Advice on my Dell laptop

[Matt2014]

The screen on my Dell 1750 stopped working (6 month old new replacement) so I tried connecting my desktop monitor to the port on the laptop. Nothing. The computer shop said that its a motherboard issue. Does this sound like a correct diagnosis?

What would be the the most economical solution? Replace mother board? Where can I get a cheap one? Is there a tutorial on replacement anywhere?

How about finding an identical computer and installing my hard drive? Is there a place where I can get a 1750 dirt cheap? Or is there another Dell that would work? (I'm unemployed)

 

[jmacavali]

If it's 6 months old, it should have a warranty. But yes, that does sound like a reasonable diagnosis (without looking at it myself).

As far as the cheapest, I don't know about replacing a motherboard on a laptop. I've never done that.

Swapping the hard drive would work ok...there might be a few hiccups but I have done that a few times.

EBay is probably where you'll want to head. Or a thrift store. You might find something that you can use instead as well.

 

[BK_123]

If it's 6 months old, it should have a warranty. But yes, that does sound like a reasonable diagnosis (without looking at it myself).

As far as the cheapest, I don't know about replacing a motherboard on a laptop. I've never done that.

Swapping the hard drive would work ok...there might be a few hiccups but I have done that a few times.

EBay is probably where you'll want to head. Or a thrift store. You might find something that you can use instead as well.

^^ This

If its still under warranty then return it under RMA.

I've got a laptop that has the same issue, It will power on very quietly and nothing appears on the screen and I suspect its a motherboard issue.

So by swapping the hard drive do you mean getting another laptop exactly like your original, If that's the case then no it will not work.

Motherboard Dell Inspiron 1750 Motherboard | eBay

 

[jmacavali]

So by swapping the hard drive do you mean getting another laptop exactly like your original, If that's the case then no it will not work.

Care to elaborate why? I've had several (3 or 4) laptops at work that have gone bad under warranty. The company we deal with sends us a new one and then we have to send the back one back in. In all of these instances I've swapped the hard drives between the working one and the non-working one so that I don't have to setup the new one with all our custom settings. It's worked every time. I haven't even had to re-activate Windows.

 

[BK_123]

Care to elaborate why? I've had several (3 or 4) laptops at work that have gone bad under warranty. The company we deal with sends us a new one and then we have to send the back one back in. In all of these instances I've swapped the hard drives between the working one and the non-working one so that I don't have to setup the new one with all our custom settings. It's worked every time. I haven't even had to re-activate Windows.

Well I have not done it I just assume that it would not work.

 

[jmacavali]

There's no reason it won't.

You can do it with any computer really. If the hardware is different, you may have to re-activate Windows, which usually means a call to their support, but if you tell them you changed hard drives or motherboards or whatever, they'll typically give you no trouble about it.

 

[Celegorm]

There's no reason it won't.

You can do it with any computer really. If the hardware is different, you may have to re-activate Windows, which usually means a call to their support, but if you tell them you changed hard drives or motherboards or whatever, they'll typically give you no trouble about it.

This. All you need to say is "the motherboard died and was replaced" which is likely accurate here and they will not give you any issues. I've done that thousands of times.

 

[Randy11]

You are talking about the Dell Inspiron 1750 I imagine? Only reason I ask is that Dell makes many different models. Sometimes the video port is on another board and sometimes it is on the main board. I am not a technician but have had Dell Latitude D600's apart and back together again to fix something on them. Dell usually has technical spec on their laptops.

I took a look at the manual that you can find here http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...laptop/inspiron-1750_service manual_en-us.pdf and it looks like the video controller is integrated so that would mean getting a new motherboard.

You would also have to change the service tag information too. Something that you can do yourself if you get the board new and the software to do the change comes with the board. The reason I know about this is because I had thought about buying a new board for another Dell and found a place online that sells Dell parts. I never bought the motherboard though and lost track of them. I found them by doing a Google search.

 

[BK_123]

There's no reason it won't.

You can do it with any computer really. If the hardware is different, you may have to re-activate Windows, which usually means a call to their support, but if you tell them you changed hard drives or motherboards or whatever, they'll typically give you no trouble about it.

Thats what I was trying to say but couldn't think of it.

 

[dev893]

I've swapped HDD's from one laptop to a completley different one and all I had to do was install the drivers for the new one and it worked perfectly I've also done it with desktops as well