failed laptop

[chrbb]

My brain hurts - my son's moving into his first home tomorrow and to add to to all the expense his laptop has failed - add that to my washing machine leaking all over the kitchen floor and my car's broken

The laptop is completely dead, no indicator lights when on the mains. I've tried a different adaptor that fits, changed leads, nothing. No power is getting to the machine at all, what should I look for, any ideas?

[pete]

Assuming you've already done the "when was it last working...." end-user interrogation.... Check if there's any play on the power jack on the laptop - give it a gentle poke with a cocktail stick - does it move? It's also worth removing the keyboard / top plastics to look for clues.

[_Adam_]

At this point I would remove the battery and try running it with only the power plugged in. Works then faulty battery. Still doesn't work then I would grab a multimeter and test for voltage out of the power pack. If there is voltage (and it's the correct amount) then I hope you have warranty. However one last test at this point would be to try powering it up without the hard disk installed, again if it works faulty hard disk.

[chrbb]

Sorted thanks, realised as soon as I'd posted last night edugeek was down (new site very nice btw) so did a bit more googling, removed battery pack and hey presto it worked, but then carried on working when battery reinserted. Still laptops quite old so will be searching for a cheap replacement soon.

Also new washing machine installed and working!