Dell Studio 1558 won't power up

[Metallo]

Hi guys,

The story so far...

December 2015
Display disappears, all Dell Studios suffer from this after 4-5 years due to GPU overheating.
Baked the MB, I carried on till end of January.

January 2016
Baked a second time, carried on till end of March.

April 2016
The computer will no longer boot, I press the power button, light is blinking and nothing happens.

I got a refurbished MB (Sealed from DELL), replaced it, the computer does not power up, light blinks, either I use the battery or the AC, it blinks and that's it.

I have now the power cable in my hands and I do not see any visual sign of wear, wires are perfectly glued. Also, I use this laptop as a desktop, I rarely close it so I would be surprised to see any sign of wear on the cable.

It's hard to believe the GPU of the refurbished MB to be the issue given that normally the PC would, at least, power on, but in my case is dead.

I also tested a second AC but no go.

I forgot to mention that the battery, once I press the test button gives me 5 lights.

At this point I am puzzled, is the refurbished MB faulty or is it the switch?
Is there any other test I can do?

Thank you guys.

Alex

 

[dudeman509]

Ha, I have a 1569. My ATI GPU overheated and killed itself too.

Anyway, my power button itself went bad. I'd occasionally get a blink like you're getting - the keyboard and power light would flash on, then off. If I pushed it a ton of times, it would eventually turn on. Bought a replacement bezel/power button off Ebay, and working fine since.

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

It seems like you've most of the possible troubleshooting steps but here are some additional steps that may help.
- First try to connect an external monitor onto the laptop and see if you'll get any display from it.
- If it will still not give any display, disconnect the ribbon cable that connects the LCD to the motherboard then test it again.
- Next is to test all the RAM's one at a time and testing each slot as well.
- Do also test the AC adapter while the battery is out.
- If all these will not work the the problem would be the refurbish motherboard that was sent to you unfortunately.

 

[Metallo]

Ha, I have a 1569. My ATI GPU overheated and killed itself too.

Anyway, my power button itself went bad. I'd occasionally get a blink like you're getting - the keyboard and power light would flash on, then off. If I pushed it a ton of times, it would eventually turn on. Bought a replacement bezel/power button off Ebay, and working fine since.

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback.

When you looked at your power button, did you notice any sign of wear of broken wire or anything else that would lead you to think the cable was the problem?
Of course, I can buy a cable off Ebay (many people buy 4/5 a year because they are bad quality).

Also, my PC is currently disassembled, the only cables I have plugged in are the screen, the fan and the power, all the rest is apart, I would expect the fan to start... tried also many times, just blinks when I press the button.

Alex

 

[dudeman509]

Ha, I have a 1569. My ATI GPU overheated and killed itself too.

Anyway, my power button itself went bad. I'd occasionally get a blink like you're getting - the keyboard and power light would flash on, then off. If I pushed it a ton of times, it would eventually turn on. Bought a replacement bezel/power button off Ebay, and working fine since.

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback.

When you looked at your power button, did you notice any sign of wear of broken wire or anything else that would lead you to think the cable was the problem?
Of course, I can buy a cable off Ebay (many people buy 4/5 a year because they are bad quality).

Also, my PC is currently disassembled, the only cables I have plugged in are the screen, the fan and the power, all the rest is apart, I would expect the fan to start... tried also many times, just blinks when I press the button.

Alex

No visible damage to it, never any water spilled in it. Cable itself looked fine; it was just the switch itself worn out somehow.

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

It seems like you've most of the possible troubleshooting steps but here are some additional steps that may help.
- First try to connect an external monitor onto the laptop and see if you'll get any display from it.
- If it will still not give any display, disconnect the ribbon cable that connects the LCD to the motherboard then test it again.
- Next is to test all the RAM's one at a time and testing each slot as well.
- Do also test the AC adapter while the battery is out.
- If all these will not work the the problem would be the refurbish motherboard that was sent to you unfortunately.

I do not see how connecting an external monitor would change the picture as the laptop is just dead, I can try for sure though.
My laptop is currently disassembled, the only cables I have plugged in are the screen, the fan and the power, all the rest is apart, I would expect the fan to start... tried also many times, just blinks when I press the button.
Is there a way I can test the switch with a test meter to confirm it is working correctly?
If it is, yes, I will get another MB.

Thanks
Alex