LAPTOP FORUM

basuaveronica@yahoo.com wrote:
If you can, take it back to the guy & get your money back.

Otherwise, in order of likelihood. Probable dead battery, it may boot
with the battery disconnected. (Replace the battery with a known good
one to be sure) Dead power supply, they usually fail when you connect
them, like light bulbs (Try another one for the *same model* of laptop
to be sure). Failing that, the power supply circuitry on the motherboard
is dead. Its just possible its a problem with the backlight, & you
cant see the screen. It is possible sometimes to check this by shining
a bright light on the screen, when you can make out a very dim screen image.

The lights coming on for a few seconds & nothing else happening probably
means its beyond economic repair, & may well be why the guy got rid of
it, especially if it was very cheap.

Im assuming here that its not asking for a BIOS boot password, in
which case you need either to know or find out the password or to send
it to Dell for password removal (Officially, that is, but someone will
have the crack on show somewhere)

Tciao for Now!

John.