Problem with DELL system

[cutty]

An old DELL P3-550, system freezes at DELL log, can any one tell me what parts should I check?
This happened b/c the system failed to wake up from sleep mode, so I turned off it. When I try to boot up it again, it just stay at the DELL log. I can't enter bios and can't boot from floppy either. Is this b/c motherboard died?
BTW, it passed warranty just for a month!!! :|

 

[DAPUNISHER]

even though it's out of warranty Dell will still provide you with free tech support over the phone. Some generic TS advice is to pop the CMOS battery for a minute then put it back and see if it lets you in the bios, replacing the CMOS battery is another thing to try.

 

[ChefJoe]

It doesn't go through memory checks or bios stuff ? Just the dell power on logo ?

In my experience, dead CMOS battery only causes loss of settings, it doesn't prevent a boot entirely. If you get nowhere with bios, I think it's time for you to listen to the dell dude's advice. The other option is to beg dell to send you a new bios/cmos chip, programmed, and see if that works... probably not cheap, maybe not even possible depending on dell's design of the motherbaord.

 

[John]

Unplug the power cord from the power supply for 15 min, plug back it back in and turn it on. Anything new?

 

[johnjkr1]

i used to work for dell support...usually frezzing at the dell logo is a BAD thing..if your dell has lights on the back...see what color they are (the 4 led's) if not...you basically strip it to board and proc...see if it gets mem beeps, if it does..might just be bad mem...pulling the cmos battery couldnt hurt....also, take out the cards..if its ends up being the board you can get an extended warranty pretty cheap even 30 or so after the original expired..or you used to be able to.....you can pm me for more specific help if ya like

 

[ElFenix]

even if you press ESC immediately you still only see the dell logo? yeah, that ain't right. sounds like the bios is hosed.

 

[Slapstick]

I doubt it's the BIOS. We run Dell's at work and I've seen this 2x now when Hard Drive Crash, they wont wakeup out of standby and they wont make it past the Dell Logo screen. The Dell BIOS coustomizations don't show the POST messages so it's alittle hard to figure out what went wrong sometimes.

From what you wrote, failure to wakup and hanging at the Logo screen doesn't sound like a BIOS problem but either a hard drive crash or maybe a memory problem. Fist check to make sure that the memory is seated and all the cables are plugged in tight. If that doesn't work then unplug the hard drive IDE and power cable and try to boot from a floppy. It should boot if it's a hard drive problem or at least let you into the BIOS.

 

[cutty]

Thanks all!
My problem solved, I unplugged all my cards and harddisk, RAM then put them back, the computer boots up as before.

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: cutty
An old DELL P3-550, system freezes at DELL log, can any one tell me what parts should I check?
This happened b/c the system failed to wake up from sleep mode, so I turned off it. When I try to boot up it again, it just stay at the DELL log. I can't enter bios and can't boot from floppy either. Is this b/c motherboard died?
BTW, it passed warranty just for a month!!! :|

I have the same problem with one at work which is the same except for a P3 733MHz. I ended up reformatting () and not it works!