Tag Archives: startup

Cannot start Dell inspiron 1526 laptop

Computer Aid Posted on by

This laptop was behaving strangely.

It normally gets switched off overnight.

But in the mornings, it would normally take 2 – 10 attempts to start, before it finally started properly.

Often, it would just flash some lights, and then go off after a few seconds.

Once it did start, it would complain about the CMOS time being wrong.

And the customer also found the laptop to be running quite slow.

Since the Dell Inspiron 1526 is always plugged into mains power, the battery should be in good shape, so the CMOS battery should also be in good shape… but even so, a faulty CMOS battery shouldn’t prevent the laptop from starting!

Anyway, I do the obvious first: check for infections, plus some system tuning on Vista. I also adjust the date/time to be correct, before I do any Windows updates.

I find no infections, so all is good on that front.

I shutdown the laptop, leave it off for about 2 minutes, and there is no problem with starting it.

I then shutdown, remove the power cord and the main battery, press the power button a few times, wait a minute, then plug everything back, and there is still no problem starting.

So I leave, asking the owner to keep an eye on it & let me know if the problem re-occurs.

About 3 days later, I get a call saying its still not working properly.

I do some research, and find that this model laptop has a known problem when the CMOS battery runs flat: it becomes difficult to start, and it keeps forgetting the date and time…

Now, I was under the impression (because I thought it was logical), that the CMOS data & the internal clock was kept running by a rechargeable battery. This battery would get recharged by the main battery, so that it was unlikely to go flat unless the laptop was left “unpowered” for a many months.

Anyway, I returned, with instructions on how to dismantle the entire laptop… just so I could replace the 3V lithium coin battery.

Internally, the laptop is quite flimsy, but I managed to dismantle the 1526, replace the CMOS battery, and re-assemble the whole laptop in 1.5 hours!

But once it started, I found about 8 keyboard keys wouldn’t work… grrr

Since I was running low on time, I just plugged in an external USB keyboard, and told the customer that if it was a problem, I would come back and re-seat the keyboard plug, as its most likely some dust on a contact.

Regular beep beep at computer startup

Computer Aid Posted on by

This happens quite a lot.

Almost as soon as the computer is switched on, it starts a slow regular beep beep sound.

Normally, the screen is blank, and there is no indication of what the problem might be.

This usually indicates a severe hardware problem, but from experience, I’ve found that about 3 out of 4 times, its just some dust that has caused a RAM module to lose contact on one of it pins (a RAM module can have 240 pins).

If just one pin doesn’t make good electrical contact, then the computer will usually fail to start.

For the technically minded, the solution is simple: open up the PC, and reseat the RAM module (ie take it out, clean it, and re-insert it. Remember to use anti-static precautions… a small static electricity spark can ruin the RAM.

For the not so technically minded, you might be able to get the PC going temporarily (while waiting for a technician to come and reseat the RAM).

To do this:

  • turn off the PC, and disconnect it from power.
  • Whack the computer case with your hand (either from the side, or from the top)
  • It might be tempting, but don’t hit too hard… I’m not responsible if you hit it hard enough to knock the PC over (or off your desk).

The reason this works is that you might dislodge the dust slightly (enough to get electrical contact again).

How about that! I never thought I’d be telling people to hit their computer if it doesn’t work 🙂