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Need help. PC won't boot

M

MuffD

Diamond Member
It's an older Dell that I'm trying to revive. When I got it, it had no ram and hard drive so I added both. Next I tried to power it up but only the power light comes on and that's it. I can't even get it to boot up. I was thinking power supply at first but the computer light goes on when I turn it on. Just nothing happens. Monitor is on and connected so it is not that.

Any idea what might cause this?
 
make sure all power connectors are tight. is the mobo getting power? im not sure what you mean by the "computer light"...

check the hsf connection too. ive heard that some systems wont power up unless the hsf fan is plugged in correctly, to prevent the cpu from overheating and such.

have you checked the power switch itself to make sure it works?

if you are sure the PS is good, then its most likely a mobo problem.
 
In reference to the light, it's the green light on the case that should signify there is some type of power getting there. Hs/fan is on tight. I will check the other connections when I get home.

Thanks for your help.
 
This might sound stupid...
But unplug the floppy IDE cable for now.
Then try to boot the system again.
If that does not work then check to see
if the IDE HD cable should be in another way.

If the cables are good then check the HD and see
if the pin is set to master/slave or cable. If there are
no other drives on the line use master. If there is another try
slave or cable.

If the green light is on then the motherboard is getting power from
the PSU and this is good. Most boards will not boot up if the IDE cables
are in wrong though.

You could also try taking out one of the RAM's just to be
sure there is not a compatable problem.
 
Troubleshooting time from a certified tech 😉

Remove everything non essential, unplug the IDE and Floppy cables, unplug the power from all of the drives. Remove any PCI cards that aren't needed. If video is onboard, rip out every add-in card. Now...try and boot it with one stick of RAM if you used more than one.

If this doesn't work, try clearing the CMOS and try booting again. If this does work, turn it off and plug one thing back in at a time....either one card or one power or IDE cable, booting between each time until you find which card or part gets plugged in and causes it to not work. If it all goes back in, it was likely just a card or something that needed to be reseated.

If that doesn't work...I'd say try a new Power Supply, but most Dell's are wired differently and need a Dell PSU so unless you can borrow one from a friend you're out of luck here.

If you can get another PSU and it doesn't work, it's probably the CPU or the motherboard. At this point it's hard to say what's wrong and swapping a known good CPU into a possibly bad Mobo isn't the best idea...though sometimes it has to be done. Same thing with possilble bad CPU into known good Mobo.
 
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