Dell Inspiron 1721 went black, won't turn on

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Hey guys/gals. Thanks for looking and any help would be great. Here's what's going on. I was playing an online MMORPG the other game and I hit Alt+Tab to switch to my Windows screen and when I did the monitor went black. At first I thought it was some kind of windows glitch so I manually forced the power down via hold the power button. I tried to turn the computer back on and it showed the first main loading screen, not the WIndows screen just the computer loading screen. But when it went past that, nothing. The screen was just black. So I forced the power down again. When I turned it back on, nothing loads. I get the blue light on the side that shows the power is on and the blue light showing the bluetooth adapter card is on. The light that comes on when it's reading from the hard drive comes on for a couple of seconds then goes off like it normally did until after the loading screen. The fan comes on and runs but the loading screen doesnt come up, the hard drives are being read. And as far as I can tell, then monitor isn't just black, it's not even coming on. I've taken it apart and cleaned it as best as I could and still nothing. I removed both hard drives, nothing. I removed the RAM chip, nothing. Any ideas?
 
Try:
  • Disconnecting any externals (including network)
  • Removing the laptop main large battery
  • Removing the power adapter cord
  • Re-seating the Ram (or even just leaving 1 Ram card in only, for the moment)
  • Re-seating the Hard Drive
  • Then with all power out still. Hold down the ON button for 20secs
  • Plug the powered, power cord back in
  • Turn On
Did it work? If so, then turn back off (or shutdown if Windows loaded)
And refit the extra Ram card (if removed) and refit the main battery
Turn back on again, and you're good to go.

Otherwise check here for more options: Tutorial: No POST (Power On Self Test
 
I followed all steps from above and still nothing. I moved on to removing the battery and pressing/holding the power button for different times up to one minute. I plugged in just the power cord and still nothing. I still only get the light that shows that the computer is "on" and the bluetooth adapter is "on". And still the fan spins and the light that shows it's reading from the hard drive flashes on for about 2 seconds. But no self test are are being performed. The only thing I haven't tried yet is locating and removing the battery from the motherboard because that is a tedious task on a laptop. But I will attempt that tomorrow. When I had it apart the first time I did NOT smell anything that would suggest something shorted out and burned up. But if pulling the battery and doing the jumper short doesn't work, any other suggestions?
 
I wouldn't pull the CMOS battery out just yet

I'd remove the keyboard assembly and remove the CPU heatsink, then re-seating the CPU

Do note that once re-seated you will need to re-thermal paste the CPU (this info provided in the above guide link)
But before thermal pasting it again, just put the heatsink back on and test (power cord only)
 
OK tried reseating the CPU. Still nothing. I finally located and pulled the CMOS battery and left it off for about 12 hours. No battery, no wall adapter, no CMOS battery. I took out both RAM chips again and seated only one in. I plugged in the wall adapter and turned it and on still the same lights but nothing more. I changed to the other RAM chip and nothing still. Any other ideas? Or do you think something fried? I don't smell anything and even took the laptop 100% apart and inspected for any burns or possible shorts and couldn't see/smell anything.
 
Well if you really determined (as you obviously are, to remove the CMOS battery as well)
Then with the Mobo out (or in if you can't be stuffed)
Purchase some "circuit board cleaner" (that's the actual name of it - from any computer/electronic shop)
Then spray the hec out of it
Then allow it to dry for 12/24 hours
Then test again
 
i think that i know what the problem is and i may know the solution but first let me ask you this question do you motherboard has an AMD CPU PROCESSOR AND AN NVIDIA CHIP?
 
I know what happen. Your video card is out of range. You need to plug it in to an other monitor to set back your range. Or as the computer go to it post try pushing f8, f12, or f10 it all depends on your computer. One of them will let you boot in safe mode from there you can change the video setting.

I hope it is helpful to you.
 
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