A Latitude with a power Attitude

  • Thread starter Thread starter SBlaise
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SBlaise

I have a Dell Latitude CPx that I just received to try to fix. The
problem is that when I press the power button, the LEDs for power and
num lock come for 3 seconds, then go off. During this, the system fan
does not start, nor do I hear the hard drive being accessed. The owner
was told some time ago to change out the system board. Which they did
to no avail.

Ok, here is the weird part. The owner told me that they could get the
machine to boot up and run if the rear of the machine rested at a 1 to
2" incline, with a standard fan blowing on the back of the machine.

I've taken the power supply out of the machine, nothing. I've tried to
put the machine on an incline, nothing. I hope that it is a memory
issue, which is what I'll test tomorrow(10/11). There are a few ways
that I can go with this issue, but my concern is getting to the data on
that disk, which the owner has not backed up.

Which brings me to my questions ...

1. Is there any way that I can take the hard drive out and attach it to
another machine (serial, usb, firewire, etc.) to get the information to
a cd?
2. If anyone has any familiarity with an issue of this nature, or
something similar, can you shed some light?

Thanks for the help People!!!
 
I have a Dell Latitude CPx that I just received to try to fix. The
problem is that when I press the power button, the LEDs for power and
num lock come for 3 seconds, then go off. During this, the system fan
does not start, nor do I hear the hard drive being accessed. The owner
was told some time ago to change out the system board. Which they did
to no avail.

Ok, here is the weird part. The owner told me that they could get the
machine to boot up and run if the rear of the machine rested at a 1 to
2" incline, with a standard fan blowing on the back of the machine.
Click to expand...

I'm not understanding about what this fan is for, where is
it and what is it cooling?

I've taken the power supply out of the machine, nothing.
Click to expand...

I"m afraid "nothing" is a bit lacking in conveying whatever
you meant to.
I've tried to
put the machine on an incline, nothing. I hope that it is a memory
issue, which is what I'll test tomorrow(10/11).
Click to expand...

Very unlikely, unless the memory was simply, never inserted
fully and had been working itself loose over the course of
time.

DOn't know what you meant by the power supply mentioned
above but the two more likely suspects are the place to
start- power and motherboard. Take voltage readings, try to
power it (PSU) on with only a drive as a load, clear CMOS on
the motherboard and strip system down to bare essentials
before trying to (only) get the board to POST.
There are a few ways
that I can go with this issue, but my concern is getting to the data on
that disk, which the owner has not backed up.

Which brings me to my questions ...

1. Is there any way that I can take the hard drive out and attach it to
another machine (serial, usb, firewire, etc.) to get the information to
a cd?
Click to expand...

Yes, though the more standard way is safer- hook it up to an
internal IDE connector, presuming it's PATA. External
enclosures do often work, but every now and then they can be
buggy and if it happens, or starts happening, when a drive
with valuable data is hooked up then there might be a
potential for corruption. mainly it's when writing to the
drive though, so just read from it.
2. If anyone has any familiarity with an issue of this nature, or
something similar, can you shed some light?

Thanks for the help People!!!
Click to expand...

If the user had been inside the case, be sure to check
doubly well for loose cables, cards, etc. Also regading
tilting the system, check the chassis intrusion switch, IF
there is one (should be noted in the manual or obvious as
it's wired to a board header).
 
1. Is there any way that I can take the hard drive out and attach it to
another machine (serial, usb, firewire, etc.) to get the information to
a cd?
Click to expand...

Pick up a 2.5" to 3.5" hard drive converter so you can hook it up to a
desktop system.

Ok, here is the weird part. The owner told me that they could get the
machine to boot up and run if the rear of the machine rested at a 1 to
2" incline, with a standard fan blowing on the back of the machine.
Click to expand...

....sure and if you do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around it'll
also make you a pot of coffee. LOL. It couldn't be a heating issue...the
thing isn't even on yet! As far as the incline - possibly an internal
grounding issue. Try turning it on while twisting and tilting the screen
forward and back and twisting the chassis (obviously don't twist hard enough
to break anything).
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes
 
I have a Dell Latitude CPx that I just received to try to fix. The
problem is that when I press the power button, the LEDs for power and
num lock come for 3 seconds, then go off. During this, the system fan
does not start, nor do I hear the hard drive being accessed. The owner
was told some time ago to change out the system board. Which they did
to no avail.

Ok, here is the weird part. The owner told me that they could get the
machine to boot up and run if the rear of the machine rested at a 1 to
2" incline, with a standard fan blowing on the back of the machine.

I've taken the power supply out of the machine, nothing. I've tried to
put the machine on an incline, nothing. I hope that it is a memory
issue, which is what I'll test tomorrow(10/11). There are a few ways
that I can go with this issue, but my concern is getting to the data on
that disk, which the owner has not backed up.

Which brings me to my questions ...

1. Is there any way that I can take the hard drive out and attach it to
another machine (serial, usb, firewire, etc.) to get the information to
a cd?
2. If anyone has any familiarity with an issue of this nature, or
something similar, can you shed some light?

Thanks for the help People!!!
Click to expand...

I have been through this a year or two back. A search on the Internet
shows up a lot of suggestions that this is a regular problem.
Surprisingly the machine I was given (donation to a Charity I help)
hadn't worked for some time but it started simply by flexing/twisting
the whole thing. This suggested that something was shorting so I took
it apart (take care when removing the screen as the connections run
through the hinges and these can be easily bent out of shape). I did
not find anything obvious so put it back together and it worked OK for
about a month before suffering the same problem. When I took it apart
and also tried the bending routine there was no success so I gave up
on it.

The Hard Drive can be used in a Desktop, a convertor in UK costs about
£4.

At that time Computer fairs usually had second hand stalls selling
parts for portable's at quite high prices even for the floppy drive
and CD Rom so breaking up for memory HDD etc may be worth it.

KM
 
I have a Dell Latitude CPx that I just received to try to fix. The
problem is that when I press the power button, the LEDs for power and
num lock come for 3 seconds, then go off. During this, the system fan
does not start, nor do I hear the hard drive being accessed. The owner
was told some time ago to change out the system board. Which they did
to no avail.

Ok, here is the weird part. The owner told me that they could get the
machine to boot up and run if the rear of the machine rested at a 1 to
2" incline, with a standard fan blowing on the back of the machine.

I've taken the power supply out of the machine, nothing. I've tried to
put the machine on an incline, nothing. I hope that it is a memory
issue, which is what I'll test tomorrow(10/11). There are a few ways
that I can go with this issue, but my concern is getting to the data on
that disk, which the owner has not backed up.

Which brings me to my questions ...

1. Is there any way that I can take the hard drive out and attach it to
another machine (serial, usb, firewire, etc.) to get the information to
a cd?
2. If anyone has any familiarity with an issue of this nature, or
something similar, can you shed some light?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem to this with my Latitude. Dell replaced the
motherboard and that fixed it.
The problem started off quite intermittent, where I would press the
power on button and had similar symptoms to you (can't remember exactly
as this was 3 years ago). After a few tries it would work. It gradually
got worse until the machine wouldn't power up at all.

If you end up needing a new motherboard they can be had from eBay. I got
one last year to upgrade my Latitude, and fitting it is quite
straightforward.
 
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