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synapse88

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Inspiron 1100 not booting, keyboard status lights on and/or flashing instead...

When I try to power up my Inspiron 1100, no video comes up, and hard drive status light never lights up, and one or two of the keyboard status lights (the ones that indicate scroll, caps, and number lock) are on and/or flashing.

The sytem was starting up, going into windows, then rebotting or powering off on its own....but now it seems to be totally broke.  I've tried changing out the memory, and formatting the hard drive.  i tried to install windows but I can't get it to finish without a reboot or an error message. any ideas?

thanks for any help!
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Callandor
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This could be a power supply problem.  Try swapping it out for another one just as powerful.
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Jeff Rodgers

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I think  I saw a thread somewhere here, where it was said that the flashing LED's on a Dell can actually be a sort of error code. You may get some info on that on the Dell site, or search the threads here.
/RID
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Dynamic1

I would send the laptop back to DELL unless you are familiar with taking apart laptops you will ruin it very easy. Lots of small stuff in there easy to break unless you have knowledge of taking them apart.
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New problem :)

 I formatted and reinstalled XP (took about 10 tried due to random power offs and error messages) and the laptop now boots fine, every time.  Now, after being in windows for 10-30 minutes, the laptop just turns off, somehow it just loses power.  I hear a crackle from the speakers, the it just turns off...no shutdown, just a complete loss of power.  DOes this still sound like a CPU problem or something with the power?  I am quite familiar with taking apart laptops, especially this particular model, and have been doing so for a few years.  If anyone has any ideas on what exactly I should look for inside please let me know.
As far as I understand the power supply for a laptop is simply the AC adapter, so I'm not sure what you guys are talking about replacing the power supply...this problem seems to be internal.

Thanks again for any ideas and I will split points as neccessary to award help.
Sorry, that was initially my recommendation, but I realize now that you have a laptop.  Still, it sounds like a power problem, but fixing it is not as easy as a desktop.  You would need a schematic of the charging circuit and test equipment, to check manufacturer's values.  You can eyeball it for odd things like blown capacitors.
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