[qwerty1104]

Hi everybody, here is the riddle to solve. Given my HP mini 5101 (Intel Atom 1.6ghz, 1GB RAM, 160 GB hdd, 10.1 inch screen, Win XP Pro) had the fan almost constantly running so I decided to clean it internally. Very carefully dismounted it - I have already experience on this, nothing broke - blew out half a ton of dust with a compressor, and reassembled the unit. No problems so far. The story turned sad when plugging it in to the mains it would not turn on anymore. Absolutely no sign of life. I have reopened it, checked every single bit for accidental damage, loose cables, anything, but none found.
If anybody knows what else to look for or what to do, please...
Thanks a lot in advance.

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I know you've covered this, but just to verify.... do you mean that you get absolutely nothing when you hit the power button? No fan spin-ups, no flicker on the monitor, the power lamp on the motherboard (if yours has one) is dark, only the silence of the tomb?

[ranchhand3]

I know you've covered this, but just to verify.... do you mean that you get absolutely nothing when you hit the power button? No fan spin-ups, no flicker on the monitor, the power lamp on the motherboard (if yours has one) is dark, only the silence of the tomb?

[qwerty1104]

As you says sir, silence of a tomb. The only sign of life is an indicator light for a few seconds when I plug in the mains plug. If the battery is present, the battery charge light shows up too, but the battery does not charge. I know this from the small charge indicator on the back of the battery pack which remains on 'please recharge', which seems to be correct, as when I measured the charge it was 10.11V, and full charge is 10.8V.

[ranchhand3]

indicator light for a few seconds when I plug in the mains plug.

That means that the power supply gets power initially but shuts down. It's possible that there is a direct short internally and it shuts down to protect the components. At this point, the only thing I can suggest is to open it up again carefully and check out your power supply. Make very sure that something wasn't disconnected and is shorting out. Try to find someone who knows how to test the PS for problems and make sure it is putting out full voltage on all rails. Unfortunately, since this is a mechanical (not a software) issue, the only option is direct observation. Another common problem with laptops is the connector jack on the end of the power adapter cord from the wall socket that plugs into the power socket on the laptop. Because that cord flexes a lot over the years the wire cracks inside the insulation where it connected to the jack and you get power connection problems. It could also be in the receiving socket in the laptop, I have recently repaired one that broke inside the housing in the laptop. All I did is expose it, resolder it back onto the terminal, and the laptop started working fine again.

the battery does not charge

Again, this could be a result of the connector cable failing as I detailed above. It is also possible that the battery itself has failed. Laptops are notorious for this, and depending on each lap's characteristics it can react in different ways, from shutting down to only working when it is plugged in to the wall socket.

I wish I could be of more help, but this is a situation where I would need the laptop in front of me on the workbench. Hope you find the problem.

[qwerty1104]

Well, ranchman, thanks for your ideas. Unfortunately it ain't the case. The power supply is working just fine, so does the receiving socket. Actually I found the current all over the mainboard, so it appears to be 'ready to launch', just waiting for the start signal. I'm no electrician but I could measure 19.98 volts on several SMC components, there is charge current on the battery pins, and I could establish that pressing the power button cuts the current between two pins on the power-strip-cable, so even that seems to do the job right. Looks like the problem starts after the power issue.
Other forums suggested that most probably I broke something when blowing it with the compressor, so I should waste the whole thing and get a new one. I really don't feel like doing it, I like this model so much.