XPS 630i very strange problem!

Adam

Here's a copy paste from my post on my630i.com, no response in days, I don't know why I didn't think to come here first!

Hi all, I come begging answers!

Just got a second hand 630i from a friend, it hasn't been used in quite some time.

Plugged it all in and turned it on last night, it booted into Vista and ran normally (albeit a bit slowly at first, bloody Vista!). After about 10-15 minutes the screen suddenly went blank, and it sounded like it was rebooting, but no picture came back so I powered it off holding the power switch. Since that, it hasn't booted properly once.

Basically I've tried everything, reseating, different graphics card, every configuration possible, reset CMOS, nothing doing. It will turn on, get to the end of the bios load, or maybe just after that to the boot menu, and then the screen will go on to standby, although it doesn't sound like the pc is rebooting at this point.

Now the funny thing is. sometimes I can get up to the Vista loading screen. It seems the length of time it will work for is proportional to the length of time I leave it off for....??

Case in point, I just had it plugged out for the length of time it took me to register here and write this post so far, and turned it on there and managed to boot all the way in to safe mode, and then gone again.

By process of elimination I assume this has to be a motherboard related issue, but can anyone shed some light on the what and why?

Thanks,

Adam

P.S. it's all stock inside, Crossfire 38xx GPU, E6600 x4 2.4 and 3GB ram I believe? You all probably know better than me!

fionny

So is the whole machine turning off or just the display?

If the whole machine id put pound to penny its the PSU dying. I had one that worked intermittently then bang dead.

If its just the display is there a graphics card or is onboard graphics? Is there different display ports on the back to change into?

Adam

It's just the display, and I've tried three different arrangements there:
-the Crossfire 38xx cards as they were in the machine already
-just one of the 38xx cards alternately
-a definitely working 4850

And I had dual monitors plugged in at all times.

I've also tried a perfectly working PSU as well.

fionny

Adam wrote: »

It's just the display, and I've tried three different arrangements there:
-the Crossfire 38xx cards as they were in the machine already
-just one of the 38xx cards alternately
-a definitely working 4850

And I had dual monitors plugged in at all times.

I've also tried a perfectly working PSU as well.

Have you tried to boot into Ubuntu or something off a live cd or something to see if its the OS doing something funny?

Also make sure that if there is on oboard graphics card it is disabled in the BIOS?

Adam

Just tried booting in to both ubuntu and running an xp install disc and the pc tells me there's no boot device found. There's no onboard graphics.

fionny

Adam wrote: »

Just tried booting in to both ubuntu and running an xp install disc and the pc tells me there's no boot device found. There's no onboard graphics.

Check the boot order in the BIOS? You need it going CD/DVD 1st then Primary HD. Our some BIOS's have a boot menu you can access on mine is f9.

Adam

Don't worry, you're not dealing with a complete noob I'm currently working with no hdd, all excess disconnected, literally just dvd drive, graphics and one stick of ram. And the drive is present in the bios so I don't know why it won't boot from the disc.

I should point out that the display signal will cut out even when I'm just in the bios settings, or sometimes it will switch on without even displaying the POST.

yoyo

Sounds to me like its the PSU, also some Dell models have had issues with bad capacitors on the mobo, could also be some caps have gone

Nick

fionny

Well ya if you have tried with a different PSU then it sounds like the Mobo is fubar.

yoyo

Look at the capacitors on the mobo, any bulging/exploded ones?

Nick

Adam

Yeah I think it has to be the mobo, it's basically the common denominator and I'm out of other ideas! No apparent issues of bulging or leaking capacitors.

yoyo

Adam wrote: »

Yeah I think it has to be the mobo, it's basically the common denominator and I'm out of other ideas! No apparent issues of bulging or leaking capacitors.

No clue then man, I would be pointing the finger at mobo failure if a new PSU/RAM/GPU etc were tried

Nick

Adam

Hi lads, I'm looking for a replacement board, but I can't seem to find any other than used on amazon. Any thoughts on where to look?

fionny

Im pretty sure Dell make their own boards (one of the reason i wouldnt buy a dell gaming rig) second hand might well be your only option.

Adam

Well at the end of the day it's just a 775 socket board, with space for sli gpus. It's just that I don't know where to look, as it's sort of a dated piece of hardware.