Dell Inspiron 640m Won't boot up

[jamesm113]

The Num, Scroll, and Caps lights stay on for about 8-9 seconds, then the whole computer shuts down. I couldn't find that status code here:

http://www.bay-wolf.com/portpostcodes.htm

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[jamesm113]

Also tried pulling RAM, HD, wifi card, same results

 

[jamesm113]

Well, took everything apart, there was a thick piece of lint between the fan and the CPU heatsink. Reinstalled everything, now everything is working. weird!

Thanks

 

[C12Friedman]

That's awesome that you got it figured out. You now know (unofficially) how to fix ~40% of people's non-working laptops. Seriously, dust and the resultant heat build up can really degrade a laptop's performance rapidly. I can't begin to count the computers (desktops included) that I've "fixed" for people simply by cleaning them thoroughly. The unfortunate thing is that using compressed air does nothing for clearing dust bunnies once they've formed in a laptop so disassembly is the only way to do the job and most people are intimidated by the innards of their desktops let alone laptops. It's good that you aren't.
Enjoy

 

[jamesm113]

Best answer selected by jamesm113.