[Dark Age Iron Savior]

That's where you come in!

as backup to my main system, I use an old, clunky passdown laptop (I've mentioned it a few times before - it chokes on 3D games despite theoretically being able to handle stuff from 2001 and before). For the most part, it's worked well enough - aside from the viruses, the missing period key, and a battery that apparently couldn't hold a charge for very long.

For quite a while, I neglected using it, and only a little while ago did I boot it up again. When I did, I may have made some mistakes - or rather, I did make some mistakes, the kind where you run a program (specifically Windows Updater 3) you just installed, even though it told you to restart first. I figured that it wouldn't do too much damage and would be reversible later on and I was planning to format eventually and all that.

And things did work, except when I..let's see, I think I was using EXULT, although that was probably unrelated. Basically, I got a "Windows isn't working" error, restarted, and got that error again. Restarted in safe mode and such, got it again. Put it off until I found a Win XP CD.

Well, I found a CD last night, and I tried to use the recovery console, but the error came up again. I tried telling Windows setup to reinstall, but I got the same error. That's when I noticed that it was mentioning one particular file as being screwed: ntfs.sys

Oops.

Google tells me that it's ideal to have recovery console or reinstalling accessible to fix ntfs.sys, but I didn't know that last night. I just knew I couldn't get things to work. So turned off the system and unplugged it, then went to sleep.

This morning, I decided to write down the exact error message and see if someone could suggest something I could burn to a CD (no disk drive, grrr) that would allow me to repair things.

The laptop won't turn on. When I plug it in, the light to indicate the adapter attached doesn't light - and even creepier, the light on the adapter itself goes out.

I realize this basically means the laptop is totally fucked.

My question is, how do I go about checking what specifically is totally fucked about it if I can't turn it on? I know shit about computers, so my assumption is that at least one of the following is responsible:

1. Harddrive corruption (although - can a hard drive be so corrupt the system won't power on?)
2. Battery death (would that prevent it from turning on at all?)
3. Power supply death (and I don't know what would have caused it)

I realize that, no matter what happened, I've likely lost all the files on the system.....but if there is even the slightest glimmer of hope that they could be recovered, I need it. Please.
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[km]

When a laptop won't charge, the problem is usually that the adapter jack on the back of the laptop finally broke off of the motherboard because they are poorly designed to withstand stress. This was extremely common when I worked doing PC repair.


You might be able to rip the laptop apart and have a look to see if that's the problem. It can probably fixed with a soldering iron.



If not, buy an external 2.5" IDE HDD adapter from newegg for like $20, rip the drive out of the laptop, and attach it to your other PC. I highly doubt the hard drive is cooked, though you can't really trust older hard drives further than you can throw them.
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vi) RPGs (Role-Playing Games)
For adolescents; half-formed personalities roaming (in packs) in search of identity.

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

km, you are the wind beneath my wings
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[Dark Age Iron Savior]

okay I opened up the laptop (taking apart and putting together computers can be both frustrating and very life-affirming, makes me wish I actually knew stuff about them)

checked the adapter jack, and...it seems pretty securely connected to the motherboard! I mean, I can wiggle it a teeny little bit, but I'd expect that anyways, and it doesn't actually seem to be disconnecting at any point.

Any other ideas?
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[Sushi K]

Try removing the battery entirely and running just wall power.
Some old thinkpads at work had bad batteries that had the same effect but worked fine without them.
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[Dark Age Iron Savior]

I actually tried that, and I can't even remember why!

It did the same thing as before.

Maybe I should take it somewhere to get looked at...or actually look up the computer's manual and stuff.
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[Gironika]

[km]

Use a multimeter to check the connections.

If you don't have one of those, um, an LED and a battery maybe?
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vi) RPGs (Role-Playing Games)
For adolescents; half-formed personalities roaming (in packs) in search of identity.

[Toptube]

When you look inside the computer, does anything on the mobo look burnt? or do any of the capacitors look like they are bulging or even leaking?

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

Both of you are overestimating me a bit. I could show the computer to my far more capable family members, but I'd rather they not know it got broken in the first place. I'll try taking a pic when I can.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8500/en/8500/sm/index.htm
service manual for the laptop model. there's no real differences between the diagrams and the computer, except it's missing one keyboard key.

I cleaned the system out as best I could - there was a few crumbs, an annoying amount of hair and what appeared to be a rather unlucky moth larvae. I wiped a few areas where it looked like a liquid had been spilled and dried, and I possibly might have touch the microprocessor or cooling assembly in inappropriate ways, but since the computer isn't turning on at all...

Afterwards, I realized I hadn't actually taken out the battery when I said I had, and did. The power adapter brick light still turns off when I plug it in. I also checked the battery again, and was surprised to find that, contrary to what I thought, it did have a charge meter. I was even more surprised when I pressed the button and the meter said the battery was fully charged!

I put the battery back in, and reconnected the central control cover (part of the keyboard, which has the indicator lights, power button and the automatic sleep trigger). I checked the cable connection from power button to system board, but it still didn't turn on. I opened up a panel protecting said cable, and checked for any damage, but all I could find was a crumb-like substance where the cable pulled away from the control cover - I'm pretty sure this is some kind of remnants from the substance used to attach it to the control cover, and not actual dirt/food crumbs.

I tried Dell's choose-your-own-adventure ("do this, what did it do, is there still a problem"), and while it seemed to anticipate my actual problem (computer won't turn on, battery seems fine, power adapter light goes out when it plugs in), it didn't give an actual answer.....it just directed me to personal tech support, which I instinctively avoid.

I'll look at it a bit more, and either show it to my family or see what I need to tell tech support...
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[Cossix]

If the power supply light is turning off it sounds like there's a short or something somewhere on the board

Honestly you might be a bit fucked without buying a new board for your laptop, which is kind of pricy typically.

I haven't looked at it at all though so I'm probably wrong.

[falsedan]

cossix I agree with your diagnosis, battery OK + power supply lights up -> dead electrics -> replace logicboard

maybe, maybe the whole power button + power LED + charge LED assembly is out of action and you can turn the machine on by shorting the correct traces or pins

if you are feeling lucky it might be a dodgy peripheral/PCMCIA card/something you can unplug and the lappy will start working again
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[Gironika]

I'd rescue the HDD first before shorting anything
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