Dell Vostro V13 Troubleshooting

The laptop will not respond or power on for any reason.

First check to see if the charging cord is correctly plugged into the wall and the A/C port of the laptop. If the device still will not turn on consider purchasing a new charging cord.

Make sure the charging cord is correctly connected and power up the laptop. Now unplug the charger, if the laptop turns off and only stays on connected to the charger the battery must not work. Consider replacing the battery. You can follow the Battery Replacement Guide steps here.

The battery pack fails to charge or hold a charge.

Make sure that the charging cord is connected properly to the laptop. Allow at least an hour to pass to ensure a charged battery before unplugging and attempting to turn on. If the laptop still does not turn on try using a new cord. If the battery charges after using the new cord all you need is to purchase a new charging cord for your laptop.

If the issue of your battery not charging is occurring after an update to the operating system, there is a chance a bug occured in the download. In order to check this, power up your laptop and press ‘F2’ when the Windows sign appears. Now once you are in the startup window, press F9 and F10 at the same time to load the default operating settings. If your charging cord still does not work check to see if there is a new update to the operating system to download. If these fixes do not work you may need to check if the battery if faulty.

If the battery allows the laptop to run but does not last nearly as long as it should (at least 3 hours), or if the laptop only runs while plugged into the charging cord, the battery may be faulty and should be replaced. You can use the steps on our Battery Replacement Guide to see how to do this at home.

The laptop is responsive; however, the screen stays blank no matter what.

Check to make sure that your laptop is charged and able to turn on before proceeding.

Confirm that the laptop power button lights up and it appears to be running when you turn it on. Also confirm that the laptop does not automatically power down after a few seconds of being on regardless of the battery. If it does not power on it may be a bigger problem with the laptop as a whole.

****Before proceeding with this step make sure you back up all needed files and data on an external hard drive****

Since your laptop’s screen is blank you will need to use an external monitor for this. Once connected to the external monitor power up your laptop and repeatedly press ‘F8’ until ‘Advanced Boot Options’ appear. Go to ‘Repair Your Computer’ and follow the prompts regarding language and password. Then choose the option ‘Dell Factory Image Restore’ follow the prompts until it begins to reset your computer. It will then start up again as a new laptop.

If all of the other fixes did not work but your laptop still runs fine other than the blank screen, you may need to replace the screen.

While the screen is responsive, the image appears fuzzy or there are slight distortions on the screen.

While using the laptop, the screen could randomly shut off without notification. This could be a sign that the laptop is overheating. Laptops can overheat due to excessive dust and other materials stuck in the fans or vents. To fix this, use an air duster daily to remove dust and other particles.

The computer may be operating in an incorrect resolution. To fix this, check the Resolution settings by right-clicking “Start”, and selecting “Control Panel”. Click “System” and then click “Display”. Click on the Resolution drop down box to see a list of resolution sizes. The ideal resolution for the Dell Vostro V13 is 1366 x 768.

When powering on the laptop an error message appears stating 'Operating System not found'.

An error could occur on the hard drive located in the laptop. This can happen when the user doesn’t shut the computer down properly. To fix this, reset the laptop.

If the problem remains with the laptop, the hard drive is damaged. To fix this,replace the hard drive. You can follow the Hard Drive Replacement Guide to see how to do this at home.