J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
For another friend, this (Vista era, but more than adequate for her needs) 17" laptop.
Virtually new condition, as she took care of it.

When power supply connected, blue line through power button, and light on front, lights.

When power button pressed, ring comes on (lights up) around power button, and another
light on front lights. This and all subsequent description applies whether on external or
battery power; the only difference external power makes is the light line in the power
switch and the light at the front. (System seems to have charged the battery.)

Nothing happens on screen - no even sign of backlight coming on. (Thought - _could_ be
screen/backlight, but we don't get Windows sounds after the usual delay either, so I think
it's mobo/processor. Have tried with external monitor [no display], but not sure at what
point Fn-key-plus-F-key-to-change-monitors works.)

Fan runs; DVD drive makes its usual twitch.

The two things that make me think it's not completely dead:
o pressing a button on the left that has a picture on it that could be an SD card makes
that button flash for a second or two.
o turning the machine off (i. e. back to dead [DVD won't eject, no lights other than
external power if connected, fan stops]) by holding the power button in works, _but
requires it to be held in for several seconds_.

Behaviour is the same with: only either one of the two RAM modules present; HDD removed.
I've dismantled the unit as far as I am willing to, and no sign of loose or damaged
connectors or any distress (charring etc.); just reconnecting power-button board and
keyboard while in that state, and after reassembling whole machine - no difference.

Not important - we've written it off, and ordered a replacement (a Compaq; nobody had a
7535G for sale, other than a broken one or a motherboard, both of which we decided were
too much bother to try, given the asking price), but if anyone _does_ know anything about
this, it'd be intellectually satisfying to fix it. (I did Google; the most promising was
suggested by more than one, and one called it something like an "ATX reset", being to hold
the power button in for 30-45 seconds; I did that with and without battery/ext. power
connected, with no change.)

It had been running W7 fine - home premium, upgraded from Vista before my eyes using
proper upgrade discs (which I still have) when I bought it about 5 years ago we think -
but that's _probably_ irrelevant (so OT for here) as it behaves identically with the hard
disc absent.

My Lenovo T410 did exactly the same as yours last year. It's 7 yrs old.
Researching possibilities on the web I found that laptops in general tend to
break the vid cable due to flexing - opening and closing the lid.
So, decided to take a chance on a new OEM cable from Ebay for $15 including shipping.
Took me a few hours to put it in but it did the job. I use the T410 as a backup for
the main laptop.