Dell inspiron 1420 booting problem HELP

Hi all,
I have Dell inspiron 1420 purchased in 2008-09. It is a Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, DDR2 SDRAM with nVidia GeForce 8400M GS graphics card.
I got the system with vista pre installed but then I downgraded it to Windox XP SP2 with all drives running properly. There was no problem till date but since this morning when I pressed power button I see all LED lights and fan running and even screen is also lit but no DELL logo (boot screen) no matter how many times I force shutdown and switch it back on its the same.

Called Dell service but they told we wont look into product if its more than 3-5 years of purchase as all its components are out of stock so they wont even look at it.

I checked in some websites and found out some tests that I can perform.

Tried D+power button and screen test shows all colors

Tried fn+power button then this happens :-

All 3 led lights blink (num+caps+scroll) for 5 secs then only cap led blinks for another 6 seconds and then some tone with all 3 led blinking in ascending order

Then I tried to switch off and on the power button and it starts normally and I was surprised so I opened firefox and checked my mail for 3mins and all of a sudden screen froze and had to force shutdown after waiting 20mins.

Again I tried to do the same and this time screen was having some lines and all then it got shutdown automatically. I am attaching screen shot I took

after trying 20th time it showed some nv4_disp error and now its not even going to login windows screen.

Please help me as soon as you guys can

 

now when I tried to switch on its just black screen. Even when I inserted bootload windows xp cd also I am not able to access it. its just black screen

 

I already tried pressing power button for 90 seconds and then put power plug and battery back on. But still no use. I connected to external monitor also and it reported no signal. That also was displayed in black screen

 

Thanks for the info. If its a software problem at least dell logo should appear and should at least give F2 and F12 options. That also is not happening.

 

Dell does have a BIOS flash app that's stand-alone (no installation required) but you've got to be able to see what you're doing on screen. It looks to me like the nVidia graphics card failed since there's no output to internal or external monitors.

The OP would need to go to the Dell support site, enter the Service Tag number and download the Service Manual to find out how to replace the graphics card. While the case was opened, it would be a good idea to get rid of any dust or debris inside the case (I think the card may have failed due to overheating).

I had to replace the nVidia Quadro FX Go 1400 graphics card in my Dell Precision M70 for similar reasons. BTW, I got the replacement card from ebay.

 

Guys can this issue be caused by faulty RAM ???

Also if its related to graphics card then the whole mother board need to be changed ??

 

As musksnipe said if it's the video chip (VGA graphics) it may be soldered in; in which case, you'd need to replace the system board. If it's the Geforce graphics card, just the card would need to be replaced, not the system board.

 

Re: Dell inspiron 1420 booting problem HELP (SOLVED)

Thank you guys for helping with this knowledge I took it to local laptop repair store and they re-soldered the nvidia graphics card to motherboard and my laptop is working perfectly without any problem.

The technician suggested one thing that is :-

Use laptop for max 3hrs and shutdown for 20mins so the board does not become too hot and inturn loosen nvidia chip again as its 6 years old laptop. He said again re-soldering is not possible.

 

Also, ensure there's adequate ventilation where you are using the laptop. If not too inconvenient, put the laptop on 4 samll blocks about 1/2" thick.