Dell Inspiron 5520 Will not start up

[saffy]

My Dell Inspiron 5520 will respond when I press the power button, will flash all the LEDs and then just shut down. The whole process takes about 6 seconds. The fan starts up but nothing is displayed on the screen and there are no weird beeps. Any ideas on what is happening or how to get it to complete booting up?

I got this in December of 2012 and have had very few other problems with it

 

[ComputerGuy55]

Are you comfortable with disassembling the laptop? Really the only thing we can test is removing the Hard Drive, RAM, and DVD player.

First I would try the HD and DVD to see if either of those are stopping it from powering for what ever reason, and you will still get something on the screen and see if it boots.

Once you remove RAM you are not going to get anything on the screen, it doesn't POST(Power-On Self-Test) it will fail guaranteed, but you "SHOULD" get beeps, however the problem with that is ensuring the MB is actually causing the Beep, and if it's not it'll just do the same thing regardless, it's best to have some spare RAM that you know works to test with. (Same speeds and kind, need to be sure) The reason for this is to make sure that it's not RAM but you're not just getting the same issue.

Putting in some spare RAM will at least allow you to ensure it's not just the RAM chips, one thing to try if you have multiple sticks of RAM is try each stick separately, and in each slot to make sure it's not one stick or one slot causing and issue.

The only other things to make sure is the power that is getting to the laptop is clean power. Two ways to do this as well, firstly you can test the power supply using a Multi-Meter if you have one and know how to use it. You can check the voltages on the power supply, Connect to the wall and test the first portion to ensure 120V clean power, then if its good, test it going through the transformer and check the bottom of the laptop (Possibly underneath the battery) for the proper Voltage and Amperage. Test with the multimetre and see if it matches, if its not giving proper power it can cause tons of issues.

The other option is to buy a universal power supply and change the voltage to match the laptop and then try it. Due note that not ALL universals work with all models of laptop and that it's not the recommended way of power, it's best to use the adapter designed by the company, specially for HP's and Dell's as they seem to be much more proprietary than other companies.

 

[saffy]

Ok, it was the RAM, and I've gotten it to work now Thanks so much for your help!!!

 

[ComputerGuy55]

Ok, it was the RAM, and I've gotten it to work now Thanks so much for your help!!!

Common problem with a laptop, Glad this worked.

Just for an FYI, you my notice the computer being overall sluggish if the malfunctioning RAM was not replaced. If so you may need to replaced the damaged RAM (unless it's already been replaced then never mind)