boot - I have dell inspiron 545 desktop. It won't start up unless I remove the bios battery
2014-07
Lina
I have dell inspiron 545 desktop. It won't start up unless I remove the bios battery.
The issue first appeared 2 days ago. I left computer a few hours and when I got back the screen was black，lamp was blinking and Num Lock lamp on keyboard was on. Thought it went into sleep mode, but couldn't wake it up. Pressed the Num Lock, the lamp won't turn off. So I pushed power button to shut it down. Then a horrible thing happened it won't start up again! I removed all plugs and opened it up. A green light on the back(power) and a amber light on the motherboard was always on. No bad caps was found. when I pushed power button , after reconnected the power, I noticed fans did try to start but couldn't . So I pushed longer time, then the computer began to start up for like 6-7 seconds, then shuts down again( power button was still pushed even after it shut down.) After reset the BIOS and memory, by removing the CMOS battery and memory card, the computer was working again!
The next day the computer won't start up until I unplug everything and reset BIOS AGAIN! This time nothing happens no matter how long I push power button.
No problem was found when I restart or start up some second after shut down.
Did run Dell Diagnostic and PSA，and I got :
Dell diagnostic: fixed transformation and lighting test, cannot run
PSA: Error code: 0f00：133c
4400；011a
How can I fix this? Can anyone help?
thenoviceoof
Every once in a while, I boot the computer and the video output refuses to work, before the Dell logo in the bios shows up. The back light works, and the computer is booting up behind the scenes (I can eventually shut the computer back down by moving the mouse to the right places and clicking), but there's no video display.
When this happens, power cycling doesn't do anything: it just boots back to a uncooperative video output. A few times, power cycling 20 times or more eventually got the screen working. Leaving the computer shut off for a while sometimes worked. Holding down the fn key to start a diagnostic test, and then power cycling sometimes worked. And now, apparently toting the laptop around the city brought the video output back.
Removing/inserting the battery never works. Booting up into an OS (dual Ubuntu/Windows 7) and shutting down doesn't work.
It seems that most of the time putting the computer on standby or hibernating (usually from Ubuntu) precedes a 'black out'. However, it doesn't always happen: maybe twice a week, for a few weeks now.
Doesn't seem like it's strictly hardware: it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, and eventually works (thinking that if something failed, it'd fail all the time). Doesn't seem to be strictly software, either, or it wouldn't happen before BIOS, and wouldn't persist through power offs.
No, I didn't have an external monitor to test the video output from my VGA port. Sorry about that, I'll have to find a free monitor somewhere.
Any ideas on what might be causing this and/or more diagnostics? Take it to a tech?
hbdgaf
I would try toggling video output. The root of the problem could be a blown capacitor somewhere that delivers inappropriate charge making the switch happen. Power cycling and the problem sometimes going away or leaving it disconnected fixing it points to power supply or blown capacitor issues.