Your Dell Inspiron laptop wont turn on? Don’t panic. Lets figure out how fix it in the steps below.
A while back I had the same problem. I woke up, Pressed the power button on my Inspiron laptop and to my surprise it wouldn’t turn on.
I had watched a movie the previous night until the computer had hibernated when the battery was low. I had been too lazy to charge it so I left it like that.
Thinking maybe the battery had been completely drained. I connected the laptop to the charger but still the computer showed no signs of life. No fan blowing. No lights blinking. It was just dead. Tried a couple of tricks I knew and eventual had a chat with Dell customer service who were very helpful.
Today I will share a couple of things I learned you can do if your Dell laptop won’t turn on before taking it to the repair:
NB: A lot of users have also added helpful suggestions on the comments section
Power supply and charger
The first thing to check is to see if the laptop is getting any power.
- Change the power source where the adapter is connected.
- Next check the charger. On Dell Chargers there is green / blue light indicator which shows its transmitting power. The light is usually on the tip of the charger. Check if the light is on
- If no lights try different charger which you know works.
- Also on the front or side of the laptop depending on model there are LED lights one which turn on when the laptop is charging.
I also have a Dell 5420 and have noticed if the battery runs out and you don’t connect it to the charger it wont turn on even when you connect to the connect it to the charger. I have to wait for it for 3 to 5 minutes for it pick up some charge.
The same might be the same for your laptop. If it shows signs that its charging wait for a couple of minutes for it to charge a bit then turn it on.
Flea power
This is the electric current that remains on your circuits or power supply even when you have not connected your power supply or battery. When you use your computer flea power also called static electricity may collect on the circuits this can disrupt how the laptop normally works and may cause your laptop not to power on.
You can clear flea power in a few easy steps
To drain the flea power you do these simple things:
- Unplug the laptop from the charger
- Careful remove the battery
- Press the and hold the power button for 15-20 seconds
- Now connect the AC adapter back and try to power on the laptop without the battery. If it was the flea power problem it should turn on now.
You can read more about flea power here
If your laptop has a battery that is not easily removable you can try even with the battery on.
Ventilation or overheating
When the processor or graphic card is overheating the computer will suddenly shutdown to prevent any further damage to the system.
- Make sure you your laptop is in a properly ventilated place, nothing is blocking the air vents interrupting the cooling system.
- Blow it. You can use a can of compressed air to blow vents to the fan which might dislodge the dust
NB don’t blow directly as this might cause the fan to spin faster than intended and cause more harm than good.
The fans spin whenever the computer turns on, if you don’t hear the fans spinning that might be signs of trouble. If the fans are not working then your might fry the motherboard if you manage to turn it on and work on it without the cooling sytem fully functional.
On showing Black screen
Another occurrence is when the laptop seem to be on but the screen is black. For example the fans are spinning and the lights are on but for some reason it wont switch on or display.
This might be a display issue. If you have an HDMI cable connect the laptop using the HDMI cable and see if it will switch on on the secondary monitor
You may need to press Fn+F8 key to switch the display to the secondary monitor.
Dell Customer Service
Sometimes it may be an internal error and the problem may persist then you may need to take it to back to the Dell expert. You can call the customer care or chat with them on Facebook, they had me try a couple of things when I contacted them. Just have your service tag (a 7 character code) ready when you call. It’s normally found on the bottom of the laptop. If your Inspiron is still under warranty you can take it back to have it fixed or replaced.
Other helpful articles
Dell Laptop no boot device found
My computer wont turn on, the ultimate guide
Please share your experiences with us below.