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Laptop Will Not Turn On
Your laptop will not turn on.
Not Charged
Check if your laptop is charged. If you are unsure whether your laptop is charged, plug your power adapter into an outlet and into your laptop. When you plug in the power adapter to your laptop, a light should appear on your adapter to show your adapter is ready to power your device. If no light appears on your adapter, check if you need to plug in the adapter to a different power outlet or if your adapter is not plugged into your laptop correctly. If your laptop still does not turn on, you can try removing the battery from your laptop for a while before attempting to turn on the device again. See this Dell article for videos and more information on how to resolve this issue.
Faulty Battery
If your laptop does not turn on even when it should have enough power, the cause might be battery failure. Verify whether your laptop is experiencing battery failure by plugging in your adapter and observing how your laptop reacts. If your laptop does not turn on, or turns on and shows signs of not charging properly, you may need to replace a dead battery. Follow this guide to replace your battery.
Blank Screen
Your laptop displays a blank or black screen, but it also shows signs that it is turned on.
Power-On-Self-Test (POST) Failure
If your laptop fails to turn on and the screen is blank, but there are signs that the laptop is working, your laptop might be experiencing Power-On-Self-Test (POST) failure. You can verify if your laptop is failing POST by going to this site and looking under No Post. You can also watch the second video on the page to try and fix the POST issue.
Windows Upgrade
If you recently upgraded the Windows version on your laptop, perhaps from Windows 7 to Windows 8, then the black screen on your laptop may be the result of that upgrade. Update your computer's BIOS by following this article to resolve the problem.
Windows Will Not Start
Your laptop’s Windows will not start.
Windows Error
Go to your System Recovery Options menu for Windows and try the tools available. You can get to the System Recovery Options menu by booting Safe Mode after turning on your computer; the options given are the tools you can use to fix some of the issues a computer may experience. If any of the tools in the System Recovery Options menu do not solve the problem, reinstall Windows. Visit these pages for more information on how to recover Windows using System Recovery Options:
Microsoft: What are the system recovery options in Windows?
About.com: System Recovery Options
NeoSmart: System Recovery Options: Guide for Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1
Laptop Cannot Connect to Wi-Fi
Your laptop will not connect to a wireless network.
Wireless Connection Off
First, check whether your laptop’s wireless connection is on. You can make sure your wireless connection is on by looking down at the bottom of your laptop’s screen to the taskbar and locating the wireless network connection icon in the notifications section. You can also press the F2 key to turn your connection on or off. If you laptop still does not connect to a network when the wireless network connection is on, click the icon to review what networks are available or check for other potential causes. If this does not solve your wireless connection issues, try visiting this site and select the operating system your laptop uses (ex. Windows 7). Select your operating system, click on Wireless Networking, and scan the following web page’s table of contents for the issues you may need to correct.
Outdated Adapter Driver
If you have recently upgraded Windows on your laptop, that may be the source of your connection problems. Your current or outdated adapter driver was designed for a previous version of Windows. Try getting a new adapter that is designed for your current version of Windows.
Firewall Software On
If you have your firewall software turned on, try temporarily turning it off. After you turn off your firewall, log onto a trusted website to see if you are now connected. Having your firewall software turned off makes your PC more vulnerable to hackers and viruses, so turn your firewall back on as soon as you can.
Faulty Wireless Connection
Reset your router to try and create a new connection to your internet.
Laptop Beeping
Your laptop keeps beeping and the screen is blank.
Startup Failure
Count the number of beeps. Are there 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 beeps? Refer to the table in this Dell support article to see what the number of beeps tells you about your device's issues. Depending on the number of beeps, your device might be telling you it is experiencing system board failure, memory failure, CMOS battery failure, or other potential problems.
Blue Screen Of Death
Your laptop only shows a blue screen with white text.
Windows Error
If your computer crashes or displays a blue screen after startup, sometimes the source may be Microsoft Windows changes. Check if errors like “Stop 0x000000ED” or “Stop 0x0000007B” are on the blue screen. You may also see other stop codes on the screen. Refer to this Dell support article for more information on Microsoft crashes on Dell devices. Follow the recommendations in the article to identify and resolve the problem.
Faulty Hard Drive
When a blue screen error occurs, you will likely need to diagnose and perhaps even replace your hard drive. For instance, if you identify your blue screen error as a STOP 0x00000024 (NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM) error and must replace your hard drive after following the steps in this recommended article, you can use this guide to replace your hard drive.
Faulty RAM
If your computer crashes unexpectedly or at startup, you could have a faulty RAM. Try replacing your RAM with this guide.
Strange Noise
Your laptop is making a strange noise.
Faulty Hard Drive
Your hard drive may need replacing. After verifying if your hard drive is the source of the noise using this article for Dell PCs and this article for Dell laptops, you can replace your hard drive by following this guide.
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