Computer won't start properly.

Terry

Dell Dimension c521 running Vista.

The on button seems to be broken. I stuck a screwdriver in and clicked the switch.
It won't read the monitor and the keyboard doesn't light up. It's just humming away and doing nothing else.

Any ideas?

Kimbot

Open her up and look for any loose cables.

Or look for scorch marks around the base of plugs etc incase something blew.

Terry

Sorry. I meant to say that I've already done that and everything looks fine on the inside.

Kimbot

Okay, so is the fan on the Power Supply unit spinning?

Terry

Yep.
Honestly, everything seems to be in perfect working order on the inside.
I can't figure it out and it's driving me nuts.

Kimbot

Okay so if the fan is spinning up then there is power going through it.

Normally on Dell motherboards there is an L.E.D. that will only power on if there is power going through the board, take a look and see if that lights up(If you have it that is).

Terry

Yep. The LED lights up.

Kimbot

Okay thats kinda good so.

Have you got one or two sticks or ram in the machine?
Also have you unseated and reseated everything on the MB?

Terry

One stick and I moved it to a different slot.

Kimbot

Are there pins missing from the VGA lead or the keyboard connection?

Terry

No. The vga cable is fine and it's a usb keyboard.

Kimbot

Have you taken off the heatsink and had a look at the cpu??

Power is getting to the board and not to compnents attached to the board so the problem itself lies within the board and/or cpu now.

massy086

i would try lifting the heatsink and resetting the cpu clean off the old terminal patch that dell use,s and use some grease see if that will make it boot will it boot to the bios at all

Terry

I'm not going near the CPU until I actualy have some grease.

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know if that shop in Lucan village sells grease?
It's the closest repair place to me. I really don't want to have to go to Blanchardstown and I can't find a number for the place in Lucan.

Webmonkey

Do you hear any beeps? - does your mother board have a LCD POST code display?

You could always try resetting the BIOS - easy way: pull the CMOS battery and leave out for 5 - 10 mins to discharage and put back in again.

As the poster above says, did this happen when the button broke? - bit of a coincidence

Other things: - Graphics Card, is it onboard or not? if not onboard, take it out and re sit.

Terry

No beeps. I'm not sure about the motherboard.
The PC doesn't belong to me.
Bare with me on this. It's my friend's girlfriend's mother's pc. Her father obviously did something to it and he wants it fixed before the missus gets back from Turkey.

The monitor isn't turning on at all, so I'm not seeing anything.

I think it did happen when the button broke.
It was dropped up to me by my friend. I fiddled about a bit and was able to switch it on with the screwdriver I mentioned above.
He took it back and the monitor wasn't turning on then. Checked it with the monitor I'm using now and still nothing.

I've taken out the battery. I'll leave it out until 10 and try again.

Graphics card is onboard BTW.
This is just a basic build from Dell. Nothing special about it.

Terry

The battery thing didn't work.
Looks like I'll have to try the CPU thing.

Stephen

Most dells have a few LEDS that can give error/status codes, usually labeled ABCD or 1234 etc. Some have them on the front panel, some have them on the back. Can you see anything like that? If so, what are they like (what colour is each one etc)?

Terry

Only two LEDs. One where the on switch is at the front and one labelled AUX_PWR_LED, which I'm assuming is just the one that lets you know there is power going to the motherboard.

Webmonkey

Hmm, well the monitor won't come on if the computer doesn't start correctly which is wrong.

Since it is one stick of RAM this could be the problem - any possibility you can get some RAM else where?

Main reasons for not turning on:

- PSU (Seems ok by sounds of it)
- Memory
- Graphics Card (Onboard so we'll ignore this for now)
- CPU
- Mainboard
- Configuration (Since we've reset BIOS ignore this)

By the way, when you took out the battery, did you plug it out from the mains?

Kimbot

Terry wrote: »

I'm not going near the CPU until I actualy have some grease.

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know if that shop in Lucan village sells grease?
It's the closest repair place to me. I really don't want to have to go to Blanchardstown and I can't find a number for the place in Lucan.

Terry, if you need thermal paste send me a PM, I will be passing Lucan/Leixlip at some stage tomorrow and can drop it into you. Also depending on the type of Ram I might have a few spares lying around.

Overheal

wait a minute. Go to your own PC for a minute and try starting it up without the CMOS battery in it. see if that doesnt replicate the problem.

Terry

Webmonkey wrote: »

Hmm, well the monitor won't come on if the computer doesn't start correctly which is wrong.

Since it is one stick of RAM this could be the problem - any possibility you can get some RAM else where?

Main reasons for not turning on:

- PSU (Seems ok by sounds of it)
- Memory
- Graphics Card (Onboard so we'll ignore this for now)
- CPU
- Mainboard
- Configuration (Since we've reset BIOS ignore this)

By the way, when you took out the battery, did you plug it out from the mains?

Yes, I plugged it out. Left it for about an hour or so.

jonny24ie wrote: »

Terry, if you need thermal paste send me a PM, I will be passing Lucan/Leixlip at some stage tomorrow and can drop it into you. Also depending on the type of Ram I might have a few spares lying around.

Will do.

Overheal wrote: »

wait a minute. Go to your own PC for a minute and try starting it up without the CMOS battery in it. see if that doesnt replicate the problem.

I can't seem to find a screwdriver.
Why don't you try it on your and let us know what happens.

Overheal

laptop Im not even sure where it is.

Mr. Presentable

Here's a troubleshooting procedure.
Assume that this was a working system (and speaker) that suddenly quit.

Disconnect all the drives and pull all the cards except the video card (if there).Do you get any beeps or display?

A single beep and/or a display. That means that one of the devices that was disconnected is probably defective and keeping the mobo from operating.

No beeps or display. Pull the RAM and video card (if there). Do you get any beeps? You should get error beeps without any RAM installed.

No beeps. You have a power supply or motherboard problem.

Do not assume a good power supply just because you see some signs of power. The power supply has several voltages that it must supply and just one missing can keep the motherboard from operating.