Dell comps? No power!?!?

[Grendel99]

A friend of mine has a Dell Dimensions (forgot the exact model number). He got a really bad Trojan that totally screwed over his computer and he doesn't know how to F-Disk (at least doesn't feel comfortable doing it ) so I help him. I F-disk, load Windows 98SE. Then I turn off comp, unplug everything and open her up. He has a P3-600 (Slot 1), 128mbs of PC100 SDRAM, 21 gig 7200RPM HD, 40X CD-ROM, and a few other misc items also. I gave him some more ram for X-Mas, so i pop that in. His processor was running a little hot, so I put on a new HSF. He had some wierd one where it was just an HSF witha ducted case fan over it. I think there is a name for that, passive? And we cleaned out the case (which was full of dustbunnies). All in all it took about 4 hours. I know thats a hella long time for just that. But we made about 4 trips, we kept forgetting stuff.

So I get everything all hooked up, and everything looks good, I check all cables and make sure everything is good. Then I hit the power button...uuuuhhh...you can turn on ANYTIME now...please? NOTHING! I checked cables again, everything seemed nice and snug and in the proper place. I noticed that there was a little orange LED on the Mobo that was on whenever the power cable was plugged in. So it's getting some juice I know. We let it sit for about 15 minutes, then I tried it again and nothing! Well it was getting real late so we called it a night. I told him to leave everything plugged up and try it again tomorrow.

I haven't talked with him again yet, so I don't know if it works now or not. Any suggestions on what happened? I installed some ram for another friend of mine who had a dell system. The same think happened, when you hit the power on button, nothing happened! Then the next day it worked fine. Is it just Dells? Or did I really Firetruck something up? PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks in Advance!

 

[John]

Dell likes using a duct system with an 80mm exhaust fan on the newer Dimension series. The "orange light" is to indicate flea power. It will go out when you pull the power cord from the powersupply.

Are your fans turning at all when you hit the power switch?

Try reseating the CPU and memory, and pull the ram you added out of the dimm slot.

 

[viper007]

Umm..Did you plug in the power cables to the mainboard in the wrong slots? This can short out the power supplies in some cases..

 

[Grendel99]

I didn't take off any cables. I just checked them after the first time it didn't boot up to make sure I didn't accidently knock one loose. And yes I reseated the CPU, and took out the memory I gave him. Everything is exactly the same that it was before except the HSF I put on his CPU and another fan in the front pulling air in.

When I hit the power button, NOTHING AT ALL happens. Not a single sound besides the button clicking. I removed the front panel earlier, and thought maybe the buttons didn't line up. But I took the front panel off and hit the buttons by hand, and nothing. Just the little clicking sound they make. I'm getting a little worried, I really don't wanna screw up my friends comp. Then he will never trust me again

I still need help!

 

[Dameon]

1) Do not screw with the Dell cooling system. Dell has engineers who I dare say probably know enough about cooling to design a system for a million units that works.

2) You probably just voided his warranty.

3) Pull all cards. Pull every drive cable from the system board (floppy, HD, CDROM). Pull every single friggin thing off that board except for the POWER CABLES and control panel cable. Reseat BOTH the main power cable AND the 3.3 volt connect (black & blue wires). Verify the control panel cable from the front of the system is on firmly. Reseat the processor and pray.

Look on the back of the system below the serial ports for a set of lights. They will tell you what is wrong.

Look here for the lowdown
http://support.dell.com/docs/systems/dkub/codemess.htm

Follow the reccomendations there

If it doesn't work. Work on your story for Dell as to why you had to change the cooling system.

 

[Grendel99]

But what would cause this? Taking the dell hsf off wouldn't make everything NOT come on. More ram? That shouldn't screw anything up, and if it did it wouldn't make the comp not come on. Moving a fan? That shouldn't make it not come on. Worst case senario: I broke his CPU, it should still come on right? I member not having a slotket properly seated, but it would at least come on.

 

[Dameon]

If CPU is broke in Dell systems, it doesn't complete the eletrical circuit, and often will not power on.

 

[Dameon]

also, try moving the one jumper on the board to the right (pin 2 & 3). The BIOS may have gotten confused if the RAM was not right.
"Starting the system with the jumper set in Maintenance mode automatically starts the system setup program, adds the Maintenance option to the menu bar, and displays the Maintenance screen."

 

[Grendel99]

Even if the CPU IS broken, it would do smoething? Even if it isn't completely the electric circuit, wouldn't there be a flicker or SOMETHING? I do aprreciated your help though. I'm just boggled and really worried....

 

[ElFenix]

cpu and ram have to be properly seated in order for the computer to post, probably need video too. make sure you have both power cables in the right way. also that the front plate connector isn't on backwards. if you don't have the diagnostic lights on it sounds like you broke something. good luck with it.

and if you do manage to fix it, you should put dell's heatsink and duct back on, its one of the best cooling systems around because it blows the hot air out the back of the system. that and its hella quiet.

 

[Ornery]

My guess is that it's the damn, fancy schmancy ATX advanced power management BS. Unplug it from the wall. Reset the BIOS via jumper. Possibly remove the battery from the mobo too. Reverse order and try again. Bottom line is that it's the APM, nothing else. Uh, just a hunch...

 

[Slapstick]

There is one other oddity about Dell?s. I seen several that needed to have the main ATX connector to the mother board unplugged and let sit for a few seconds before plugging it back in or they wouldn?t fire back up after working on them.

 

[HannibalX]

I have notived that too, its like they need time to cool or something...