Dead Laptop Please Help!

[hymek76]

Hi, i'm new here and hope someone can help.
Last night my laptop died. working away when it just shut down and tried to reboot. got as far as the bios screen then everything stopped and screen went black. Will power up but does not run hard disk. Will spin the dvd for xp setup but won't read it.
No indication of HD usage screen stays black. only thing that appears to be working is the CPU fan!
Iv'e managed to conect laptop HD to my old desktop and HD seems ok.
Any ideas anyone?

[GHoosdum]

This sounds very much like a power issue to me - try to boot it with the battery disconnected but with the laptop plugged in.

[hymek76]

nope still the same.
i've had the back off trying to find the various conections to disconect, so i can try and reset the bios but everythings hidden. i'm going to leave it with no power for 24 hours, see if that helps.

[TheLostSwede]

If you have 2 sticks of ram, remove one and try them separately.

[Sledgehammer70]

I see what comes of the ram test :) before I say anything I think MackanzOCZ could be on the right trail....

[hymek76]

i've just had a look and there is only one 1gb stick. thanks 4 the tip tho.

[Sledgehammer70]

try pulling that stick out... You could be having a bad memory issue, or a bad Mobo issue. 1 of the 2, how is the temps on the notebook? has it been running hot?

[hymek76]

yes it has been hot but as this is my first notebook i don't know how hot is normal. The stats say it should be good for an amient of 55c. its been hot and humid here this week but nowhere near that. I've just tried the mem in the spare slot but still nothing.
thanks

[airbornflght]

hmm. you think it could be the power supply.

[hymek76]

Thanks for all the advice. I think PSU is ok. the power on light comes on and dvd powers up as does the cpu fan. The problem i think is in bios. Only problem is the startup doesn't get far enough to access the screen. Any idea how i can reset or check? Not sure wot i'm looking for in a laptop either.