I have a Dell Latitude D830 that starts, displays the Dell logo screen, the progress bar moves to about the halfway point then the laptop shuts down. I can hear the hard drive spin down quickly. Pressing F2, it still shuts down before it can enter the Bios. Pressing the Fn key while pressing the power button causes it to start, flash the LEDs, then shutdown before even bringing up the Dell startup screen. Any clue as to how to isolate what is causing this? I can't run any diagnostics because it shuts down so fast, within 3 seconds of displaying the DELL startup screen. It has been working for years, then suddenly this.
1. Make sure you are plugged into A/C.. Your battery could be running low.
2. Make sure there is nothing blocking the heat vents. This symptom is typical for overheating processors.
Rocketgib: thanks for looking at this. I finally got the reply button to allow me to post a comment so I am using this to alert you that I added a comment to answer your suggestions. Please refer to my comments I added earlier for more info. Thanks.
New development!!! I have found that if I keep the power button pressed and don't let it go for about 10 seconds, it will get past the Dell screen and boot up and allow me to enter my name and password into windows XP. After entering my password, it then shuts down. I have done this 3 times. I next held the power key down constantly and it allowed me to log in and actually run XP. I next shut down windows and when it shut down, I let go the power button. I next used a marble and some masking tape to press the power key constantly allowing me to remove my finger and I ran programs in XP for about 2 hours. I then removed the tape releasing the pressure on the power button and in a few seconds my computer shut down XP and powered down. This is amazing. Something to do with the power up button. What should I do next other than run with a marble pressing on the power button? I don't think the power button is part of the keyboard.
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SOURCE: my dell xps m1530 laptop seems to be on but nothing on screen
Remove the battery and power cable from the system and press the power button for about 5 seconds, then plug in the charger and start the laptop. it will work. shutdown it and put the battery back and start once again . now you can see its working
SOURCE: Dell D600 wont go into bios mode
Hi ,
if you wanted to get the bios setup you have to press Fn+F1 then you will go to the bios setup
, click the arrow next to the Shut Down button 
, and then click Restart.467 views
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Karan: F8 does not result in advance boot option. I think that appears in the upper right hand area of the screen, but in my case, the laptop shuts down without displaying the options. I assume that it shuts down before it reaches that point. My keyboard works because pressing the FN key while powering up causes it to shutdown immediately. If I have to do an OSRI, I don't know how to proceed because it shuts down before any I/0 except the screen and keyboard. I can remove the hard drive, start it and the exact same symptoms. Would I need to install XP on a thumbdrive and hope that the boot options allow it to boot from USB port? I can't get into the bios to set up the boot device sequence. What should I do?
v8mycareer: I don't know how I can download and install anything because it shuts down within 3 seconds of the DELL logo screen. How could I do this?
rocketgib: I could not get the reply button to allow me to send a response to your post so I am putting it here as a new comment. Thanks for looking at this. I let my battery run down to where it would not even start up. I then plugged in my charger and the battery indicator went to green and tried starting it. It now displays the Dell logo and then shuts down same as before, so I think this rules power being a problem. Nothing is blocking the heating vents. The fan does not even try to come on for the few seconds the laptop stays on. I can't imagine how it could overheat in just 3 seconds. Any other thoughts? Thanks.
Well, have you tried taking the bottom off and blowing it with a duster? Maybe even try re-seating the memory?
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