DELL DIMENSION 4400

[bossman5501]

I have a Dell Dimension 4400 Running XP Pro. I left it on one day and when I came back in the room the screen saver was on the monitor. The machine seemed to be locked up. So I held the power button in and shut it down hard. I waited for a couple minutes and turned it back on. Nothing displayed on the monitor not even during boot up. I tried unplugging any extra cards or drives that were not need. Still nothing. I replaced the video card. And I still get nothing.

When you turn it on the drives on the front light up but it doesn't seem like it is even going through a POST test. Any Ideas?

Thank you in advance.

 

[BadFrog]

What color is the led on the power switch?

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[bossman5501]

the power switch is an amber color

 

[BadFrog]

Bad power supply.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[flavor4real2]

yup thats a bad power supply,...sometimes when i cold turn off the same machine, i also unplug the power cord and then drain the rest of the power vie pressing the powerbutton for 10 -20 sec. until the motherboard power is drained. i had machines then coming up again when i pluged the pw-cord back up and restart the machine. .. if its stilldoesnt come up then most likely the pwsupply

 

[bossman5501]

I have put another power supply in there. Its not a Dell or one that fits in the case but I used one to test it. It turns on and does the same thing...Bad Motherboard??

 

[BadFrog]

Need to make sure the ps you used to test meets the requirements of that system otherwise your test is futile. Have you verified it meets the requirements of your system?

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[flavor4real2]

could be the voltage regulater part of the motherboard. i had big issues with DellGX270. dell had a bad manufaturer series and they replaced lots of GX270's here.

if u need a new MOBO, u can find one for around $50-up online

 

[BadFrog]

The 270 problem is bad capacitors on the motherboard. I have replaced over 50 boards with this problem. The symptoms are different though, it causes the video to just go blank while the PC is still on and the only way to get it back is to power off then back on.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[bossman5501]

how do you repair the capacitor and where can you get the capacitor.

 

[BadFrog]

I don't, Dell does. I just simply swap the motherboard. It is a manufacturer defect.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein