Please save me from spending money on a new laptop.

January 10, 2008 7:50 AM

I have a Dell 8600 laptop on which it seems that the power switch has slowly died. Is there any way to save him?

My 3 yr old Dell 8600 laptop has slowly stopped responding to the power button and now won't turn on at all.

I think it got a little squashed in my overstuffed laptop bag (stupid airport One Bag rules). For a few days it was just cranky, working intermittently (if I held it at different angles etc.) and now it's stopped responding totally i.e. not even a power light coming on when I plug it into the mains.

If I wiggle the power connector at the back of the laptop I can get the power light to flash on but that's it.

On battery power only it's totally unresponsive.

I've tried;
1. a different power adapter
2. changing the batteries in the laptop
3. searching the internet for clues

Seems to me that if it ain't the charger or the batteries then it's the laptop itself. The opinions from the internet seem to suggest either a dead motherboard (bad, buy new laptop time) or that the power connector has come unsoldered at one of it's connections to the motherboard (easier to fix I assume).

I'm thinking possibly the latter as I guess that when motherboards die, they're not so intermittent when they go about it where as loose connections are.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be the problem or any similar experiences where their laptop came back to life after minor surgery?

Can you save everyone from the looming "what laptop should I buy?" question next week?

posted by merocet to computers & internet (3 comments total)

The usual culprit is the internal connection from the AC jack to the motherboard. Usually its a quick fix by resoldering.
posted by mphuie at 9:12 AM on January 10, 2008

You can replace the power switch for less than $10 if that's the problem. If it's the power jack, replace it per mphuie.
posted by rhizome at 9:49 AM on January 10, 2008

I bit the bllet, bought the screwdrivers and soldering iron and opened it up. Terrifying!

Cleaned everything out, pushed the power connector down a bit, got scared and put it back together without touching the soldering iron.

Strangely it works for now so I'm backing up like a crazy person.

Thanks a lot for your answers, they gave me the courage nearlky to prise the whole thing open. ;-)
posted by merocet at 3:34 PM on January 10, 2008