Dell vostro powering on/off

[T2urtle]

Hey guys

I think my dinosaur finally kicked the bucket. I’ve been using a vintage dell vostro 220 full size. Think core 2 duo days. A SSD and 4gb really does bring anything back to life.

It has been a solid workhorse the two days a week need it. We need to just do light excel and web browsing for my parents.

It went from flawless to dead. Last week it started to randomly turn on and off. Never full boot into windows. It acted like a ghost was random hitting the power button on and off whenever they wanted. Assuming and annoying. Only way to stop it was to unplug. Since then I was able to get it working once, no issues. Bios settings were lost, I had it boot my SSD first but it went to default which is spinner HD

I’ve slowly pulled parts off of it to see if it was a failing part. I don’t believe so but I’m not a computer tech by any means. One could believe the power button broken or the PS is bad.

Kinda don’t wanna get another desktop right this moment.

No out of the norm beep.

 

[UsandThem]

Only way to stop it was to unplug. Since then I was able to get it working once, no issues. Bios settings were lost, I had it boot my SSD first but it went to default which is spinner HD

That particular part is usually a telltale sign that the power supply is beginning to die / go bad.

That would be what I would focus on testing first. The only problem is if you don't have tools to test the various voltage output of it, the best way is to swap in a known-good unit to quickly see if it the issue. And as old as that Dell is, you'll need to figure out if the computer uses a standard ATX power supply (or if it is some kind of proprietary Dell model).

 

[T2urtle]

That particular part is usually a telltale sign that the power supply is beginning to die / go bad.

That would be what I would focus on testing first. The only problem is if you don't have tools to test the various voltage output of it, the best way is to swap in a known-good unit to quickly see if it the issue. And as old as that Dell is, you'll need to figure out if the computer uses a standard ATX power supply (or if it is some kind of proprietary Dell model).

Thank you.

With the BIOS resetting to default I was guessing it might have been the CMOS battery issue.



The power source looks like a standard size one from a quick glance and google search but I’ll check around.

 

[Steltek]

If it is a standard size, you might check EVGA's b-stock store. I think they had a 500 watt W1 White for sale there for $30 or totally new from their website for $35 with a 3 year warranty. If I remember right, they are something like 3.5" tall x 6"wide x 6" long.

 

[T2urtle]

If it is a standard size, you might check EVGA's b-stock store. I think they had a 500 watt W1 White for sale there for $30 or totally new from their website for $35 with a 3 year warranty. If I remember right, they are something like 3.5" tall x 6"wide x 6" long.

Got a spare power supply from a friend. Popped it in and same problem.

Swapped the cmos battery and no change.