System won't power up...

  • Thread starter Thread starter spiderman
  • Start date Start date
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spiderman

Dell Dimension E310, when i press the power button system just won't
power up,the motherboard is getting power ,power supply,CPU &Memory
are ok...

System Specs
Dell Dimension E310 (Pentium 4 521 2.8GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, XP
Media Center 2005)

Thanks
Buddy...
 
spiderman said:
Dell Dimension E310, when i press the power button system just won't
power up,the motherboard is getting power ,power supply,CPU &Memory
are ok...

System Specs
Dell Dimension E310 (Pentium 4 521 2.8GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, XP
Media Center 2005)

Thanks
Buddy...
Click to expand...

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/specs0.htm#wp1052310

"Diagnostic lights four lights on the front panel"

The Diagnostic light codes are here.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/adtshoot.htm#wp1130520

If all four of the diagnostic lights stay on at start up, it
could mean that the processor is not able to execute any
BIOS code at all. A failure of some motherboard power
circuitry could do that, or even a corrupted BIOS chip
could be responsible.

Do a visual inspection of the motherboard, and see if
the tops of any of the capacitors are bulging. The
capacitors are an essential part of the motherboard
power circuitry, for things like the Vcore (CPU)
power regulator.

http://www.badcaps.net/images/caps/kt7/image004.png

Paul
 
Dell Dimension E310, when i press the power button system just won't
power up,the motherboard is getting power ,power supply,CPU &Memory
are ok...
Click to expand...

How do you know the motherboard is getting 'proper' power? A
completely defective power supply will still light LEDs and spin disk
drives.

Your replies will only be a good as the facts and numbers provided.
No numbers or 'reasons why' say the motherboard is getting power.
Appreciate the underlying point in Paul's post. Long before fixing
anything, first get and post relevant facts.
 
  How do you know the motherboard is getting 'proper' power?  A
completely defective power supply will still light LEDs and spin disk
drives.

  Your replies will only be a good as the facts and numbers provided.
No numbers or 'reasons why' say the motherboard is getting power.
Appreciate the underlying point in Paul's post.  Long before fixing
anything, first get and post relevant facts.
Click to expand...

diagnostic lights stay off at start up,i have tested the power supply
and i'm sure it's good!
 
spiderman said:
diagnostic lights stay off at start up,i have tested the power supply
and i'm sure it's good!
Click to expand...

You can try simplifying the setup, and see if the response changes.

If there is more than one stick of RAM in the machine, try it with
only one of the sticks installed. It could be a RAM failure. I had
a RAM failure, where the RAM held the lower 640K, and the BIOS wouldn't
beep or anything. I was able to start, by moving the RAM around
(so the dead RAM was still present, but located above 512MB). It
actually took a number of test cases, and a spare stick of RAM,
until I could make a configuration that would start.

You can also unplug the IDE ribbon cables from the motherboard,
in case, somehow, a failed drive is able to stress the Southbridge.

While you're inside the machine, that will give you a chance to inspect
the capacitors. So far, I haven't lost any motherboards to bad caps,
but did have one Antec power supply fail a couple weeks ago. The
brown stuff was on top of the output side caps. The power supply was
still running, but outputting poor quality power (caused the hard
drive to attempt spinup several times, before starting properly).

Paul
 
diagnostic lights stay off at start up,i have tested the power supply
and i'm sure it's good!
Click to expand...

Power supply was tested ... how? I don't see numbers. No numbers,
then nobody knows.

One major reason for fixing things is to learn. Learn that knowing
something without also stating why is really not knowing something.
Experience from fixing things eventually teaches that lesson.

Did you use a power supply tester? Power supply testers can report
defective supplies as good. Only valid solution to knowing a suppy
means numbers especially when supply is under maximum load.

No lights means no power, and a few other things. Same concept
applies to houses. If oors do not close, do you fix the doors? Of
course not. First check for a collapsing foundation. Foundation for
a computer is its power supply. Numerous other functions appear
defective IF a power supply is defective. In your case, nobody has any
reason to believe the supply is good.
 
be interested to see how u get on spiderman. I had this happen on my
compaq desktop. I brought another one thinking it was a motherboard
failure (please don't laugh at me). Anyway, my brothers compaq laptop
recently did the same thing. My desktop wasn't worth saving but his
laptop is.
 
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