Dell 1505/6400 not booting/leds light up and then shut off

[octacon]

hey i have a dell 6400 that recently stopped working.

the other day my laptop froze. so i shut it down by holding the power button. it gave some trouble restarting but eventually booted and was fine for a few minutes but then it froze again so i shut it down again by holding the power button. since then it won't start anymore.

when i press power the 3 leds on the top right flash/the num/caps/scroll lock leds flash and the dvd-rw drive light flashes for a second but then it just shuts off. nothing appears on screen at all. i can't even get into the bios or anything. when i do plug it in the battery led lights up.

i have tried several things. pressing/holding down the power/media direct buttons (worked the first time). swapping the battery, plugging it in and trying to start. swap the memory modules/tried with 1 stick. swapped the hard drive with another 6400 system i have but all yield the same results. something i do hear when i hit power is a clicking noise which at first is why i suspected it was the hard drive. i just don't see why i can't at least reach the bios screen though even it was the hard drive...regardless i swapped it with one that works and it still didn't boot.

out of ideas right now unless its just some loose connection. i have my system here lying in pieces about to reasseble and see what happens. i am beginning to suspect the video card or the cpu as the culprit. i suppose i could swap parts from my working system but the last thing that i want is two dead systems if something goes wrong. last thing i guess it could be the motherboard...

my dell warranty is expired. would they still fix if i send it into them i don't mind ordering a part in installing it myself but first i need to figure out what part i need.

sigh...any help is appreciated...this sucks because school is starting next week

[bestbuyer]

sigh, I know how it is man, btw did u try all the diagnostics at the start up?

[Jeremy092288]

I have the same problem as the thread starter except ours doesn't blink it stays solid until we either remove the battery or turn it off. The screen doesn't seem to come on at all.

[skree358]

It could possibly be a bad motherboard. But before having the mobo replaced, I suggest you swap out parts from a working system to eliminate points of failure. if you don't have the parts, just remove the parts not needed for posting. this includes the hdd, optical drive, modem, bluetooth card, wireless card, and external devices. once you see the dell logo, install these devices one at a time and see what causes the problem. If you decided to have the mobo replaced, you can send your system to the depot for repairs.

[zen123]

i just got the same problem, did anyone manage to get it fixed

urgent pls

[justsales]

i just got the same problem, did anyone manage to get it fixed

urgent pls

Me too plz help.

[compsavy]

I just got this problem, and i had to get the motherboard replaced. Luckily I was in warranty.