Ram problem or mainboard problem?

[joni80]

Hello,
My Dell Vostro V13 is broken. The laptop turns on but does not show anything. There is no problem with the LCD. The hard drive indicator is off all the time. There is no sound indicating that the hard drive is being accessed. Could any one give me some hints to check for errors. Thank you very much.
Ryan

 

[jaquith]

If the Notebook doesn't Post into BIOS i.e. nothing on the screen; it could be the RAM, MOBO or CPU. Since there's only (1) DIMM then it might be worth while to purchase new RAM - http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Vostro%20V13&Cat=RAM

About the only thing you can do, short of pulling the Notebook apart is to remove the battery and try to boot with only the AC powering it. Failure, remove the stick of RAM and clean the contacts with Isopropyl alcohol, place in DIMM slot while moist, remove and repeat, pull the RAM out for 5 minutes to dry and try once again.

If after trying new RAM then you have to decide if it's worth repairing or purchasing a new Notebook, the data can be recovered if the HDD is operational to a PC via a SATA connection.

My experience is it's not worth repairing once out of warranty; I normally get 3-4 year warranties on my business Notebooks and the data is backed-up anytime the Notebook is on our network, I do the same at home. Notebooks can get lost, stolen or damaged. Our business Notebooks have a anti-theft feature to encrypt, wipe and/or lock-out intruders.