
>indication made via the caps lock/scroll lock/num lock lights... but when
>they start they would do just fine. Try reseating the memory and see if
>that helps. Good luck.
>
> "GTS" <> wrote in message news:l_azh.234$yg7.146@trnddc08...
>> It's the original. I ran memtest86 for about 12 hours at one point with
>> no errors reported, and the machine runs normally when it does power up.
>> The symptoms don't really indicate RAM in any case, since RAM failures
>> tend to result in beep codes on startup or later crashes, rather than a
>> failure to power on at all.
>> Thanks.
>> --
>>
>> "Christopher Muto" <> wrote in message
>> news:4Y9zh.39$5M1.28@trndny01...
>>>i know you mentioned that you feel there is no problem with the ram, but
>>>is it the original ram that came with the system or did you happen to
>>>upgrade it with something else?
>>>
>>> "GTS" <> wrote in message news:GJ2zh.11$H77.5@trndny08...
>>>>A particular Inspiron 600m Laptop sometimes has no response at all when
>>>>the power button is pressed (i.e. no power light nor any drive or fan
>>>>spin up.) The PSU voltage is normal and it acts the same whether using a
>>>>charged battery or line connection. Hours later, when trying it again
>>>>it may start normally. An extensive suite of diagnostic tests finds no
>>>>issues with RAM etc. At this point I can only surmise a bad solder
>>>>joint or circuit trace that a little flexing of the motherboard or maybe
>>>>thermal expansion/contraction affects.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas or reports of a similar experience would be appreciated.
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>