16-08-2003 01:21									#1
	Laptop help, anyone? Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

My cousin gave me his old 97' laptop to me. It's Dell Latitude XPi with a 166 processor, but I hardly think I'll need anything else for typing in lectures, and stuff. So I was really really happy for the fact that he let me take it.

He apparently didn't use it for some two years. In any case, he pulls it out of his closet, and we try to turn it on... nothing happens. The only things to work are the annoying power and charging LEDs.

I've tried again, and again, to boot it, and it actually worked for some time, but there were lapses in the work of the keyboards and mouse, i.e., usually, they didn't work.

I'll be very grateful if someone would help me. thanks in advance.

	16-08-2003 01:27									#2
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

I used to have the same model (swapped it for a 19' monitor, now I've got a 120mHz laptop!)

Did you get any diagnostic software with it?
The mouse and keyboard probs MAY be the screen not updating

	16-08-2003 01:30									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. The only thing currently working is the battery charge LED.

	16-08-2003 02:07									#4
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

bump

	16-08-2003 02:08									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

The LED is only thing working? When you push the power on, nothing happens? Does it make ANY sounds at all?

	16-08-2003 02:09									#6
	Remove this text

quote: Originally posted by Azazel bump

Does the HD (ie the LED) try to boot when you switch it on?

	16-08-2003 02:17									#7
	Put an end to popups!

no.

	16-08-2003 02:19									#8
	Got spare money?

I don't like being defeatist, but I think its ****ed, sorry!

	16-08-2003 02:20									#9
	Increase the size of your Attachments

You hear no sounds at all? Hmmh.. Can you try it with another battery? Wait you can hook it straight to the .. thing where electricity comes.. Sounds pretty bad.

	16-08-2003 02:22									#10
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I am sort of suspecting ( hoping) for it to be the battery, after all, it lied in a closet for two years!

	16-08-2003 02:27									#11
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

When I was in school my lap top was a pencil and a sheet of paper... never had a problem...

	16-08-2003 02:28									#12
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That means you gotta charge the battery

	16-08-2003 02:28									#13
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it's power up off the mains anyway Az, just to make sure take the battery out and try to run it from the mains

PLEASE PLEASE tell me you've tried to run it off the mains first (ie before posting here) ? ;O)

	16-08-2003 02:34									#14
	Increase the size of your Attachments

the battery was charged for an hour or so.

what do you mean by "Powering off the mains"? I am a laptop virgin.

	16-08-2003 02:40									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Take the battery out of the laptop and plug the laptop into the power supply at the wall. Old laptop battries are usually the first things to go

	16-08-2003 02:46									#16
	Got spare money?

It seems that the battery is not the culprit.

	16-08-2003 02:54									#17
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

If it won't work when you plug it ito the wall, then I fear the worst

	16-08-2003 03:06									#18
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who says it won't work? the green LED is still working.

	16-08-2003 03:09									#19
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

That just means power is getting to the computer, any other signs of life from the patient? ;O)

	16-08-2003 03:13									#20
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

it sometimes does a strange clicking sound just when I turn it on. but not always.

	16-08-2003 03:17									#21
	Suffering from ads?

the clicking isn't coming from the floppy drive is it? if it is remove the floppy

	16-08-2003 03:43									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Try to move the screen back and forth. On a friend's laptop, the screen won't display anything if it's in the right inclination with the rest of the computer.

Is there any sound from your laptop ? At least the fan ? If not, I fear the worst.

	16-08-2003 13:01									#23
	Suffering from ads?

Oh, and btw, THERE IS NO FAN.

	16-08-2003 13:26									#24
	Tired of ads?

There is no fan in your laptop ?
How does your CPU expect to cool down then ?

	16-08-2003 13:28									#25
	Inflate your Upload Space

That's a great question.

	16-08-2003 17:23									#26
	Full PM-box? Change here!

If you pay me, say, 15 USD I'll get it off your hands.

	16-08-2003 18:12									#27
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Spiffor There is no fan in your laptop ? How does your CPU expect to cool down then ?

It's fairly old, so maybe the processor doesn't get hot enough for it to need one. My 486 laptop doesn't have a fan, for example, and works fine.

	16-08-2003 18:40									#28
	Remove this text

my p120 doesn't have one either

	16-08-2003 19:06									#29
	Suffering from ads?

It's currently on, but it says something is configured wrong. Since I took it apart and put it back together again, this is a very strong possibility that this is, indeed true.

	16-08-2003 19:10									#30
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

the plot thickens. The onboard Win98 doesn't like the keyboard and ball ( mouse). I don't think this poor soul was designed to carry Win 98 anyway, but that's just my opinion.