Problem with dell dimension 4600c

[iceeyycloud]

I purchased a Dell Dimension 4600c computer about 2 years ago. For 2 months now, I've been having some problems with. I was first having some problems with the BIOS awhile back and I solved that problem. Then it seemed to shut down on me a month later. Only conclusion I could think of was the power supply due some loud noise coming from the fan. I recently bought a new fan for the power supply and installed to the PC. I worked for a good 2 weeks and while I was doing a project for college, it just shut down me. I unplugged the main plug to the pc and opened the case and now its just becoming a pain to get back up and running properly, the light would blink orange as I plugged it back in after waiting 60 seconds. So if anyone can offer help it would be gladly appreciated.

 

[raybay]

I am curious about what BIOS problem you were having? The last BIOS updae was in 2003, which should have covered your two year old model.
We work on a large number of the 4600c machines. It has an unusual power supply, and cpu cooling. It also has some high failure hard drives installed in some units... particularly the Western Digital, Samsung, and Maxtor.
This model has had trouble with heat sink and CPU fans supports.
Using some care, try to determine if this unit has plastic heatsink support... as they are known to break off in sideways impacts during movement.
Also, check the heatsink, as many were built without any thermal paste conducting away heat from the heat sink to the outside via the cpu fan.
Drivers were faulty for the ATI video graphics after SP2 was released, as were the chipset.
But My number one suspects for that model are always the hard drive, and the video drivers for the video graphics setup. Can you temporarily install another hard drive to see if there is a difference... that you can then load your Dell recovery disc set?
The only other problem is a severe lack of cooling. The odd-ball power supply does not push out enough hot air.
If you get it running again, consider installing a secondary fan to pull more air out of the machine.
Good luck to you on this problem. Please let us know how it all turned out.