Dell Latitude D820 boot issue

[Alex Niculescu]

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, even tho I've been finding solutions for my hardware related issues here for a long time.
I Have found this laptop sitting on a garbage bin as I was taking the garbage out so I took it (I do not dumpster-dive or do similar stuff, this was just a dumb find). Now, the machine itself has some obvious issues: the LCD was cracked really badly and the keyboard was very dirty and someone may have spilled something on it. I got home and made sure it was completely dried up, then I decided to test it. I took a 90W Dell power adapter I had from my XPS M1530, plugged an external monitor and powered it up. Unfortunately, nothing happened, only the power LED lit up for a second or so. I then completely took it apart to check the board for signs of overheating or other similar problems. Nothing appears wrong, altho I do not remember seeing any CMOS battery. Shouldn't it at least try to POST if the LCD and keyboard are dead? Shouldn't there be a CMOS battery in any computer? Is the mobo dead?
I just want to mention the same happened as i was upgrading a D630s RAM: only the power LED went on for a sec, nothing else. It appears one of the DIMMs was bad.

I know it may not be worth repairing, since new parts are very expensive, but i could try buying some SH replacements. I also love the feel and design of 2006-2010 Dell laptops so i would love to add this one to my collection as well.

 

[ffg7]

sounds like a motherboard issue. do any of the lights flash a sequence like 2 blinks, off then repeats?

 

[penguintech]

if there was something spilled in it, it's probably a dead board. Those were also known for overheating and frying out the GPU, so plugging it into an external monitor would be pointless. I had a D630 that overheated and Died due to the GPU, same issues as you are stating. Power light but nothing else...
I would say it's probably a lost cause.... The ones with the Nvidia video were famous for dying... the ones with the intel video were much better. It was so bad that there was a class action lawsuit against Dell for the Nvidia Failures.

http/en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/09/30/nvidia-gpu-update-nvidia-class-action-lawsuit-and-limited-warranty-enhancement

 

[Alex Niculescu]

It does have an Intel chipset. Thats why i thought maybe it isn't the motherboard. I will however try get a LCD, a keyboard and some 100% working RAM chips, see how that does. In Romania (where I live), replacing all of these components with SH elements would be something around 100$, not much of a big deal, especially since the laptop itself was free and people really buy these Latitudes if I were to sell it.

 

[penguintech]

We no longer sell them at my store due to age, the value here on this model is $0. We do still sell the D630's however our price on them these days is $79. I couldn't imagine paying $100 or more to repair one. But I am sure it's different where you are.

 

[Alex Niculescu]

Noone of the Caps, NumLk and ScrLk flashed or work. The keyboard is completely busted, nothing other than the power button works (tested it on my D630).

 

[Alex Niculescu]

You can't say these D-series are not great machines tho, can you?

 

[ffg7]

try using an external screen 1st til you get laptop working then buy a new screen. even tho it has intel chipset it could still have NVidia videocard.
Choice of Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (Up to 224MB shared); 256MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 110M TurboCache™ 3; or 512MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache™ 3
http/www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/latit/en/spec_latit_d820_en.pdf

 

[penguintech]

Yes, the D-Series were great machines.... even though they are a bit past thier prime these days... it's still one of our top selling laptops in the store.

 

[Alex Niculescu]

try using an external screen 1st til you get laptop working then buy a new screen. even tho it has intel chipset it could still have NVidia videocard.
Choice of Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (Up to 224MB shared); 256MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 110M TurboCache™ 3; or 512MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache™ 3
http/www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/latit/en/spec_latit_d820_en.pdf

I looked on the chips that are on the board, none of them have the nVidia logo or anything related. The service Tag confirms what i just said. I tried using an external monitor with it, nothing changes. It boggles my mind thinking that Dell told me that since the laptop is out of warranty, i am not eligible for live-chat, and their forums are full of employees not knowing more about computers than my cat does about reading.