So I have had my Inspiron 5150 since 2003 and although it's as heavy as a brick, (or several) it works great. I've had the motherboard replaced (under warranty) a couple times due to the power jack messing up. Well it was out of warranty now and it did it again.

So I bought a new DC jack online and disassembled the laptop and replaced the DC jack. I reassemble everything and the battery now charges! Except now the monitor doesn't even flicker. I tore back into it and made sure the video card is seated and the screen connector is seated but nothing changed.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

3/13/2009 1:04:44 PM

Inspect those tiny video wires for damage, look for a bent pin, etc. Were you by any chance working on this in the middle of the carpet?

3/13/2009 1:13:37 PM

yea I inspected most of the contacts as well as I could see. And I always lay stuff like that facing up when I can. And I wouldn't dare do this on carpet.

3/13/2009 1:39:29 PM

Update: After disassembling it to originally confirm that it was the DC jack, I reassembled it while I waited for the new part to arrive. So when it came in and I disassembled it and reassembled it the second time I didn't put new thermal grease on even though I removed the heatsync. Could immediate overheating of the processor cause this? I expected to at least see an initialization of the screen showing it was powered.

3/14/2009 5:08:52 PM

Inspiron 5150's are infamous for this, a power control chip on the logic board gets damaged by pressure from a tab on the cover that goes over the wifi slot. The symptoms are exactly what you're seeing . . . . charges batt, but won't power up at all.

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43678/


If you need help with it just let me know, I've repaired dozens of 1150/5150's with the same issue. Usually charge a $50 flat fee, but if all you need is the soldering I could do less (you bring me the bare board/etc)

3/14/2009 7:31:09 PM