Dell 4500

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Nate Rosenthal" <ncrose@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hrudnUy8IIyqK2XfRVn-vQ@comcast.com...
> Working on a Dell 4500. It won't fire up at all. My first assumption was
> the power supply, but I tired other power supplies that I know work and
> they
> didn't fire up either. Also the light on the motherboard comes on with
> the
> original or any other power supply. My question is: Could it be the
> switch? Or is it the motherbaord? Is there another way I can check? If
> it
> is the switch, how easy is it to do. The computer is out of warranty, so
> I
> am guessing if we called Dell, it wouldn't be cheap. If it is the
> motherboard, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense for a three year old
> machine? Any thoughts?
>
> Nate Rosenthal
>
>

Nate,

What you've described is not so much a power situation as it is a "no POST"
problem.

At this point, the goal is to get the machine to respond at all other than
fans and the mb LED.

-Disconnect everything external from the PC. Everything.

-Open the case and pull all the cards. ALL cards, even the video card.

-Remove the RAM and all cables connected to the mb *except* the front pwr
switch cable and the power supply P1 and P2 connectors.

-Remove all power connections from *all* drives.

Now, plug the machine up and attempt a power up. Do you hear beeps? On the
back, do you have PS fan activity? On the back, do you see an diag LED code
(ABCD lights on the back near the serial port)? (ie. amber amber green
green, amber green amber green, etc.)

If the system responds with beep/error codes, then begin by replacing the
RAM one DIMM at a time, then the video card, etc., attempting boot after
each is added (UNPLUG when installing/removing each). A faulty component
should show itself as the one that *stops* the beep codes, diag LEDS, and
attempted POST.

If, when stripped down, you still get no beep/error codes (and if you're
sure the power supply checks good), then you've likely got a bad system
board. It's more likely to fail than the CPU, though a CPU could also cause
what you're seeing.

Post back.

Stew