I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop running Windows XP.

I was in the middle of using the internet, checking e-mail and television line-ups and the computer froze. I couldn't move the mouse and the screen was not advancing after having waited quite a while. I tried to use ctrl + alt + del to restart the computer but it didn't work. I then depressed and held the power button to shut the computer off.

A few minutes later I tried to turn the computer on. The power light comes on. The cap lock light and another light next to it keep blinking for several minutes. There is no picture on the monitor. After a little while power light turns off and the blink lights stop. At no time can I open up the cd drive.

I don't know what is wrong with it. I didn't notice any power surges or outages when I was using it and I don't keep it plugged in when I am not using it. I'm pretty sure that the battery is charged at least partially and it has been holding a charge for a few hours.

Is it completely fried? Is it a virus? Should I bring it to a technician? I'm pretty sure it is out of warranty now.

The power supply could be bad; try another one and see what happens.

Do a quick search on support.dell.com for this, there are alot of people with similar issues. It seems it is either an overheating problem or a "reseat component" problem.
See this link to Dell's website.

To remove the overheating possibility, leave the laptop off for a few hours, try to blow (vacuum) any heatsinks (vents) to remove any dust and power up.

If you are computer savvy and comfortable touching electronic equipment you can open the laptop up and reseat all components (HDD, RAM, CPU, keyboard/graphics connectors). If you are not comfortable with this, do not attempt it but bring it to somebody who can do this.

Good luck!

ronald.

Sorry about that, I didn’t notice that you were talking about a laptop; I guess that tells you a lot about my power of observation.