Computer will not power up. Any ideas?

[DougEFresh]

My friend gave me an old Dell dimension to reload windows. It was dirty as hell so I cleaned all the dust from the inside with a small vacuum and was careful not to touch anything and I wore an anti static band. I then plugged in all the cables and tried booting it but nothing. I tried diff cables and power sources and checked the voltage on the psu but still same thing. My friend told me he never had a problem with it booting before. I hope it isn't a hardware issue such as a bad psu etc. and I can't think of anything I did that would cause this. Any help?

 

[jsc]

No good deed goes unpunished.

Our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems

 

[DougEFresh]

No kidding. I offer to do a favor for a friend and now I'm responsible for this piece of *** not turning on

 

[DougEFresh]

So I tested the power supply by disconnecting it from everything and shorting the p1 connector and the fan turns on and it seems to be ok. The next thing I wanted to look at was the cable going from the the power button to the mobo and its connected. What could be the problem?

 

[DougEFresh]

How can I shot the power switch to turn this computer on to test the power button? Usually you have a power switch and reset switch etc but this dimension 8400 only has one cable that connects to the motherboard from the front

 

[lordszone]

How can I shot the power switch to turn this computer on to test the power button? Usually you have a power switch and reset switch etc but this dimension 8400 only has one cable that connects to the motherboard from the front

hi
do the following:
1) try resetting bios?
2) take out all the rams and then try to run the system
3) take out hdd and then try
4) take out vga card and any other hardware connected and try to run the system.
5) try to change the psu.
6) if none of the above works then examine the mobo for something broken and if it is repairable then good else find a substitute.
hope i helped.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

How can I shot the power switch to turn this computer on to test the power button? Usually you have a power switch and reset switch etc but this dimension 8400 only has one cable that connects to the motherboard from the front

http://pinouts.ru/Power/atxpower_pinout.shtml

Pinout 14 with either 13, 15, 16 or 17

 

[daship]

It was broke, you cleaned it and its still broke. It don't mean you broke anything. Maybe he wanted windows reloaded cause it was doing exactly what it is doing now.

Its better to blow the dirt out with dry air. Vacuums create a ton of static. A factory I used to work at used vacuums to suck the dust and it would actually shock the crap out of you if the hose wasn't grounded.

If he never had issues before, why did he want it reloaded in the first place. I think your friend is taking advantage of you.

 

[jsc]

daship, no kidding. But the only way to find out for sure would have been to test the system before starting to work on it. And I bet Doug did not do that.

 

[DougEFresh]

Unfortunately I did not test it before I took. He said he never had problems with it starting and that it was just bogged down with spyware etc. I always thought that using a vacuum was safe for cleaning out dust from computer cases as long as you're careful. I'm going to try to short the power switch and see if I can get it to turn on. I'll let everyone know what happens. Thanks for all your help.