Dell 510m not booting - temperature related??!

Ok, this is a mind boggler.

I've got a Dell Inspiron 510m, which is falling to pieces. Typically. But, it's usable. Appart from one very strange problem - it won't boot if it is too cold. Yes, that's right, if it is too cold. It's currently 21.5C in this room (i've got a temperature sensor from RS ) and it won't turn on.

But, if it is at least 26C in the room, it'll turn on just fine. Isn't that WEIRD? I phoned Dell and they were equally baffled with the problem as I was. We went though the whole scripted dance of taking battieries out, plugging in power supplies and fiddling with RAM, to no avail. Unfortunately I can't turn my laptop on at the moment, so I couldn't tell them my service tag (the sticker on the bottom has worn off).

I have absolutely no idea what might be wrong, other than maybe something in the BIOS is fubar'd and it thinks that it's overheated. I guess a BIOS flash would rule that out.

I am SO not getting a Dell laptop next time. It's rubbish.

 

maybe some sort of condensation buildup? not sure if it being too cold outside the laptop would have any condensation effect on the inside, but its the first thing i thought of. i've never heard of something not booting up b/c its too cold. you got yourself an odd one there goldy.

 

Yes, I did think about condensation, but that doesn't make any sense really. Unless there is some water trapped inside the computer :/ That still doesn't make any sense, because warming it up would just make the water vapourise and leave the computer. Hmmmmmmmm, very strange. Perhaps I need to disassemble it and check for condensation.

I have no idea how any liquid could get in there, but not get out.

The other thing is that if it's warmed up then booted, when cooled again it doesn't turn off, which is what you'd expect with condensation. In fact, it doesn't make any difference to operation. Maybe that's just because it's heating itself.

 

Ýou tried warming up your batteries instead of the laptop?

It's weird that it thinks it's overheated but it works when its even heater, so don't think the bios got something to do with it

Perhaps the fans will only kick in after they've reached a certain temp treshold

 

Some more info:
* sometimes it will show a green power light when the PS is plugged in but won't boot. Sometimes it doesn't even do that. When it's warm, the power supply light will come on as normal.
* It's running Linux, the drivers could have altered BIOS settings.

Temperature controlled fans is an interesting idea - if the fans don't turn on, then the system won't boot (preventing hardware failiure), but if it's not of a certain temperatures the fans won't turn on anyway, causing a null loop.

However, I don't think that would prevent the power light from turning on.

I might try flushing it through with dry air to ensure there isn't any moist air in it.

There is the possibility that there is a loose connection somewhere, and the higher temperature causes a metal contact to expand and complete the connection - making it work. That sounds the most likely so far.

 

How long did it take for you to find out that it will work on 26C anyway?
I mean it's not exactly warm in England now, but it's not cold enough to heat the house up to 26C is it?

What i mean is, im not that patient, especially with Dell.
I would've claimed it dead after a max 10 minutes

 

It took me about 3 days of carrying out life normally, but taking a temperature sensor with my laptop to see if it'll boot up.

In England we have this marvelous thing called Central Heating, which warms our houses up for us! Personally, I don't like my room to be hot, so I currently can't turn the thing on. So I've stuck it in the airing cupboard for a while

I've had it working in the common room at school which has lots of people in it and is hot most of the time. And the design rooms which have lots of people and the occasional brazing hearth tend to get fairly toasty.

 

If its loose connection a little shaking should bring it to life,I'd try shaking it while cold see if you can get any power light action

 

hello GOLDFISH,
I've got TOSHIBA A200 laptop. aprox. 3 and a half years old.. and i'm facing exactly same problem.. nobody is believing that it is temperature related. not even toshiba people.

please lemme know, if u wer able to find any solution to it.

pls help..

 

Sure sounds like you've got a flaky connection somewhere, and when it get's warm enough the two pieces of metal (wherever they are) make contact, allowing the unit to be powered up.

 

SID...

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