Help my Dell laptop won't turn on I've done everything said from the internet. Any tips? I got important stuff I forgot to download 😭

Hi everyone and thank you in advance for the help.

I had a recent power surge that tripped my breaker. Happened before and my PC is plugged into a surge protector so I reset everything but found my PC wouldn’t turn on.

I completed the BIST test per the dell forum and the PSU failed. I had a green light but the fan wouldn’t turn on with and without components plugged in.

Simple problem, right? Just upgrade the PSU.

I did some research on the dell forums and settled on a Cosair RM750. Snagged one from micro center, hooked it all up annnd… no power. Zero signs of life.

I’ve rechecked my cables, tried multiple outlets, and I cannot figure out what is wrong.

I’ve settled on a couple of other options to try tomorrow:

1. Change the CMOS battery

2. Check and potentially replace the power button switch/cord (no idea if this would be the issue but I’m desperate)

3. Call dell (ugh)

4. Take it to micro center and have them run some diagnostics to see if my motherboard is fried from the surge :/

Does anyone have any tips or options to try? I’d really appreciate any help.

Just got a brand new Precision 5680 from my employer. There was a little tab between the keyboard and screen that I thought was a thing that needed to be ripped out. You can see the remnants in the images. I ripped it out and now the computer won’t start. First the display went - I could still see my work on my second monitor. Now it won’t start at all. Coincidence or did I just damage something essential?

I have this problem nearly every week and i can't just keep going to a professional man to repwir it, can anybody please help me with some suggestions? (The only thing i know is that he dissasembels it and somehow enters in bios or something)

Dear Redittor, I just scored a used Dell Precision 5680 for USD615 on FB Marketplace.

Specs:

• CPU: i7-13700H

• RAM: 32GB

• GPU: RTX A1000 (6GB)

• NPU: Intel Movidius 3700VC VPU

• Power: 100W Charger (Current)

The Catch: The Service Tag isn't recognized, though BIOS shows no Asset Tag or Absolute activation. The battery health is reported as "Fair" and hold a charge for about 1.5hr from browsing web.

My Questions:

1. Charger vs. Battery: I can get a new battery or the 165W charger for $70 each. I can only afford one right now. Is the 165W charger necessary? I'm worried the 100W brick causes "battery drain under load," which might kill the new battery faster. And I heard that only the 165W charger will provide enough power for full performance. Which should I prioritize?

2. Intel VPU Crashing: After a clean Win11 install, the VPU shows in Task Manager, but launching the camera or Studio Effects causes crash. SupportAssist and manual installation fails to install the “Intel-2D-Imaging-MCU-Visual-Sensing-Controller” driver. Any workarounds?

3. The Deal: Did I do okay for $615? Planning to use it for study IT courses and light AI work (hence pick the 6GB VRAM).

I've clean installed Windows 11 three times for now. Out of those three, only once it didn't have this issue.

Basically I have nothing running, no apps, no background apps/processed - anything. Task Manager shows close to 0% utilization for CPU, GPU and RAM, and SSD.

Here's the issue - now the laptop fans are off. If I leave the laptop on the bed for example, after 5 mins it would start heating up and the fans would be spinning, as if there is a heavy app running - but there is not. Still close to 0% utilization.

Now I get it - leaving the laptop like that covers the fans but how would it heat up if the fans are not spinning and I'm not running any apps? This is where I said that out of the three clean Windows install one of them didn't have this issue. But I recently had to reinstall it again and the issue is back.

I have no clue why it does that. I was dumb enough to also buy the vapor chamber heatsink and replace the stock one with it - but it made zero difference even under heavy load.