dbloecher06
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Dell Dimension 4100 turning into Nightmare!
Ok. I have a customer who called me with a Dell Dimension 4100 that wouldn’t boot. The screen wouldn’t show anything and the light on the keyboard and mouse wouldn’t turn on. I went to their home checked it out and it looked like a motherboard problem. Then I brought it back to the shop. When turned on all it would do is make 3 long beeps. According to the Dell website, 3 beeps mean that there is a problem with the RAM. I reseated it and tried different RAM and tested all the parts individually, everything looked fine. Still nothing fixed the problem. I informed the customer that the motherboard was bad and ordered a replacement. I installed the new motherboard, turned it on and everything was great. It booted into Windows several time. I wanted to run PC Check on the computer, so I made a floppy and started the program running a 1 hour test. Everything was great, everything was passing. Then I looked away for 5 min and looked back and the screen was black. Nothing would show. I restarted the computer and it wouldn’t boot, started giving me keyboard errors, and then wouldn’t even display the Dell splash screen. Then to my HORROR, upon boot, it made 3 long beeps and the light on the keyboard and mouse wouldn’t turn on.
What could be the problem? What does the 3 beeps really mean? Thanks
What could be the problem? What does the 3 beeps really mean? Thanks
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ASKER
Thanks everyone. I think it is the power supply because now everything is working with the original hardware and everything tests out fine. Must just be an intermittent problem with the power supply (I hate those kind of problems). I'm going to order the power supply that garycase recommended.
Thanks
Thanks
You're welcome. Interesting points split -- even a suggestion that would have destroyed your motherboard got points !! ==> not a complaint ... just an observation :-)
ASKER
So I installed the new motherboard.
But the beep and light codes both point to a memory problem, 3 beeps and 2 yellow, 2 green lights (although beep and light codes have never really helped me in the past). I did try a different CPU just in case, even though it did POST. That didn't help. So, I installed the old motherboard again, and it worked (even with the old RAM) :-p. I put new RAM in and tested the computer with pc check and it passed all hardware tests. So, it isn't the motherboard like I thought, could be either the memory or power supply as you all suspect. Now I'm thinking it could be the power supply because that’s the only part the hardware tests don't check. I'm going to keep stressing the pc on these tests with the new RAM and see if it dies again.
The confusing part also is that when the computer stops working, if you have the motherboard sit with the CMOS battery out and unplugged for a day or so, it resets itself. Usually it only takes 1-10 minutes. ???
Thanks