# Dell Inspiron 8200 Startup Problem



## Nemesis02 (May 6, 2006)

Hi, i own a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop and it has died on me recently due to overheating. The symptoms were that you would boot into windows and minutes after booting up the system would freeze completly and you would have to restart. However when you restart, the laptop doesn't even post and all that happens is the caps lock light blinks 10 times then powers down and every time you turn it on, it does the blinking thing. The screen doesn't even turn on either. Once I let it cool down, it will load into windows and the problem starts all over again. I've done some research and have found that the only way that people have fixed this issue was to send it to Dell, however my laptop is out of warrenty and the cost to repair a 4 - 5 year old laptop would be the same as buying a new one.

From what i've learned, people have said that the "power chips" need replacing, and another person said that sometimes the DC power card in the laptop that attaches the motherboard sometimes burns out and causes problems. I was wondering wether someone had a more definite answer to this problem. I've gone through all the standard trouble shooting, removing the laptop memory, putting one in at a time, swapping it for the other, resetting the heat sync, etc.

Laptop Specs
Windows XP Professional
1.8Ghz Pentium 4 M
1x128Mb standard memory
1x512Mb Generic memory
40Gb hd
CDRW
32Mb NVidia GeForce 440 Go

Thanks.


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## hwm54112 (Oct 10, 2005)

Hello and welcome to TSF

Don’t have a definitive answer for you but replacing the Microprocessor Thermal-Cooling Assembly seems to be pretty simple. Check the link below and look under Removing and Replacing Parts


8200 Service Manual


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## Nemesis02 (May 6, 2006)

Don't mean to be rude about the help, but don't know how replacing the heatsink (which has no fan attached to it) would help. It's just a solid copper heatsink. Thanks for the suggestion though.


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## hwm54112 (Oct 10, 2005)

I could be wrong, but if you have a solid copper heatsink in your inspiron, you definitely need a new one. The cooling assemby referred to is actually a hollow tube extending to a finned "radiator" thru which air is blown by the fan. The tube/radiator assembly contains a liquid coolant to help with heat transfer. On occassion, they develop a pin hole and leak.


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## Nemesis02 (May 6, 2006)

hwm54112 said:


> I could be wrong, but if you have a solid copper heatsink in your inspiron, you definitely need a new one. The cooling assemby referred to is actually a hollow tube extending to a finned "radiator" thru which air is blown by the fan. The tube/radiator assembly contains a liquid coolant to help with heat transfer. On occassion, they develop a pin hole and leak.


Well, whatever is in that picture is what i have an there is no fans attached to it. the fans are attached to the case.


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## hwm54112 (Oct 10, 2005)

Nemesis02 said:


> don't know how replacing the heatsink (which has no fan attached to it) would help. It's just a solid copper heatsink.





> Well, whatever is in that picture is what i have an there is no fans attached to it. the fans are attached to the case


You seem to be misconstruing this part. It is a critical component of the overall cooling system of your laptop. It is not a heatsink. It is an assembly of three visible parts,that includes a 1) a heatsink (the part that attaches to the processor) 2) a tube that transfers heat away from the heatsink to 3) a heat exchanger. A fan then pulls air across the heat exchanger and blows it out of the laptop case. The fan does not have to be attached to it, the air from the fan only has to blow across it. The assembly can fail for several reasons. Dirt in the heat exchanger, failure of the heat compound or pad where it attaches to the processor. Dirt or oil (from your hands) on the tube. Faulty joints in the tube (the tube is not hollow. it contains a fluid (either liquid or gas) that could leak out. 

The logic that points to this component:

“Power chips”- I’ve never heard of them relative to computers and believe your friends mean hardware monitor chips. If they are bad, replacing them indicates a board level repair, board level repairs aren’t routinely done, rather the mainboard is replaced. 

“DC power card in the laptop that attaches the motherboard sometimes burns out”- If that burns out, how are you still able to turn on the computer? It’s more likely that overheating would burn out the “dc power card”, then you couldn’t turn it on. In any case, that logically can’t be issue

“removing the laptop memory” -bad memory wouldn’t cause overheating unless it was actually frying. I think you’d see that

“resetting the heat sync, etc.”- I assumed you replaced the pad or properly applied heatsink compound and cleaned the heat exchanger part of the “assembly”

Speedfanis a program that may help determine if the chips are bad and/or change your fan speeds.

i8kfan is a similar program written specifically for the 8000 series. The link is in german but the program is in english, I believe

Dell actually replaces the cooling assemblies and fans of some models (not necessarily yours) out of warranty indicating that they do fail prematurely 

Hope this clarification helps


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## Nemesis02 (May 6, 2006)

I would try the programs you specified, however the laptop doesn't power on to any point where i can use it. The laptop does not even get past POST non-the-less get into windows. I would send the laptop into Dell, however they want 400$ not including taxes and shipping to repair a laptop that is selling on ebay for the same price in working condition.

I did put heatsink compound on the CPU because when i removed it, there was no evidence that any was put on. There was however a bubble type piece of plastic on the bottom of the heatsink which i don't know the purpose of, but am assuming it does something like the compound.

The only solution i see at the moment to solve this problem is to replace the motherboard. There was no evidence that the tube attached to the heatsink failed because there was no liquid on the board unless it was a gas. Just seems rather convenient that the laptop went out only 2 - 3 months after my extended warrenty expired lol.

Thanks for the help.


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## finkle5001 (May 16, 2006)

*the power chips *do* fail...*

Certain DELL notebook motherboards are notorious for having their CMOS power-supply controller chips fail. Symptoms are usually "not powering on", "shutting-off after a few seconds (and a few light flashes), "unexpecteded shut-off minutes to tens-of minutes after booting" and the list goes on...

I have seen non-OEM notebook repair services with the following simple pricelist for DELL motherboard failures of the above family:

"$99 to replace the first 'power chip'. If this does not solve the problem, an addition $49 to replace the second 'power chip'. Normally 95% of all motherboard problems are repaired by replacing one or both chips, but for the other 5%, we charge just our minimum flat rate service charge."

These power chips do exist and they do commonly fail

Hope this helps.


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

welcome

thats valuable info

thanks


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## realitystorm (Jan 10, 2009)

This thread is pretty old, but just in case others need help:

I had the same overheating problem. What I found worked was replacing the thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink. I haven't had a problem since.

First follow the instructions on dell's site on how to remove the heatsink
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8200/en/sm_en/thermal.htm#1084976

Use 99% alchohol and a Qtip to remove the existing paste from the CPU (raised square in the centre) and the bottom of the heatsink.
Apply the new paste to the CPU (a drop about the size of a grain of rice in the centre of the square)
Reassemble, be carful not to touch the surface of the CPU or bottom of the heat sink.

Before I did this the CPU was running at 66c with the fan on, after (leaving it running for 24hrs to burn in the new paste), it is now at 35c with the fan on, running at full load (converting videos)

Total cost: $5.00 for the paste

I'm currently using mine as a Tversity server and video converter.


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## sp3fixer (May 11, 2008)

By the way, you did not say whether you had used the arctic silver or whatever paste before you had the problem. I read a guy's post elsewhere that said he used it, and it had spread or splashed to his board - just a dab, and he did not notice it. He said it shorted out the board, and blew it.

Maybe that's the problem? Anyway, everybody be careful: I understand that the pastes can be conductors, even if small, and bam!


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