Dell Dimension 8200 won't power up at all

[ldybach]

Hello,

I've read similar posts here and none really answered my question. Since my circumstances are bit different I figured I'd see if anyone had run into what I have this past week.

I have a Dell Dimension 8200. Windows Xp, etc. A few months ago it began to freeze up now and then, not often - it was very gradual. It would freeze and I couldn't shut it down unless I unplugged it. The on/off button didn't do a thing even if held down for a long period of time.

I'd unplug it and then plug it back in and it would not power on, no sounds, no fans, no lights, nothing. The only lights would be on the mother board and the ethernet card.

I went online using my laptop and read (somewhere, I wish I could recall) that if you try unseating the ram and plugging it back in that it might start back up.

I did that and it worked.

Since then it's gotten worse and the last few times (this has only happened about four times) even unseating the ram would not help. If it sat for a long period of time then suddenly I could power it up.

Now it's completely dead. It froze the other night and we took out the ram and let it cool down and plugged everything back in and nothing. Just the little green lights on the motherboard and ethernet card. Nothing blinks on and then off, no fans, nothing.

We replaced the power supply and still nothing. We did buy a new Dell power supply. What could it be?

I believe the hard drive is fine. What are the chances that it's the motherboard? They aren't too expensive but I want to be pretty darn sure that's the problem before I buy one.

I was running several programs when it happened, I have 512mb ram, 100gb harddrive, 1.7ghz processor. Normally running several programs is nothing. I figured the power supply would fix it. This machine is heavily used and is never turned off unless there's a chance of lightning or we won't be home for a few days.

We do have power surges here I believe. Our power goes out quite often. But we didn't have any that night.

Any help is appreciated.

Lisa

 

[whiternoise]

It could be the processor or the motherboard and power surges could be part of the cause. In any case, i'd get it checked out by a shop or a technician.

 

[djleyo]

do the basics

open the case and check the power supply again make sure its connected correctly (make sure its compatible with motheboard power connector ***check for burn like smell ****if the motherboard or chipset or cpu smell its gone you could contac dell 800-624-9896
good luck

 

[iluengas]

Same problem 1 year later...

Lisa,

I realize your post was from almost a year ago but could not resist replying. Did you ever resolve your issue? I just ran into almost the exact same situation. Same Dell, very similar symptoms. My PC also had an annoying beep that accompanied the freeze that required a physical unplugging to shutdown as you described in your post. I too bought a power supply and eventually a power switch. I was able to bring it back to life one day after moving the reset jumper on the MB several times, re-seating the RAM, unplugging everything and many other steps. Now I cannot do anything to bring it back to life. I really do not want to invest too much money into this venture since it is a pretty old PC. I was willing to try a few easy not too expensive things first but I hate giving up on it without some effort. I have PCs that are even older than this one and they still function. Does anyone have any advice on how to diagnose if it is the MB or CPU?

Thanks,

Ivan