Laptop issue

WetGeek

@tomscharbach : My wife's Lattitude E5570 has, for no apparent reason, developed a problem that prevents it from starting. It's fully charged, I believe, but when the power switch is turned on, LEDs on the keyboard light, then I hear fan noise for a few seconds, then it shuts down.

Has one of your Lattitudes ever exhibited this behavior? Do you have an idea what might be causing it?

tomscharbach

WetGeek Has one of your Lattitudes ever exhibited this behavior? Do you have an idea what might be causing it?

I have not experienced this behavior on any of my laptops over the years. A desktop at the railroad did this, and it turned out to be a hardware problem, but there are other animals in the zoo that can cause this behavior, as I understand it.

From your description, it sounds like a power-on test is failing (you aren't getting to the point where you can run ePSA diagnostics), but that could be due to a lot of different things.

Dell has a KB article on this topic. Dell's recommendation (echoed by the boards) is to try a hard reset as an initial step:

Turn computer off.
Disconnect power adapter.
Disconnect all peripherals.
Remove battery.
Press and hold the power button for about 30 seconds.**
Replace battery.
Connect power adapter.
Turn computer on.

Read the KB article, though, before you try a hard reset or do anything else, because the article has links that take you down some logical forks, one or more of which might be relevant. It is always good to have road map in your head when troubleshooting.

Good luck with it.

===============

** Apparently this clears a lot of stuff out of the system.

stalebrim

WetGeek Any possibility to swap the ram temporarily?

putzerstammer

WetGeek I had a similar problem, the fan wheel was full of dust after a year, I thought it was something else, then I cleaned it and it still runs today

WetGeek

tomscharbach Dell's recommendation (echoed by the boards) is to try a hard reset:

Thanks for your welcome advice. Unfortunately, this problem seems to indicate that it's caused by one of the other zoo animals.

I couldn't lift the battery out of the laptop, for some reason, so I disconnected the battery cable from the main board. Then I followed the rest of the procedure, reconnected the battery, replaced the bottom cover, and tried again. The results were the same -- 5 seconds of keyboard LEDs followed by 5 seconds of fan noise, and then nothing at all.

These refurbished Dells are usually so reliable that I'm willing to buy her another one. This is the first E5570 we've gotten, and it's clearly a reduced price version. The "E" in its product number must stand for "economical." Lower resolution screen, i5 processor, more plastic. It worked well for her games, while it lasted, but I just ordered another 5580 like mine. The difference in cost is probably well worth paying.

WetGeek

stalebrim Any possibility to swap the ram temporarily?

I don't have any spares that would work.

tomscharbach

WetGeek The "E" in its product number must stand for "economical."

Nah. It is just a naming convention. Prior to 2017, Dell designated different design generations with letters -- C-series (1999-2002), D-series (2003-2007), E-series (2007-2017). Since 2017, Dell has been using a 4-digit numeric code.

tomscharbach

WetGeek I just ordered another 5580 like mine. The difference in cost is probably well worth paying.

I agree that replace/recycle makes sense. At the point you are at (can't access ePSA and aren't getting error messages), you'd need shop diagnostic equipment to sort it. If it were newer, it might be cost-effective to take it to a repair shop, but not in this case, I think.

stalebrim

WetGeek Well, have you got the possibility to test the RAM modules in another machine?

WetGeek

stalebrim have you got the possibility to test the RAM modules in another machine

Possibly ... but the task would be difficult, and the probability that the RAM suddenly became flawed is likely near zero, and I couldn't be sure that the memory would even work in the other laptops we have. Hers is the only one here with the same specs.

Brucehankins

WetGeek I had an older latitude, almost identical specs, and it exhibited similar issues. I thought the issue was a mobo failure and scrapped it out for parts....turns out that the ram had failed. I found out because I installed it in an HP machine to go from 4gb to 8gb, and the ram stick from the Dell wouldn't register. Tested and verified by removing the known good ram, and the HP wouldn't bolt either.

pomon

I had the same in my Sony Vaio. The integrated graphics card that was soldered on broke. It wasn't worth repairing.

WetGeek

tomscharbach It is just a naming convention

I was kidding. I thought it might be one of their educational models. But if so, it probably would have lasted longer.

WetGeek

Brucehankins the ram stick from the Dell wouldn't register

Interesting. Still, I'm more inclined to spend the extra money on a better laptop for her. She uses it all day, every day. Our other laptop with DDR3 memory is in use right now, and taking it apart would not be appreciated.

stalebrim

Brucehankins it was already declared it can't be ram

tomscharbach

WetGeek I thought it might be one of their educational models. But if so, it probably would have lasted longer.

I bought one recently (Dell-refurbished so I didn't pay close to the $669 list) as a "throwaway". Turns out that I love it, and anybody who wants to take it away is going to have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. Built like a brick sh*thouse and a 53 WHr battery (roughly 12 hours of normal use) to boot.

WetGeek

tomscharbach Turns out that I love it, and anybody who wants to take it away ...

I remember your post. That's what made be think of "educational" when I saw the "E" in the product designation.

Axios

WetGeek Bios battery it dies computer no worky.
cheap fix if the case. test batt before replace 3.3v (2.6v is dead cmos battery some not even that low)
Most Computers wont boot or stayon if battery is bad
If it is bad and you replace will have to check bios settings

Staudey

For one of my older laptops the old "blow into the vents with a hairdryer for a while and then start it up" trick worked for a while. But I had to repeat it after it had been powered off for a bit. (related last-ditch attempt would be to open it up, remove the mainboard and put it into the oven a bit to try and reflow the solder; but again, last-ditch ^^)

BuzzPCSOS

I worked on a Dell a while back that did similar stuff because of a psu fault, the light on the psu still came on but it did not charge the battery. Eventually because of the low battery the computer would start to power up and then shut down due to low power.
The Dell psu lead has a center pin that delivers a diagnostic voltage to the computer. Sometimes the pin becomes disconnected or breaks off entirely. No voltage or incorrect voltage on the center pin will prevent the battery charging. If you have a volt meter you can check the power output (inner to outer of connector cylinder 19.5V) and then the diagnostic voltage (whichever part of the connector cylinder that was -ve to the center pin, I think that it was about 3 to 5V). Google is your friend here.
Sometimes a rebuild of the connector (wire cutters, heatshrink, hotmelt glue and a soldering iron) will restore your existing power supply to fully functional status. If you decide to replace the PSU, a second hand genuine one will give more mileage than a brand new pattern one.