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.
July 9th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Tech …..I have two nice computers, both out warranty, and both are door stops!
The 1st: Toshiba L635-S3030. I’ve performed a couple power tests like changing the power supply, changing out the RAM chips, but it seems like power is not getting to something on the board. I have check the power at the DC port and I am getting 19.4V on the board side of the jack so I know power is going through the jack. There’s 2 fuses on the board, I tested both of them, and I’m getting tone on my multimeter from both. However, I don’t have any lights for the battery, power, nothing!!!
The 2nd: Gateway M6750. Almost identical problems as laptop 1. I’m getting power to the board through the DC jack but I still get nothing to work, nothing to come on. I’ve changed the RAM chips, power supply, even tried to start without the screen plugged in. Nothing works! Fuse seems to test okay as well! I don’t even get a power light or the battery light. Nothing visually wrong with this board either!
Help!
July 3rd, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Hi. I had a problem with my HP G62. I noticed the power light had gone out on the power input though the power adapter was plugged in & switched on. The laptop continued to operate until the battery went flat. Expecting it to be an adapter failure I bought a new one. Still did not work. Following a tip I removed the battery & plugged in the adapter, first holding down the power switch for about a minute. After running the machine for a few minutes I reinstalled the battery while leaving the machine on. The light stayed on & the battery recharged. I have been advised to remove the battery when plugged in & using the machine via the power adapter to avoid this problem. Hope this helps others.
June 16th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
i have acer aspire 5360,it does not charge the battery.plz what can i do
June 10th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
i tried to turn on my dell vostro 1520 and it will not power up.
when it is off i plug in the power adapter and the light shows blue indicating power to unit….when i press the power button the charging light and power light blinks on and then goes off. the power doesn’t even show being plugged in anymore. any thoughts to the problem?
June 3rd, 2012 at 10:42 am
Hi again,
I dismantled my Lenovo Ideapad Y560 and found that my dc jack isn’t soldered
to the board, but rather has a sort of harness that connects from the jack to a
connecter on the motherboard. The harness has 6 small cables, 3 positive, 3
ground… the problem was that the 3 positive cables apparently broke off (or shorted
and melted together, or something) from where
they were soldered at the jack. The separated wires at the jack end aren’t readily visible…
is it possible to solder this back together into working condition? Apparently it’s
not as easy as I thought finding cheap Lenovo replacement parts. Thanks!
May 29th, 2012 at 10:30 am
@ Justin,
Check out my HP Pavilion dv5 disassembly guide.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/take-apart-hp-pavilion-dv5-laptop/
Maybe you forgot to connect the power button cable shown in the step 17?
May 27th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
There is also no signs of anything burning on the inside or out. It just does not work
May 27th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
I took apart my hp pavilion dv5 1388nr just to clean the fan and now that it put back together, it does not work. I took it back apart multiple times trying to figure this out. When i press the power button nothing happens. The only lights that show up are the charging ones when it is plugged up to a charger. I did the volt test and i got 0 readings but im not sure if i did it right. On the plugin where the charger plugs into, i get 42. I have tried different things such as reseating a lot of things and i dont know what is wrong with my computer. Nothing is un plugged or broken so please help!!!
May 18th, 2012 at 10:59 am
@ Olix,
Usually the motherboard has a sticker with the part number printed on it.
Look in the memory compartment. Maybe the sticker located in there.
The motherboard part number might look similar to this one: MB.AHS06.001
Find the part number and google it.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:28 am
hello, i av a aspire 4520-400512Mi. Model Z03.
It does not turn on and after much research i have come to the conclusion that the motherboard has to be changed. How do i get the motherboard number or model so i can purchase the correct one?
Thanks,s-
Olix