How to figure whether it's the memory or the motherboard that prevents booting on an Optiplex 745 minitower?

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philiptd

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Jan 29, 2016
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I have a Dell Optiplex 745 minitower box with an Intel Core2 Duo micro.
After replacing the original ATI Radeon HD2400 Sapphire graphics card with another exactly the same the machine refuses to boot at POST. I have tried the on board graphics device with no luck. And also an HD6450 that worked ok until I got the a replacement for the original. No luck: lights 3 and 4 stay on green and that's it. Power's on, no display, nothing else : (.
I tried placing individually the original two DDR2 512Mbs and the two 2Gb memory modules I have in the 1st dimm socket as instructed by the manufacturer's manual. But only _once_ and with _one_ of the original modules did I get to the setup. After that all trials have gone unsuccessful and I'm stuck.

I have been reading that it might not be the memory but the board or even the processor ...
Trouble is I don't have any other modules or machine to test out which element fails. So further tests imply buying the spares and possibly having to return some of them.
I am considering getting a used machine to be able to test and find the culprit so I have the rest of the box for spares since the price might make it worth it. I've seen some GX620, 755, 755 'Dual Core', 760, 780, ... but I'm not sure they serve my purpose.

Is there some other way of finding out what gives?

Any help or advice on what could be done will be most welcome. Thank U : )
 
Solution
logainofhades
I would put the culprit as being either motherboard or PSU. Look at the caps, on the motherboard, to make sure none are bulking/leaking. Those old dells are notorious for that, in my experience. PSU could be bad too, and not providing enough power to fully function.
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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I would put the culprit as being either motherboard or PSU. Look at the caps, on the motherboard, to make sure none are bulking/leaking. Those old dells are notorious for that, in my experience. PSU could be bad too, and not providing enough power to fully function.
 
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philiptd

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Jan 29, 2016
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I would put the culprit as being either motherboard or PSU.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the lead, @logainofhades.

I looked at the capacitors and _yes_ there are 3 of them that look different, a little bulged at the top, no leaking though. It seems like enough evidence that it is the mobo.
I thought it wouldn't be worth the while changing the the capacitators but I found http://www.badcaps.net where a TopCat explains the whys and hows of this deplorable case : (
I'm still deciding whether to try and change the caps or getting a used machine and canibalise one of them ...
Although if your experience says that these boards are prone to failing like that it may not be advisable since they may fail the same way.
I already had to change the PSU about two years ago and I put a more recent 650wat in. So It shouldn't be that.

Looks like the best solution is to get a more recent box I presume : ? Don't know. This caps business has eroded my faith in "solid" machines.

Thank you very much for the pointing.
: )
 
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