Help! I am new to this board and sadly the most knowledgeable computer person in our office. Which is not saying much. I have a Dell PC I think one of the firsts pentium 4's. I has been working fine but yesterday it just wouldn't turn on. I opened it up and it was quite dusty so I cleaned it out. I plugged it into what I know to be a working outlet and with the cover off noticed a flashing light on what I believe to be the mother board. When I unplug it the light goes out so I assume the PC is getting power. Any Ideas? Thanks.
PC not powering up
- Thread starter 97TJ
- Start date
- Status
Powerline75
Posts: 9 +0
Does the (Usually Green) Power LED lights up when you turn on the PC? And more important does the (Usually Amber) Hard Disk LED light up also? Or anything about the CR/DVD/Floppy Drive LEDs? Do they even istantly light up? If any (or even all) of the above do happen, then you may need to look for the C.P.U., the Hard Disk or the RAM modules for probable errors or damages. The above LEDs indicate that the power supply goes normally through the mainboard. Especially the Hard Disk LED. And another thing. Does the PC Speaker makes any buzzes when you turn the PC on? If so, consult your user's manual about the BIOS version and go to the relative web site to look for the sound section where you can find what each buzz sequence means.
Powerline75
Posts: 9 +0
If you can verify that the power supply is functioning, then it may be a "BIOS Deep Sleep"* situation (*=I don't know the English term, so i give a direct translation from the Greek term). This is the event where the BIOS will not boot, even though there is sufficient power and the PC sub-systems (memory, Hard Disk, VGA e.t.c.) are apparently fail-free. If that is the case, I'm afraid you may need a new mainboard. Did you add any extra PCI card or an extra DVD/CD drive/recorder? It does seem to have similsr results, especially in OEM mainboards. (Mostly with extra Hard Disks and DVD/CD drives). If so, try and change the IDE cables or reverse them.
OK, I'm not sure what specs you need but here is what I have.
Intel Pentium 4
Chipset = 850
Data Bus Width = 64 bit
Address Bus Width = 32 bit
DMA channels = 8
Interupt Levels = 15
Bios Chip = 4 mb
Clock Speed = 100, 400 mhz
RDRAM = 128 mb
About 1 year ago I replaced the power supply because the fan was making a lot of noise. About that same time I added a v.92 modem. Other than that I haven't added or changed any hardware.
Intel Pentium 4
Chipset = 850
Data Bus Width = 64 bit
Address Bus Width = 32 bit
DMA channels = 8
Interupt Levels = 15
Bios Chip = 4 mb
Clock Speed = 100, 400 mhz
RDRAM = 128 mb
About 1 year ago I replaced the power supply because the fan was making a lot of noise. About that same time I added a v.92 modem. Other than that I haven't added or changed any hardware.
- Status
