Hello Folks,
Hopefully you are more able and willing to help me than Dell support lines!
The problem:
Upon hitting the power button on my Dell Dimension 9100,
the power supply fires up, the lights go on, everything is normal except that my screen does not turn on (power button light remains orange and not green) and there is a droning noise coming from the tiny speaker located next to the green light on my motherboard.
This problem sometimes goes away for no apparent reason and the system will boot properly. I get a successful boot probably 1 time out of 30 boots. Lately though it simply wont boot.
Additionally:
All hardware componants are stalk except a lousy Rosewill PSU, corsair memory, nVidia 8600 GT.
I dont think these are the cause of the problem maily because the system does sometimes boot and all of these work properly.
Context:
I remember sometime last year the power went out while I was using the machine. The power cord was at the time connected to the wall outlet and not a power surger. The first time I fired it up after the power came back on it did not make the noise and booted properly.
Most recently i unplugged a mouse which stopped working for reasons unknown to me. The mouse is a microsoft intelipoint and is wireless. It uses a usb and antena. When i pulled it out of the usb slot my system shut down failing to recognize the "hardware". The only other time i've seen this happen is when i accidentaly bumped a wireless card when on….Probably not important either?
Hi and welcome to the WTT forums, and the compliments of the season to you:
Sorry to hear of the problem with your machine
Hopefully you are more able and willing to help me than Dell support lines!
Can you please let us know what Dell suggested to help clear the problem?
Regards
paws
unfortunately (and purposefully i suspect) my call was never connected to a hardware tech support person. I cant afford to pay for 1800 calls to india. All that was accomplished was deciding it was hardware problem and not a software issue (says the software guy i spoke with)
He decided this upon asking me if i see the dell logo on my screen when booting, i replied, the screen doesnt even turn on, and then he suggested it was a hardware problem.
The sound that comes from the tower is a long tone and it repeats maybe 5 times before stopping.
Hi Ok I understand.
I need to know exactly how many tones or sounds your machine makes when you try to power it on…..
for example
7 long tones
or one short and n long….. ( these are examples only)
Please post back with an accurate count of exactly what you hear…thanks.
From what you have said it certainly appears that hardware cannot be ruled out, as a cause for this problem…………and your Memory (RAM and Video Card or your processor are prime suspects.
Have you checked that they are all seated correctly?….do you know how to do this? and the ESD (anti static) and personal safety precautions you need to take?
On most Dell 9100s there are a series of diagnostic LED lights usually on the front of your computer (sometimes on the back)
have a look please and tell me if this is so and the light sequence that is showing.
further information available in your owners manual, but if you can't locate it for the moment, take a look here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst….htm#wp1054184)
Regards
paws
I count 6 seperate tones. each the same long drone sound.
the first tone is by itself with a 2-3 second pause before the next. the next three tones play one after the other with < 1 second between. the 5th tone comes some 2-3 seconds after, and the 6th follows the 5th an additional 2-3 seconds later.
something like this:
tone 1, -tone 2,3,4, - tone 5, -tone 6.
Ill take a look to make sure everything is seated correctly, would you happen to have a link to some grounding info? I try not to touch the inside much.
I took a look at the diagnostic lights guide you sent, THANK YOU!
im seeing 3 and 4 light up, so im going to do the memory test and get back to you
Hi
Ok
yes there's lots of good tips in the link…..also have a look here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/Maintenance_…SD_t103649.html
Where our own Digerati tells you all you have ever wanted to know (and probably a bit more!) on ESD etc.
Regards
paws
So i popped out my first corsair mem stick, put it back in, fired up perfectly.
now that i am on this computer should i run any tests to make sure its working well?
If not, i think im all set. Def gonna check out that last link though
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
-Tanner
ok so maybe jumped the gun on "fired up perfectly"
after a succesful boot, it froze and temporarily displayed BSOD before restarting and sure enough the drone was back.
is there a memory test utility i can use that windows has or should i look to download one?
Hi,
if LED's 3 and 4 are lit this is indicating a memory problem…..lets hope its with the RAM modules themselves rather than the motherboard connection……..
If this was in my workshop, as a diagnostic, I'd swop out the memory for new……can you borrow some compatible memory from a chum and try this?
For details of your memory, its precise type, compatability, an indication of cost etc go here:
www.crucial.com
Use Internet Explorer to access the crucial scanner and allow it to examine your computer and memory (it won't tell you of faults, but it will give you lots of information)
It will ask you to accept an Active X control, and this is OK from that site.
Regards
paws
The connections look ok so hopefully its just my ram. Im thinking its the stock memory rather than the new memory. im gonna pop it out completely and see what happens. only lose .5 gigs that way. if its my new sticks im gonna need to order some new stuff cuz unfortunately everyone of my friends are mac users.
Im not sure if this has anything to do with it, but i play borderlands and that game feels like its stuck in slow motion right now. i dropped the settings to all low in game and still slow motion.
The problem:
Upon hitting the power button on my Dell Dimension 9100,
the power supply fires up, the lights go on, everything is normal except that my screen does not turn on (power button light remains orange and not green) and there is a droning noise coming from the tiny speaker located next to the green light on my motherboard.
This problem sometimes goes away for no apparent reason and the system will boot properly. I get a successful boot probably 1 time out of 30 boots. Lately though it simply wont boot.
