Laptop starting up problem.

S

STEINER

Registered User
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Hi,

I have a Dell XPS M1530 laptop given to me as a gift 3 years ago.

In 2011 I had to replace the hard drive and buy a replacement battery, total cost about 200 euro.

Yesterday, it wouldn't switch on until after 2 hrs of trying. I used it for most of the day, turned it off yesterday evening and then couldn't get it back on. Today, it started first time and the battery appears to be fine.

I was all set to go out and buy a new laptop today somewhere.

Is my laptop probably just about finished, should I ask a techie to look at it, or should I just buy a new one?
 
Just may need a routine check up Dont give up on it yet Definitely get a "techie"
 
Steiner - was it given to you second hand or as a new gift?

I only ask because you can expect say 4 years of life for day to day use from a laptop.

The main thing is to have everything important backed up to an external hard drive.
 
briste said:
Steiner - was it given to you second hand or as a new gift?

I only ask because you can expect say 4 years of life for day to day use from a laptop.

The main thing is to have everything important backed up to an external hard drive.
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It was a new laptop gift. Yes, I back up externally everyday.
 
Hi, I wouldn't be rushing out to buy a new one as of yet.. might be just the connection to the battery that is giving you the issue. Check them to make sure they are clean (no dust / dirt etc on them).

If this happens again (as in won't power up from battery), try plugging in then boot up. Battery for laptops can be troublesome... laptops should last you more than 3 years... once you look after them...
 
In my experience laptops only last 3 or 4 years tops. You've already begun to spend on repairing it. No doubt it will keep costing you more. My advice, put the money towards a new one.
 
Personally I think you paid too much on the battery and hard drive. That said, The battery is consumable item, and hard drives occasionally fail. They are simply replaceable. So I wouldn't consider those repairs of the laptop. It would be worth bring the laptop to a repair shop and getting a quote for the repair, it might be something simple and inexpensive.

Get a quote first, just bear in mind that a new laptop is about 500 for a basic decent model. The M1530 is a premium model though, so you'd expect to pay around 700+ for something equivalent. That said even a basic model would be a generation or two more advanced (faster) than the M1530 and probably a better spec. Though the M1530 is still perfect good enough for office and web tasks.
 
I bought a new Toshiba for 500 euro. I didn't want to spend anymore than that and settled for one with an Intel i3, 6GB RAM, 2.40 MHz.

I will get someone to look at the old one sometime, it doesn't switch on at all now.
 
Hi Steiner,

Where are you located? Have you a contact for someone to look at it or you need a recommendation?
 
Have the same laptop about same age. I have been having problems starting recently but I think I traced the problem down to Windows updates. Some of the recent updates take an age to implement and I even had to restore an older release in January to continue working. An upgrade yesterday again caused an unusual delay in starting but I went off and did something else whilst it was sorting itself out and all returned to normal. The problem I found was because the system was apparently doing nothing and there was absolutely no notice about what was happening (before the usual installing update x of x messages) it was easy to shut down or restart the system without realizing that a critical event was in progress.
 
STEINER said:
I bought a new Toshiba for 500 euro. I didn't want to spend anymore than that and settled for one with an Intel i3, 6GB RAM, 2.40 MHz.

I will get someone to look at the old one sometime, it doesn't switch on at all now.
Click to expand...

What model did you get and from where?
 
Jazz01 said:
Hi Steiner,

Where are you located? Have you a contact for someone to look at it or you need a recommendation?
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Hi,

am in Lucan area , Dublin. I think there's a place down in the Superquinn SC, I might drop it in for checking sometime, although I am using the new one now.
 
Not a bad deal for the spec.

When you say the old one won't start do you get anything on screen, can you hit f2 when it appears?

Theres a repair shop in Lucan village too I think, and another in Ongar village. I've not used either though.
 
Nothing happens, when I press the start button it did try to start for a second or two. Nothing appears on screen at all.

I used it no problem on Monday, started up fine. Tuesday wouldn't start, and for a second or two some text flashed up on screen, just remember the word REGISTRY appeared, and then dead as a doornail.
 
Then you don't need a techie you need technican in a workshop to see if its the board or just the power connections.
 
STEINER said:
Nothing happens, when I press the start button it did try to start for a second or two. Nothing appears on screen at all.

I used it no problem on Monday, started up fine. Tuesday wouldn't start, and for a second or two some text flashed up on screen, just remember the word REGISTRY appeared, and then dead as a doornail.
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Can I suggest IF your laptop does turn back on you make a backup of your files, at least the important ones, you cannt be too careful
 
onlineprint said:
Can I suggest IF your laptop does turn back on you make a backup of your files, at least the important ones, you cannt be too careful
Click to expand...

luckily I did a backup to USB and MCAFEE online backup and continue doing so with new machine.
 
Just an aside on the new Toshiba laptop. The old Dell one had 3 USB ports in total on both sides, handy for modem, printer, usb stick etc. The Toshiba has 2 USB ports side by side and I stick my O2 modem in one. However, when the modem is in, there isn't room to stick in the printer lead or USB stick in the adjacent USB port, it seems that the two USB ports are too close together. There might as well be just one USB port as I can't use both simultaneously. Apart from that , laptop is fine.
 
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