Need some advice fixing a laptop

[Ben333]

I am working on a laptop for someone because it was slow so I did the usual (formatted & reinstalled windows and drivers, etc) and then they said they wanted to put in some money so I opened her up to see what type of RAM it took and what socket the processor was and if the heatsink needed cleaning, etc. I was careful and don't see what I did but now it won't post. Even with an external monitor it won't post. I have remounted the heatsink twice and reseated the ram a few times and have no idea whats wrong. This isn't the first time I've worked on a laptop either :( heh... Any ideas?

[thideras]

Pull the battery and unplug it from the wall. Hold the power button down for around 30 seconds to a minute. Plug it into the wall, NO BATTERY. Turn it on, what happens?

[ps2cho]

Laptops are going to be difficult to diagnose....

Your best chances are with the RAM...but unless you have laptop RAM lying around, your quite SOL :(

[Ben333]

Laptops are going to be difficult to diagnose....

Your best chances are with the RAM...but unless you have laptop RAM lying around, your quite SOL :(

I had about 10 sticks here and there but can't find them. Tried what thideras said with no luck also :(

[ps2cho]

I had about 10 sticks here and there but can't find them. Tried what thideras said with no luck also :(

RAM is your best bet. If you can't find some extra RAM, or it still does not boot, you're SOL as I said. It's not quite as easy as desktops. You can't replace motherboards or CPU's with ease and can't replace power supplies.

It sounds to me like RAM though without a doubt.

Also make sure VGA cables didn't pop out when you were removing parts of the case. Sometimes there are very small connectors that can become unhooked without knowing. Go back through everything again.

[Ben333]

I've unplugged and plugged back in everything in sight. I think I may have accidentally fried the graphics card with ESD?

[imposter]

You could have put in the wrong screw in, that could cause a short. Try posting with 1 ram stick at a time.

[Ben333]

It only has one stick :( I'll try removing it in case it has some ram soldered to the main board. I know the screws are right, I checked that too.