Topic: Laptop won't switch on

[Clive]

I have just received a call from my son's girlfriend who lives in Canada to say that the laptop we gave her a few months ago will not switch on.  Apparently the battery pack is fully charged and I presume she has tried it on the mains.  She has been using it sucessfully since we gave it to her so it's nothing to do with Canadian voltages.  It's a Mac but that shouldn't make any difference to solving the problem.

[Rodders]

Canada's quite a long way from here, when you have to keep up a Q & A session with the user!

Q.  Does it show any signs of life at all, e.g. lights, hard drive access sounds, etc?

Q.  How does she know the power pack is fully charged?

[Clive]

This is not the easiest Q&A is it?  

There are no lights coming in at all.  The power pack almost certainly has lights which show if it is fully charged.

One thing I should point out.  The machine is not new because my wife used it for a few years and then bought it from her company.  So it may be 4 years old by now.

[Rodders]

As you probably realise, Clive, there are a number of faults which could produce the smae symptoms:  mis-aligned or bent battery connections; a loose connection to the MoBo; faulty powerpack.  Without more input from the user, it will be difficult to narrow it down further.  Recommend she finds someone using a similar laptop and tries their powerpack.  At least that way it'll take out one of the variables.

[Clive]

I'll pass that on Rodders.

[greenking]

Hi Clive,
I had the same problem with a laptop at work and it turned out to be the little pin that detects when the laptop is open or closed was stuck in telling it that it was closed all the while.

[Clive]

Brilliant Greenking!  I like that one very much.  I can't get an immediate answer on this but I will keep everyone informed of any progress.

[Clive]

Another useful piece of information Flippy.  Thanks for that.

[Clive]

It's fixed!  I phoned my son and he contacted her with the information and yes, it was the reset button.  Thanks to everyone who helped on this one.