R51 laptop startup problem

[Incinerator]

I have a IBM R51 laptop that will not start up. The power cord works fine, it still charges the battery. This problem has been going on for about a month now. Sometimes the computer will start up, and everything works fine and completley normal, however other times it never turns on. I took the keyboard off and and then plugged it back it, and the computer started up fine for about two weeks. Now it wont work again and the taking the keyboard off doesnt work anymore. The comp and its charger work fine, I just need help starting it up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[engiNURD]

How old is it? It could be a number of things... laptop problems are harder to diagnose than desktop problems, mainly because everything is usually onboard the mobo, lol.

 

[Incinerator]

its about 3 years old. I dont think its anything with the mother board, its purely a problem with booting up

 

[engiNURD]

its about 3 years old. I dont think its anything with the mother board, its purely a problem with booting up

lol. ok, but the motherboard is the centerpiece of a laptop... with everything hooked up to it... so its still a possible culprit.

My A20m had problems powering up, too. Sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn't. The problem: bad motherboard.