HomeLet’s say your laptop does not start at all. You plug in the power adapter and press on the power button, but the laptop will not react. It’s dead and the power or battery charge LED will not light up.
What could be wrong? Is it bad power jack or the motherboard is dead?
By the way, the power jack aka DC-IN jack is the power socket on the side or back of your laptop where you plug the AC/DC power adapter.
I’ll explain how to perform basic troubleshooting and find out what is wrong. This is only for experienced people, who know how to disassemble laptops.
First of all, test the AC/DC power adapter with a multimeter. It’s very likely that there is noting wrong with the laptop and your problem is related to the power adapter.
If the adapter tests fine and output correct voltage, disassemble the laptop and remove the top cover.
As you see on the first picture, in my laptop the power adapter plugs into the DC-IN power jack which is connected to the motherboard via a harness.
In some models the DC-IN power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard.
Plug in the power adapter and measure voltage at the point where the DC-IN jack or DC harness (like in my case) connected to the motherboard.
If you are reading the same voltage as on the AC adapter, it means the power jack or harness works properly and the problem is related to the motherboard.
If there is no voltage, most likely there is a problem with the jack or hardness and it has to be replaced.
By the way, in some case the problem could be related to the fuse which is usually located somewhere very close to the power jack/harness connector. You can test the fuse with a multimeter.
If the fuse is bad, the motherboard will appear to be dead even if there is nothing wrong with the power jack and AC/DC adapter. If that’s the case, replacing the bad fuse should fix the problem.
October 16th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Hi
I can’t find the fuse on my DELL D600 motherboard .
Does existe absolutly a fuse near the power jack/harness connector ?
Thanks
August 29th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
hi,
i m using dell xps m1530 for last 4 yrs. Now my laptop is not getting started even on battery too. When i do connect adapter, the LED light on adapter remain on, but there is no LED on laptop. It also do not take start on battery too. Is it due to motherboard fuse?
August 27th, 2011 at 7:02 am
Hi,
Your analytical description of whether a bad power jack or motherboard is prohibiting the laptop to startup has been very informative, and describes the situation that I’m facing ever since I plugged in my MP3(via USB) to recahege my device. The D/C in jack is in fine shape, but the power supply adaptor has gotten blown out. When we tried a new power adaptor or the charged battery to try and start up the laptop it showed absolutely no signs of life and is completely dead. In your descrition of whether a bad power jack or motherboard is causing the malfunction you did not mention anything about the battery, does the battery power up to the laptop following the same route as you have described to power on the laptop as does the A/C adaptor and is there a separate fuse for that? Does the fact that the battery is not turning the laptop on any indication that the motherboard is the culprit after all? I sure would appreciate your response?
August 12th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I have a laptop and whenever i switch my laptop on the green light goes on but the screen shows nothing.Someone when i put it on the it works but 5-10mins later the laptop freezes totally,then I have switch it off again.How can I solve the problem?
August 12th, 2011 at 11:50 am
hello there. i have a HP Pavilion dv4-1435dx series..the battery is has gone 0% so i can’t check it out..i think the A/C adapter is the prob,because there must be a light on the laptop if the A/C is working but in my case it’s not lighting..what should i do??where is the problem? Help me with this..
August 8th, 2011 at 6:51 am
I have Toshiba Satellite L300-217 Part Number : PSLB8E-0H0007EN laptop.
My niece spilled tea on the laptop and it does not power up any more. I have checked the charger works fine with volt-meter, the DC jack is ok too But the laptop does show any sign of life even with battery or charger.
You mentioned fuse in your picture of motherboard. can you help me find out where the fuse is on my mother board and how can I make sure that the MB is dead.
Kind regards
July 25th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
hi i have acer and it is really dead.If i plug the charger on my laptop,the green light blinks and the those LED do not light. it is really dead.i also tried using without the battery but still it didnt work
. pls help me ..
July 18th, 2011 at 8:48 am
I severe laptop starting problem .My model is Emachines e725.The moment when i press the powerbutton the blue light glows and immediatly shuts down.Some times it starts.When it starts it runs for as many no of days ikept itlike that it runs perfectly.
I go around the service center for two weeks.Finally he said that it is mother board problem.
Ivexed up and finally i myself made an experiment of updating bios.It works out and my laptop is working perfectly.Some times even the bios problem gives the starting problem.Actually now recent model laptops are coming with AHCI and IDE mode of operations.At the starting time when there is any conflict between these modes laptop could not start.When AHCI is not changed to IDE Xp could not be loaded in to laptop.It gives the blue screen error.
July 7th, 2011 at 9:42 am
i have acer aspire 4732z
i used it once and i think i fully drained the battery while i was at work,
then when i get back home i charged it for a couple of minutes and try to turn it on but it was not responding, then i removed the battery and put it back then charge it again for a couple of minutes then it turned on but after the acer logo it turn of the screen but the power indicators are still on, i did the same time for a couple of time and same thing happened. then i just let it charge for an hour and it worked just perfectly. then i shut it down and didnt used it for 2days. then when i tried to turn it on. it wont turn on, when i plug the charger the battery light turn on to blue which means its fully charge.
i tried to remove the battery then plug the charger it wont still turn on. but i notice that the somewhere in LAN socket has light turned on. and the power indicator was blinking, bu while i tried to do the same thing now the power indicator wont blink or turn on.
any idea?thanks…
June 19th, 2011 at 9:09 am
hey there
i have an acer aspire 5820t. it was working fine recently but stopped working a week ago. i have tried using the battery alone, no good, and the ac adapter alone, no good either. when i press the power button while using the battery or the adapter, the little blue light on the button blinks once and goes, same with the power light.
what could cause this problem?
thank you