On 02/07/12 12:39, Jim K wrote:
Mate's Dell Laptop (oldish) has flat batt and won;t boot.

Plug in to mains charger - won;t charge - batt light on lappy "winks"
once per insertion of the jack, then nought.

A possible cause is a broken connection between the laptop's power
socket and the motherboard. Try jiggling the connector about and see
whether the power light winks at you.

Another possible fault is a short-circuit causing the power supply to
shut down as soon as you plug it in.

Power input sockets are a weak-point in laptop construction. A component
costing pennies can stop the whole machine from working. And when
someone trips over the power cable the tug is transmitted to the socket.


--
Bernard Peek