# Laptop issue **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321 "2014-04-01T23:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/1 "2014-04-01T23:08:47Z")
Buddy of mine was given an old laptop, dell inspiron 1100. He asked me to look it over to see if it was usable. Plugged power in, the power light on the front comes on, but it’s amber, not green. When I try powering the unit on, nothing happens. Any tips to see about getting this to boot up, or is it not worth the effort? Said friend won’t buy a laptop as he’s not that much of a tech kinda guy, thought he could use this one since it was ‘free’. – Stevo ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/2 "2014-04-02T16:02:50Z")
On Tue, 01 Apr 2014 20:08:47 GMT, “Stevo” [steveSPAM@LESSccgov.net](mailto:steveSPAM@LESSccgov.net) wrote: [color=blue] > Buddy of mine was given an old laptop, dell inspiron 1100. He asked me > to look it over to see if it was usable. > > Plugged power in, the power light on the front comes on, but it’s > amber, not green. > > When I try powering the unit on, nothing happens. Any tips to see > about getting this to boot up, or is it not worth the effort? > > Said friend won’t buy a laptop as he’s not that much of a tech kinda > guy, thought he could use this one since it was ‘free’.[/color] Pull the battery, plug the laptop in, and see if it will boot. I’ve seen bad batteries cause problems. Ken ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/3 "2014-04-03T16:50:38Z")
KeN Etter sounds like they ‘said’: [color=blue] > Pull the battery, plug the laptop in, and see if it will boot. I’ve > seen bad batteries cause problems. > > Ken[/color] So my response to KeN’s comment is… Pulled the battery, still would not boot. Thinking maybe it’s a paperweight. – Stevo ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/4 "2014-04-03T18:02:56Z")
Stevo: I remember reading something about some laptops having an issue with the magnet in them that holds them closed. They use rare earth magnets in them, encased in glass. Anyway, something happening to those has an effect on the inner workings, so you take out the magnet, and all works fine again. It seems to me there was something you could do to check to see if that was the issue, where you put your fingers somewhere and pressed lightly when you pressed the power button. Maybe some googling on that could lead to a solution, or at least to the exclusion of a cause… 🙂 – Susan Novell Community Chat Moderator [http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq\_rules](http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules) [http://www.ncci.org](http://www.ncci.org) NCCIrregulars Web Site [https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars](https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars) Please read the following before posting in here: [http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy](http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/5 "2014-04-03T18:07:51Z")
Did you try a different Power Adapter? Nice thing about Dell’s for the most part they seem interchangeable, At least for laptops in the same basic power envelope. On 4/3/2014 9:50 AM, Stevo wrote:[color=blue] > KeN Etter sounds like they ‘said’: > [color=green] > > > Pull the battery, plug the laptop in, and see if it will boot. I’ve > > seen bad batteries cause problems. > > > > Ken[/color] > > So my response to KeN’s comment is… > > Pulled the battery, still would not boot. Thinking maybe it’s a > paperweight. > [/color] – Craig Wilson - MCNE, MCSE, CCNA Novell Technical Support Engineer Novell does not officially monitor these forums. Suggestions/Opinions/Statements made by me are solely my own. These thoughts may not be shared by either Novell or any rational human. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/6 "2014-04-03T19:19:43Z")
> [@](#): > > On Thu 03 Apr 2014 03:02:56 PM CDT, Susan wrote: > > Stevo: > > I remember reading something about some laptops having an issue with > the magnet in them that holds them closed. They use rare earth magnets > in them, encased in glass. Anyway, something happening to those has an > effect on the inner workings, so you take out the magnet, and all works > fine again. > > It seems to me there was something you could do to check to see if that > was the issue, where you put your fingers somewhere and pressed lightly > when you pressed the power button. Maybe some googling on that could > lead to a solution, or at least to the exclusion of a cause… 🙂 Hi LOL, my wife is allergic to the ‘caines’ so got a Medic Alert bracelet to wear with a magnetic clasp. On her DELL Inspiron laptop every now and again the screen would go blank when she was typing, we finally figured out it was her bracelet passing over the lid switch… she doesn’t wear it when at her laptop now… – Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/7 "2014-04-04T04:50:31Z")
LOL Good troubleshooting! 🙂 – Susan Novell Community Chat Moderator [http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq\_rules](http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules) [http://www.ncci.org](http://www.ncci.org) NCCIrregulars Web Site [https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars](https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars) Please read the following before posting in here: [http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy](http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/laptop-issue/25321/8 "2014-04-04T13:33:03Z")
KeN Etter [ketter@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:ketter@no-mx.forums.novell.com) wrote in [news:ai2oj9hkn2ugurp32d8rq88md8cktpn2g8@4ax.com](mailto:news:ai2oj9hkn2ugurp32d8rq88md8cktpn2g8@4ax.com): [color=blue] > Pull the battery[/color] Pull the CMOS battery long enough to clear CMOS to default. I have seen this fix this type of problem years ago. (once)