Latitude d410

[chuckle1]

Hello can anyone help? I have just been given a latitude d410 because my m8 who had it b4 me could not sort it out, he was given it by his employers because they couldn't sort it,
I don't know if the problem is password related or not but he said he tried to put p/w in but nothing, now i have the laptop, it powers on but will not boot up all i get is the black screen, the green LED's flash so there's power there, i just can't get anything at all on the screen. Could he have permanently damaged the laptop by putting diff p/w's in.
Any help would be greatly apprciated.

 

[Tmagic650]

Have you tried attaching an external monitor?

 

[chuckle1]

Yeah tried it on my desktop monitor but it says there is no signal, does this mean the display card is u/s?
thanx for quick reply

 

[Tmagic650]

You have to enable the external monitor by pressing a key or 2 on the laptops keyboard. If you have done this, the laptop's motherboard is bad

 

[mscrx]

on most dell laptops you have to hold "Fn" and press F8 to switch between the monitor modes. don't be too fast - it will take a few seconds to apply and switch.
there are 3 modes...

1. laptop lcd only
2. laptop and external
3. external only

if you see nothing on the external screen as well then try to unplug everything you can (battery, memory, pcmcia, hdd and power supply) then hold the on/off switch for about 20 seconds to do a "hard reset". put everything back in and try again.

good luck!

 

[chuckle1]

thanks for info mscrx, how can it do a hard reset with no batt and no power supply?

 

[mscrx]

this so called hard reset is just to release all voltage from the circuits. this often helps...

 

[raybay]

Could be a bad hard drive, or failed Inverter.
Try booting to SAFE MODE in a dark room, while looking for any intermittent flashes of light or color on the LCD screen.
Also, as soon as you depress the on switch, press the <F12>, <F10> and <F2> keys repeatedly to see if you can force it into the BIOS setup screen in low resolution.
Can you hear anything when you first depress the on button?
Likely suspects are (in this order) CMOS Battery failure - since that is an old machine, Memory failure, hard drive failure, LCD screen failure, CPU fan failed or very dirty air channels, or password failure.
Replacing the CMOS battery can be just about mandatory on the d410. It is found under the keyboard which you may have to remove by releasing screws from the bottom. Cost can be anywhere from $3.90 to $34.95 depending on where you buy it (Occasionally found on eBay for cheap battery and expensive shipping).
Memory is cheap. It needs 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-4200 CT479567 from Crucial, or equivalent... Under $50.
Hard drives are amazingly low cost now at www.directron, www.zipzoomfly, www.tigerdirect.com, www.kahlon.com, www.newegg.com... running $40 for a 40 GB to $60 for a 60 to 80 GB to $80 for a 100 to 120 GB... on up to a 200 GB. YOu will need Windows XP SP2 for any drive larger than 130 GB
Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[raybay]

Don't discount a failed power adapter either. They are known to fail without notice in the Latitude D400 series, and the power jack is known to fail as well.

 

[chuckle1]

thanks for all the help guys i will try these solutions, it isnt the power lead because the screen comes on but i can't get into the bios set up, (theres no display) the power light comes on but the HDD light does nothing, i can here what sounds like a fan starting up when turned on
The machine will stay on for about 5 mins and then turns itself off
When my mate had it he said that he got a screen coming up asking for a password, he didn't know it so he put it in his loft and it was in there for a month or so until i got it. when i turned it on all i got was the screen flashing up gray then goes black forcouple of seconds then back to gray with the numlock LED on

 

[raybay]

In that Dell if the hard drive does nothing, then the drive has usually gone bad, but it really sounds as if you have an unfixable password problem, until you change ownership registration, then send it back to Dell to be fixed.

There will be no easy fix...

Check the 800 messages on Dell passwords on this forum.

 

[Tmagic650]

When you say "the screen comes on but i can't get into the bios set up, (theres no display)", do you mean that the Dell logo appears? If so, after you press F10 or something, does the screen go black?

 

[chuckle1]

no nothing at all comes on the screen no logo its just grey screen

 

[lamo]

chuclke1, check connection between LCD cable and MB.