Dell Inspiron 8600 Issues.

This is my fault but what happened is I have this Dell laptop and one day I was board so I thought what better to do then rip it apart and see whats in there. I did just this and put it all back together or so I thought. When I turn the laptop back on the caps lock light flashes 9 or 10 times and the system never boots up. I am pretty sure that this light is flashing to tell me where I messed up but I can't find my answer anywhere. I was hoping someone knew the dell site a bit better then I do and could help me find the answer to my small but painful issue.

Thanks Ben

 

When you opened it, did you change anything inside? ie connections, devices etc

 

The only thing that I did which is very dumb is I put some thermal paste on the processor. it is the pentium M and it has a what looks to be a glass square in the middle of it. as of right now that is what I think the issue may be. But I really dont know.

 

The thermal paste should not hurt anything, be sure the fan connection is plugged in, other than that, back trace and be sure you didnt miss anything. ed

 

Well a little update. I was able to get the laptop to boot up. To tell you the truth I have no idea what I did. I swapped out RAM took the cpu out put it back in. It will boot up or did. I am taking it all back apart because I was trying to reformat and reinstall ubuntu 6.10 the computer now locks up at random parts of the boot up and setup. I even went back to ubuntu 6.06 and still sometimes it locks up when it is loading the CD, sometimes I get into the live CD then it freezes and even once at 98% complete on the install. Good news is that I know the processor and the RAM are all good if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear you.

Thanks Ben

 

Here's a out there idea...try to unplug it fromthe back and then push and hold the power button fer about 10-15 seconds...maybe it will help,maybe not..won't hurt either way. Maybe even take out the ram and clean the pins with alcohol and a qtip. Make sure you don't leave any cotton on it!!!! and recheck the processor!!! Make sure it in and locked!! If none of that don't work...well...I don't know!

 

Well thanks for all the tips. I pulled the entire laptop apart and cleaned everything, put it it all back together. I was then able to reforamat and reinstall Ubuntu edgy. It has now been about 24 hours and I have had no issues since I put it back together the last time. Thanks everyone.