Dell Latitude D600 wont boot

tournesol_100

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Oct 19, 2010
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Dear Friends, Can anybody please help me with this weird thing?
My laptop: Dell Latitude D600.
After power failure the computer failed to boot. It did beep signaling error, but can't recall the sequence. What I saw is that any time I try to turn on, the boot starts, however the screen is black, but faint picture of the booting sequence can be discerned. Then an orange led on the right led bus turned on, and the computer shuts down itself.
I suspected that the inverter blew out, and purchased compatible one second hand. However, it is important to say that the computer boots and works just as always if external monitor is hooked behind. The monitor can be turned off, and the laptop will still go up without problem. However, if the external monitor cable or power cable are unplugged, the same kind of failure to boot ensues. Also, if the external monitor is hooked and the laptop had been booted, even after any time, once I unplug the monitor cable or its power cable, the orange led turns on, the computer turns off.
When I received the second hand inverter I installed it, although it isn’t identical to the original one. After installation the monitor came back to life, with light and picture, but either during boot, or short after that, the orange led turns on and the computer shuts down. I tried to change BIOS settings, and several times I could make my computer to boot for long period of times, but during boot is always show, for short time, the orange led. Also, new warning came regarding the battery exhaustion and that I need to plug the ac adapter, although the adapter is ALWAYS in since the battery is old.
Now, the laptop never boots, just like right after the inverter blowing. However, in external monitor is hooked, as before, the computer boots in a natural way, no orange led, and both external and laptop screens are working beautifully.
Now, the very best thing for me, is, unsurprisingly, to fix the entire problem and that the laptop will just function regularly. As a worst case, I don’t care if the laptop will beet even without its inherent monitor since I always hook it, eventually, to projector. However, I need it to be immune to external monitor unhooking, and that it will stay on until I hook it to the projector.
Any ideas? Can I alter the BIOS to ignore failure modes? To omit the internal screen? Anything wise at all??
Thank you all in advance,
Yours,
Tournesol
 

toolinthemist

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Jul 14, 2010
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wow, thats pretty strange. It kind of sounds like something on the motherboard got cooked, but why it would still work fine with an external monitor is strange. I've got an extra laptop whose screen recently died, so i just took the thing off and use the laptop as a slim desktop. I don't know if detaching the screen would really do anything for you, but its the only thing i can think of to try.
 

tournesol_100

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Oct 19, 2010
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Dear toolinthemist,
Thank you so much for the ideas and thoughts.
Just for the record, I did try to unplug the monitor bundle from its connector on the motherboard, and it shows the same problem: beeps and orange led followed by computer goes down.
Any more thoughs?
Thant you in advance,
Sincerely,
Tournesol
 

tournesol_100

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Oct 19, 2010
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An interesting update:
When the laptop is running (with external and its own screens together), and the external monitor is unhooked for a very short time, and glugged in immediatly, the orange led shows up, and a warning that the battery is too low and I should plug in the AC. Note that anyway the laptop is always on ac since the battery is low, and anyway, why it is responding to the external monitor. BTW, if I unplug the monitor, and fail to plug it is fast enough, the computer goes down as if the battery is dead and its not hooked to the AC.
 

tournesol_100

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Oct 19, 2010
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Dear Snipergod87,
Yes I deed. And guess what? The machine doesn't care whether the battery is in or out. It keeps behaving as described.
Is there any way to change settings whithin the BIOS or Whithin the Hadware definitions that will force the computer to ignore what it detects, apparently errorneously, ad a fault???
Thanks in advanve for any idea, as wierd as you can go with.
Sincerely,
Tournesol