Dell Inspiron5010 Windows 7 startup issues after motherboard replaceme

[Private Ryan]

Dear Experts,

I have a 6 year old Dell Inspiron 5010 laptop. 3 months back I had a blue screen error and then I took it to an authorized Dell Service Center. They mentioned that there's a problem with the existing motherboard with inbuilt Graphics card which caused this issue & that the motherboard needs to be replaced. I paid the money to get this replaced. Problems started soon after.
Initially the laptop power on button wouldn't start the laptop unles pressed 2-3 times. The start LED light would blink and then turn off on pressing power on button. After 3-4 days usage it became really difficult to start the laptop. Sometimes I had to press 25-30 times before it would start. Even if power cord is connected, same issue happened. Battery was always full (I never had any battery issues). After2-3 trips to the service centre, still it didn't help. Everytime they managed to start it somehow and then it worked in front of me. I used to bring it home and then problem recurred.
Funny thing is once it started there was never any issues and laptop worked fine.
Even restart never had any issues.
Only power on from a switched off state had this issue.
Later on I found an interesting workaround if it didn't start. I used to power on the mains and then press power on button once. Then leave the laptop as it is. Every 5-6 seconds automatically the start button LED would glow and go off. After 15-20 minutes the laptop would start automatically and then it worked fine again. After few such workaround, again this also stopped working.
Again a few rounds to the service center followed, and they replaced (or claimed to) replace with a new motherboard. Next time the laptop started fine each time and then after 5-6 minutes of remaining on it would switch off automatically (if used or unused). This time I went to the Service Center and asked for a refund and they asked for one last chance or they would refund.
So now I am at a stage again where some new type of issues is happening for the past few days:
1. This time there is no issue with the power on button, laptop switches on each time.
2. But now almost everytime on switching on laptop, I am getting the following error:
*** Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller Series v1.19 (08/10/09)
PXE-EGI: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM
Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key
Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 083) ***

Now, On pressing Alt+Ctrl+ Del, the laptop switches off & restarts.
After 2-3 attempts Windows gets loaded normally.
On many occasions, it gets to Windows repair & then I have to click repair & load to a restore point of Windows before it can start properly.
By the way I have Windows7 Home edition with the laptop.
On one or 2 rare occasions, laptop started normally as well.
Also once laptop starts with Windows properly loaded, there is absolutely no issue.
Guessing it to be a booting problem, I went to setup & checked if boot sequence was alright or not. It was fine, pointing to harddrive.
I also downloaded memtest86+ and did a thorough test on my RAM and it ran for 11 passes without any error.
I checked the hard disk with Windows diagnostics for any error but hard disk has no issues.
Device Manager shows no issues in device drivers.
Dell diagnostics also shows no issues with any hardware or software component.
So as a last resort, I have turned to this forum for help as I don't have any faith on the Service Center.
So experts please help with any suggestions.
Don't want to get rid of this laptop just because it has a startup issue when all hardware seems fine.
Motherboard details are as follows:
-------------------------------------

System Board

Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Product 0WXY9J
Chipset Intel PCH HM57

BIOS

Vendor Dell Inc.
Release Date 07/19/2011
BIOS Version String A15
ROM Size 2.00 MB

SMBIOS

Version 2.6
----------------------------------------
System Summary

Product Inspiron N5010
BIOS Version String A15

Operating System

Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (64-bit)
Service Pack Service Pack 1
Build Number 7601
DirectX Version 11

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz (CPU:0)

Name Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz
Cores 2
Threads 4

System Memory

Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB
Maximum Supported Memory 8.00 GB
--------------------------------------------------
Looking for some valuable advice.
Best regards
Private Ryan

 

[torchwood]

Hi PrivateRyan,

That error usually means it trying to network boot.

Open your bios
check boot order, your HDD should be at the top, No1.
If it is, is your comp identifing the HDD as present?

Roy

 

[Private Ryan]

Hi Roy,

Thanks for your reply.
The boot order is fine - it's the HDD.
I have even checked the HDD for errors using both Windows diagnostics as well as Dell Utilities, it shows no errors.

Today again when I tried to start had a tough time to get it started, the initial error came multiple times.
Refer first image attached.

On pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del multiple times a new error appeared first time today.
Refer 2nd image.

Could my HDD have issues?
How can I verify & confirm whether HDD has issues?
Windows & Dell Utilities doesn't reveal any HDD issues.

Thanks
Private Ryan

 

[mrjimphelps]

I think they messed something up inside the computer (hard drive cable or connector?) when they replaced the motherboard the first time. I'll bet they didn't use any static protection when they were working on it - something might have gotten zapped by static electricity when they touched it.

The problem is, the computer can't see the boot files when it first boots up - this indicates that either the hard drive is bad, the cable / connector is bad, or perhaps there is a short somewhere. Maybe there is a loose connection inside the computer - they didn't plug a cable in all the way. Maybe they didn't tighten down a screw all the way, resulting in something being loose. Maybe they broke some tiny, fragile part (easy to do with a laptop). Maybe they are installing used motherboards rather than new. Maybe the motherboard is not the exact motherboard for your computer - they installed one which was "close enough".

I suggest you get a refund, and then avoid that repair shop in the future. And use the refunded money to get a new laptop. Your laptop is six years old and probably not worth the cost of a new motherboard, especially if you have to pay someone else to install it, unless your reason for keeping it is because you want to have Windows 7. That is the only reason I would have kept the old laptop.