Blank screen: Laptop won't load BIOS after forced shutdown.

CyberLogic · 06 Sep 2012

Ok, so I had to force a shutdown yesterday because explorer.exe suddenly froze and I couldn't even get Process Hacker to restart explorer. I held down the power button and turned the laptop off. Since then, I haven't been able to boot at all. I get a black screen, as if the screen hasn't turned on at all. Just the power LED lights up. And since it won't even reach the BIOS screen, let alone give repair options for booting Windows 7, I'm stuck. I tried connecting it to an external LCD display (which always works) but even then, blank screen. So I guess the display is still alive.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. The DVD-drive spins and even ejects when the laptop is turned on, but it won't boot from any recovery disc. I've tried starting it with one of the RAM sticks removed, tried swapping the other one in the other slot too, tried starting it with the battery removed and directly from the adaptor, tried starting it with the Hard Drive and DVD-drive removed, in all possible combinations.
I've even tried just leaving it on for hours, hoping that it would just work randomly, but no use.

I've gone through a gazillion pages on the internet in the past day, reading about similar cases. To me, it seems like forcing a shutdown somehow messed with the BIOS. I really want to find the damn CMOS cell and try to reset the BIOS, but in this particular laptop, dismantling is a nightmare. I can't get past taking the palmrest apart. I'll have to take it to a technician to check that.

The thing is, according to Dell's POST Diagnosis (for the LED light codes), it could be an issue detecting the processor. The numlock LED flashes and the other two LEDs next to it are steady, when I boot while holding the Power key and Fn or F2 together. I checked that too, made sure the processor was set properly and applied fresh thermal grease, but it won't work.

ALSO... When I try turning the laptop on WITHOUT the processor, I get the exact same thing with the same LED pattern. It's as if the laptop would behave in this manner by default, if there was no processor. Could this mean the processor just went dead?

And finally... When the laptop is plugged in and running on the adaptor, it starts up automatically. Without me pressing the power button. It still gives a blank screen, but I can tell it starts up by looking at the LED and media buttons. And I know this is considered a CMOS problem...

How can a random forced shutdown just mess with the BIOS/CMOS? Or render the CPU undetectable? I've forced shutdowns before too, but nothing happed. I've tried everything I can think of. :-/

Carl Lawrence · 06 Sep 2012

I think you should take out the CMOS battery, so you can reset the BIOS?

CyberLogic · 06 Sep 2012

I figured it might be the CMOS, and I'm trying to find a way to get past dismantling the palmrest.. finding the CMOS cell in this laptop is a nightmare, you literally have to take everything apart.

But I'm just curious as to how a random forced-shutdown could mess with the BIOS? I've done it a few times before too without anything like this occuring.. And I wasn't running anything crucial like Windows Update or a BIOS update during the shutdown, it was just the desktop and explorer.

EDIT: I took the laptop to a place that does chip-level repairing a few days ago. Turns out the IC was faulty. The guy got a new one for me and replaced it, and now everything's back to normal. The CMOS wasn't faulty. The laptop also doesn't automatically startup when plugged in via the AC adapter anymore. Marking topic as "Solved".