inspiron problem shutting down

Hey all, was wondering if anyone has come accross this problem before. My Dell Inspiron 5150 shuts down if it or the table its sitting on is bumped..even trying to close the display, move it or plug something in will shut it down! The catch here is the lights on the front indicating power remains on, i can hear the fan running and if i move the notebook i hear a noise like it trying to start up again...The display stays black and i have to manually turn the thing off and reboot again...The start process is normal with no error messages and i log in like normal until i bump it and have to repeat the above again..I suspect there is a short somewhere on the board but have no idea where to start looking. I downloaded some info off the dell site and took the notebook apart today, i tightened every screw and made sure anything on the motherboard that is removable was secure. Im at a loss and would really apreciate any help or suggestions you have to offer. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum I guess your warranty is out of date then check your power switch has some spring to it and doesnt rattle inside the mount,check your battery terminals are all there,if there are springy clips on the battery bend them out slightly

bout all I got loose connections are the worst kind of prob to track down,eliminate the battery and the AC by removing each and knocking the laptop see if the prob dissappears,if you have more confidence you can take the laptop completely apart,remove all the component connectors harddrive,monitor,cpu ect clean the pins with some solvent and rebuild

Hope you get lucky

 

Hey Rikky,
Thanks for your advice, yeah it is out of warranty! always happens huh!!! I did pull the the laptop apart yeasterday, that is, i dismantled everything and checked that everything was attached properly, terminals were not bent etc etc...I suppose the only thing i couldnt do was add power while i was pulling apart so that i can find the fault while the unit was apart...the dell manual i downloaded had specific warnings about shutting the power off before any internal work is performed! My brother said it may be the hard drive, he said if it is damaged it may cause thie probs im having...... have you heard this before? i think i gotta take this thing to a service centre!
Thanks again

 

Yup bad harddrive cable or loose connection can and does lock up and\or shutdown comps,depending on the bios of the laptop you may be able to get it to post by turning it on without the harddrive installed,you will only be able to get into bios usually by hitting del as soon as the comp lights up or whatever key your prompted to press,bios is sometime also referred to as "to enter setup"

Once in bios start whacking it see if you can get it to shutdown http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/Rikky_/lamer.gif if it does shutdown again you can pretty much say it aint the harddrive

 

Re: inspiron problem ITS FIXED THANX RIKKI!

Hey Rikki,
Thanks for your advice mate, I removed the hardrive and started the machine, I shook, bumped and dropped it (gently!) and it didnt shut down! The funny thing is i re installed the same hard drive and for some unknown reason the machine doesnt shut down like it has for the past few days anymore! I dont understand it, today would have been the 5th or 6th time i removed/re installed that hard drive! I hope this is a permanant fix!!
Thanks again mate you saved me a $100 call out fee from some PC doctor i called..
Rob

 

Hey Robie,

Would you mind givving me the Sv Tag of your Laptop
and Would also like to know the country you are in ?

Thanking you

 

Here is a Link

http://www.support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/entry?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

This is an actual Troubleshooting Guide which Dell Techs ( New Hires ) Used to Use, This was an Internal Resource Earlier, Now Dell has Launched it for their Customers and its available online.

In the Section " Problem Search " type in the Problem you face ( Eg : Shut Down ) with the portable it will give you some Troubleshooting Tree's
It will give you step by step Trouble shooting steps and guidlines.

Note : The Link i have pasted is actually a Troubleshooting Guide for Inspiron 5150.

You may have to select a Different Model for any other system

 

Hey Hardmarkerin,
Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate your help. I too went to the dell site and pretty much typed in every possible scenario i was experiencing with this notebook but didnt have much success in their troubleshooting area of the site, it kept referring me to possible software problems and possible battery/power supply faults etc..i knew the problem wasnt software or anything like that. Also, I rang their tech support a few days ago and although the machine is out of warranty they were very helpful and spent at least 45 minutes on the phone with me running a bios scan (i think that was it!) and it all came back clear.
Im from Sydney Australia, Im not sure what you meant by the "sv tag" for my laptop....where would i find that and why are you interested in it?
Rob

 

A SV Tag = Service Tag

Its an 5 or 7 digit Alpha Numberic Code ( Specific for Dell Systems )
You will find it beneath you laptop

In the Online Troubleshooting guide

Type " System Shutdown "

And then choose the first search

 

Re: inspiron problem ITS FIXED THANX RIKKI!

Sweet! I hope its perminant too