Question Help debugging power issue on Precision 5520

[echo5]

Hi everyone,

I have a dell precision 5520 that was working fine but then was left unused for about 4 months. Now it won't power on. It seems to be completely dead. I plugged it in to charge for over a day, but there is no indication it is charging. No lights appear on the laptop itself, including the 5 small battery indicator LEDS. I thought it might be either a power port issue or a battery issue, however now I'm not too sure.

Here are some things I have tried.

1. I have 2 chargers for this laptop. I have tried charging with both. Each has a white LED which is on. Neither allowed the laptop to power on.
2. I unplugged the power and the battery from inside the case and pressed the power button for 1 min to discharge "flea" power. I did not completely remove the battery but hopefully that doesn't matter.
3. I tried unplugging the battery and just powering from the AC adapter. Nothing happened. Should it at least go to bios with AC plugged in and no battery?
4. I reseated the RAM. I switched the two sticks of RAM. I tried starting the computer without RAM.
5. I tried recharging/powering through USBC with a macbook pro adapter. (I had never tried this when the laptop was working nor did I know it was possible until I started debugging this problem)

Thus far the laptop remains a brick. No lights and no noise at all.

I read the forum sticky on power problems. I'm out of warranty and would prefer to do my own repairs. I'm wondering if there is anything else I should rule out or investigate before I replace with a used MB. I do own a volt meter but I'd need specific instructions to know what to check.

Any suggestions welcome. TIA!

 

[Lutfij]

I did not completely remove the battery but hopefully that doesn't matter.
Could you elaborate on this? Are you referring to removing the CMOS battery? If so, that's not an issue. With the battery removed, did you try powering with only the power brick?

Remove the ram from your platform, use an eraser to wipe the gold contacts clean, the remove any debris, then reseat the ram.

 

[echo5]

I did not completely remove the battery but hopefully that doesn't matter.
Could you elaborate on this? Are you referring to removing the CMOS battery? If so, that's not an issue. With the battery removed, did you try powering with only the power brick?

Remove the ram from your platform, use an eraser to wipe the gold contacts clean, the remove any debris, then reseat the ram.

Hi Lutfij. Thanks for the reply.

I unplugged the main laptop battery from the motherboard but did not physically remove it from the laptop. The battery on this model is internal, so I had to take the laptop apart to get to it. I did not completely unbolt it and remove it. See pic here https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Dell+Precision+5520+Battery+Replacement/108343

I did try to power with only the power cord and the battery unplugged, but it did not post, did not make any noise, no leds lit, and fans did not start.

I've not tried anything with the cmos battery yet.

I removed the RAM, cleaned the contacts, and reseated. Unfortunately, there are still no signs of life.