Dell laptop won't turn on

Tom_M wrote:

tenbear wrote:
It has to be unplugged to turn on. Once it is turned on it an be plugged in and runs fine, either plugged in or unplugged.

If the battery goes dead you would never be able to turn it on. Something is wrong with your computer.

It does get charged when it is turned off, but you have a point. If the battery was dead I guess I would have to buy a new battery before I could use the computer. Maybe there is something in it that allows it to be turn on if the battery is below a certain level. Hope I don't have to find out.

tenbear wrote:
It has to be unplugged to turn on. Once it is turned on it an be plugged in and runs fine, either plugged in or unplugged.

If the battery goes dead you would never be able to turn it on. Something is wrong with your computer.

SCVJeff wrote:

tenbear wrote:
My wife's Dell will not turn on if it is plugged in. It must be unplugged to turn on. It was designed this way.

I have never ever ever seen a Dell that MUST be unplugged. These are primarily business machines and expected to run all day either plugged in from a wall wort or through a docking station. I'm typing on my 6th Dell in 12 years and all can run on Batt or in charge mode

It has to be unplugged to turn on. Once it is turned on it an be plugged in and runs fine, either plugged in or unplugged.

My guess is that they designed it this way so it will use the battery instead of always having it on charge. Could make the battery last longer???

Bucky Badger wrote:
Just wondering how it can be a motherboard jack problem, when the computer light comes on when he plugs it in

He said that the light goes off when he presses the power button. Intermittent contact on any of the three connections inside the DC power jack can cause this.

tenbear wrote:
My wife's Dell will not turn on if it is plugged in. It must be unplugged to turn on. It was designed this way.

I have never ever ever seen a Dell that MUST be unplugged. These are primarily business machines and expected to run all day either plugged in from a wall wort or through a docking station. I'm typing on my 6th Dell in 12 years and all can run on Batt or in charge mode

My wife's Dell will not turn on if it is plugged in. It must be unplugged to turn on. It was designed this way.

A friend had a similar problem. It was actually a physical issue, where the plastic button on the panel wasn't pressing the real button, on a small pc board, far enough. Don't know if the problem was with the plastic button or the real button, but building up the bottom of the plastic button fixed it, at least for the short term.

Just wondering how it can be a motherboard jack problem, when the computer light comes on when he plugs it in

MKDSK wrote:

Stefonius wrote:
Which power light comes on? The one on the laptop, the one on the "brick" in the cord, or the one on the end of the power plug where it goes into the laptop?

It is a dell Studio 1558. The light on the laptop comes on when I plug in the power cord, stays on, but sometimes goes right back off. The power cord is working I know because the light on the power cord brick is on.

I have a Studio 1754. I had to replace the DC Power Jack on the motherboard after a couple years because the strain from the long plug end eventually wore out the contacts on the inside. To stop that from happening again, I purchased a 90 degree angle adapter for the end of my power cord.

You can find a replacement DC power jack Here or Here. Not too hard to replace, but there are an awful lot of small screws to contend with. There are some pretty good online tutorials that show you how to take your laptop apart and put it back together correctly.

Also, there is a thin center pin inside of the power plug that goes into the laptop. That pin is designed to send a signal to the laptop that you're using a "genuine Dell" power adapter. The cable feeding that pin is very thin, and often breaks internally. Then the laptop will flatly refuse to charge your battery when plugged in. You could have both problems (bad DC power jack and broken center pin on adapter). If it were me, I'd try the DC power jack first, especially if the power light on the laptop comes on and goes off when the power button is pressed.

Happy to help if I can.

I guess it goes without asking that you don't have a docking unit ?