Question Dell E6420 Won't POST

[milangross]

I have a Dell E6420 that will not boot. When I press the power button, the fan spins up for for about 3 seconds and then stops. No LED diagnostics lights appear. I've taken out the HD and reloaded it in another laptop and booted it successfully so the HD and OS should be fine. I've tested without the battery installed and only power adapter connected. I also verified that the power adapter is working fine. I opened it up and took out and re=seated the RAM and verified the fan is in good working order. Any other ideas?

 

[mrmike16]

Have you tried resetting the CMOS? You can also try running the computer without the coin battery (not just the main one).
Another thing to try would be with another power supply.

 

[milangross]

Hi Mr. Mike thanks for the suggestions. Removed the CMOS battery entirely but no difference. Removing it should have also reset the CMOS as well. Actually I'm pretty sure the CMOS battery is dead anyway (I've ordered a replacement). But my understanding is that it should still boot even with out it. What's really weird is that it never gets to the point where the diagnostic lights come on so I can't get a sense of what components are failing.

 

[mrmike16]

Me neither, and since you tested all of the components I think unfortunately the motherboard is fried.