Dell laptop not turning on! HELP

Hello all I have a Dell laptop that was running fine and now all of a sudden it wont turn on! any suggestions?

how old is it? that comes into the equation.

check the fuse on the charger , make sure there is a light on it. for starters.. no power = not charging.

although it's a laptop, do you ever use it on your lap etc covering the vents? that makes them over heat..

try plugging it into a separate monitor.. maybe the screen part of it's messed up.

is it switching on / switch off quickly... or bleeping?

have you dropped it or has it been in contact with any drinks ? (I notice you posted this in the coffee house, so made me think)

you need to eliminate a few things though. if it's the charger, screen, laptop itself that has issue.

over years batteries loose their memory, so they don't hold charge.. could be any number of things.. that's a few things to check for a start.

it did have anti virus / firewall / service packs installed.. ?

have you got say a linux cd to see if it'll boot off that? or something bootable anyway.e.g gparted or a windows disk?

could even be something software virus based causing it.. errm if you can boot off an external source.. then maybe it points to software / corrupt windows.. i dunno difficult to diagnose faults without having the machine here.

Steevo, that is SO strange because the EXACT same thing happend to MY DELL LAPTOP ON TUESDAY!!! I would press the power button and it would do NOTHING. And mine is a 2003. Anyways, after about an hour of messing around with it, I unplugged it from the wall, removed the battery, and then put it back in, and THAT somehow made it start up again. I don't know what all went wrong (because the battery and the chord were fine), but that got it to start up again.

So maybe that might help hopefully.

Try this:

Disconnect from AC power.  Remove battery.  Press power button to discharge any static electricity.

Put battery back in.  Connect AC power (Optional).  Press power button and see what happens.

If it doesn't work... You didn't mention -- are any indicator lights (AC power, battery, hard drive, etc) coming on?  If so, which ones?

Since you just bought it, used, maybe that was the reason it was sold???
 
Dell has a users forum and posting on that would be the best place to start.   HERE    Include the PC model number (e.g. "Inspiron 1525") and OS when you post as that is required on initial problem posts.   I do a lot of support on the Dell forum but it's mostly Desktops, not Laptops. 

The battery, if dead will cause issues. and those kind of batteries die fast. One day they work, the next ...not.

It will run without the batter on the AC supply. try that first.  I don't know if you will get free help from Dell since it is old and out of warranty, but it's worth a try. I have called in a few times past my warranty and the tech helped me out after telling me the warranty was expired.