Dell Wont Start

Sounds to me like the harddrive is going to the grave.

Suggest you back all important information up as best possible.

I am no expert, but my favorite computer the HP Workstation did its best to keep going ,but just couldn't.

It has been a couple of years now, and I have some Macs now, but it does seem as if before the HP died it did similar things.

Think so?

I at first also thought this but the drive is only ohhh 6 months old or so.

And it doesn't even start to spin, so i was leaning towards power suplies?

i mean you usually hear the various drives spin up after pusshing the power buton, but nothing at all stars at all, Just the orange light is the only display of life at all.

Thanks

Is the tower level? Could dirt have gotten in it?

As I said I am no expert but my HP acted like that before it failed.

I'd've said the power supply sounds like it's dying. They're pretty cheap & easy to get.

AGREED and GA for a one sentence response! Dell PS's are notorious for failure and I bet you have a non standard ATX PS case with non-typical MOBO connectors? Regardless, your symptoms point to PS issues, recommend replacement for the layman.

John mentioned replace PS. Do that.

I'd've said the power supply sounds like it's dying. They're pretty cheap & easy to get.

Last I looked Dell wants arm +leg for a replacement power supply. A standard low cost power supply will not fit as the pinouts have been changed to give Dell a high margin parts market.

If you buy a power supply from a corner shop that sells Chinese computers, it may fry the mother boards.

this search might help.

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=hp&q=dell+%2Breplacement+%2B%22power+supply%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&fp=79108af2917f27da

of course. you might be able to fixe it by pulling and reseating the power supple board connector...it has a press pin, do not just pull... as oxidation of pins can cause this problem.

Also remove the hard drive and out into a separate case and copy the entire drive to a large hard drive in case you need to restore the dell and save the data. Some dells you a restore CD, some use a partition of the hard drive. In both cases all client data is lost = make a copy first

As others have mentioned, the P.S. sounds like a likely suspect. But I did have a computer that did the same thing (about once a month), that wasn't a P.S. problem. I never did troubleshoot the thing, just unplugged the cord when it happened.

Next time it happens, unplug it for ~10-15 seconds. If that works then the problem is in the "Power Up Reset" circuitry. This is the difference between a "warm boot", and a "cold boot". Unless you are a masochist*, don't try to trace it down. Either replace it, or get used to unplugging it periodically.

* A friend at a Copper company I worked for had a similar problem 30 years ago. After chasing a signal labeled "GLYPB" for days, he finally got ahold of the engineer who designed it. The man told him GLYPB stood for "Good Luck You Poor B**tard"!.

Give up the model and serial numbers of the Dell and we can recommend a replacement and instructions to repair...

When It's running download 'belarc advisor' and run it, most of the system component values will be detailed.

I had something similar occur a few years back.

The power supply fan tanked. BUT the symptom was if you re-booted it wouldn't, for at least 15 minutes. Case was HOT!

New fan, everything behaved.

Never figured out why it would keep running until the re-boot.

Power Supply going faulty.

To make a long story short: your wife's Dell is probably functioning normally; that is to say, per design. Your best course of action at this time (now that you've found a way to handle the situation if you get a repeat) is to monitor warm and cold boot-ups for a time to see if (and when and how) the "Problem" (for you) recurs...if it does. Also, monitor or have her monitor her shut down procedure (to make sure she's not setting up for a start glitch when she shuts down. If that one-time, perceived problems become repetitive, come back with an updated description.

Another thing: how is the power setting configured for your unit. Shut down, standby, hibernate, sleep? This can have effect on startups; but more about that later...if your "problem" persists.

It could help a good deal if you would tell us the model # . It wouldn't be an optiplex 270 or 280 would it?

Will get the model number shortly,

but thinking further, it isn't a over haeating problem, because this is happening when it's cold,, Like when you go to try to start it in the morning after being off all night.

hmmmm,

A PS doesn't need to overheat to die. Believe me.

There are many ways a regulated power supply can fail - it may or may not have something to do with heat - overheating could be a cause or symptom.

Equally, there may be an intermittent (and worsening) fault in the control side of the circuit, which could shut the power section down before it got anywhere near heating anything up.

Still amounts to a dead PSU.

You're playing with fire...take a cold butane lighter and ignite. This the rapidity of heat occurring in the machine.

Incidentally the light flashing after pushing start button indicates a failed boot cycle, if the flashing occurs without hearing a "Beep" may indicate a mother board issue; BIOS etc.. If flashing occurs after "Beep" likely suspects are hard drives or power supply.

Give feedback specific to criteria of the "Beep"

Is it my imagination or do we only get problems with Dell computers on CR4?

By the way, if you ever think you are having HDisk problems, most are SMART nowadays and with the right software will warn of possible problems....

Just a thought.

(By the way, I think its a PS problem too!)

Does she hybernate, or actually log off and shut down?

How old is the computer? Have you changed the MOBO battery if the board is more than 3 or 4 years old?

Yup total power shut down, log off and all. and if lightning storms might be a possiblility then all the pluggsa are pulled also.

It's probably right at 4 years old or so.

Most Dell computers provide audible beep codes and diagnostic indicator lights on the back panel to assist troubleshooting. Go to the following URL and select the "Troubleshooting" link on the left side of the page:

http://support.dell.com/

Enter the tag number for the computer (usually located somewhere on the outside of the computer) or select the model number of the computer. Follow the troubleshooting procedures using the beep codes and diagnostic indicator lights.

I had this exact same problem with my Dell. It was the power supply. I didn't bother getting a new one though as the problem is with a capicitor in the power supply.

The supplier of the PS got a bad batch of caps and 2 of them actually go bad. They just happen to be on the control circuit for the motherboard. Easy to tell which ones once you crack it open as they are cracked on the top of the cap where the wires come out. I can't remember the size of the caps but it cost me about 3 bucks to fix my power supply.

Haven't had a single problem with it since. If you know a bit about electronics its a pretty easy fix. If not then make sure you get a good PS to replace it with because Dell uses a motherboard that is current sensing to a pretty tight variable so you need a good stable output from the one that you buy.

thanks everyone,

Itended up just being the power supply, out odf all the voltages that should be comng out all it ended up having was the +5 vdc vltage.

a quick swap and all is well.

Thanks!

When my "Del" won't start, I step on his tail"! He lets out one hell of a squall, and starts to getting out of the way promptly.

TMF

Power supply, heat clean the fans and all holes in the tower. There is a mode if there is a fatal error could shut it down.

You have a power problem .... Tell her to keep the machine plugged in to AC (adapter to household power) as much as possible ((even when the unit is off and not in use) ...especially when using hard-disk-drive intensive activities such as, for example, online activities, wireless connection, games, peripherals and players and PnP devises running on USB power. Batteries should be used sparingly and, insofar as is possible, for low power tasks (which exclude most of the above). Note: If the wife uses wireless (radio internet) at hot spots/internet cafe facilities, tell her, that she should always ask where the plug-in is located because, technically speaking, an internet cafe is not an internet cafe if it provides only a wireless connection but no AC outlet.)

Her Dell being a low end machine, there might be insufficient memory to avoid some excess of file swapping which, because hard disk drive (motor) is involved will tend to consume battery power. (It may interest you to know that the hard drive is a computer's greatest onboard power consumer...probably with cooling fans coming in second ... which suggests that keeping airflow space around the computer will conserve battery power by minimizing battery drainage when in portable mode. For example, place the unit not on lap or soft surface but on hard surface when on lap. Some people will plug in a lap table with USB powered fan, but this seems only to be swapping one fan for another, with no change, perhaps negative change, in power drain from battery!)

You did not say how long since computer purchase, but the battery could be due for replacement--that is to say, you are seeing a problem (which is not a computer problem per se) only because the indications of low battery reserve are appearing earlier and more frequently than they once did...which you are perceiving as something wrong, as opposed to something right, with the computer.

For people who rely overmuch on remote use (on battery discharge to power machine), the battery can come to surprisingly early demise. That yellow indicator...

If the computer is running on a battery, the light operates as follows:

• Off: The battery is adequately charged (or the computer is turned off).
• Flashing orange: The battery charge is low.
• Solid orange: The battery charge is critically low.

Essentially, you should never let battery run very low because battery life is related to degree and frequency of discharge - batteries can die in months, or in years, based on how they are used. That's why batteries are always excluded from warranty.

One help is to use Dell default or better setting for power: where default equalizes power conservation and system performance, and better means lower performance, less power drain, to minimize power consumption. Of course, this applies to dc-/battery-powered use and not AC-powered use. You and your wife should read the manual, download it if not provided originally.

Finally, seemingly abnormally high hard disk use (flashing HDD indicator) is normal at startup for many dell notebooks/laptops ... because dell has partitioned the disk into C: and D: virtual drives: respectively, the operating system disk (partition) and the backup system disk. Dell has done this (at some cost in reduced system performance) for essentially its own purposes (but people not implementing personal backup routines/policies, which is the majority of computer purchasers, derive some benefit [in terms of computer on-the-fly self restoration] as well) ... to make remote computer diagnostics and repair cheaper and easier. Essentially, at startup (among other times) the computer takes a diagnostic scan (snapshot) of the entire system, which then written to the backup, D partition. If remote diagnosis is required during the warranty period, rather than ship the unit in or pay third party for diagnosis and repair, Dell needs only to connect over the internet to the laptop and then can access the D drive to make a diagnostic determination. After warranty expiration (Dell told me) the D; partition becomes largely superfluous or only supports paid for diagnosis, so can be removed (disk formatted to better performance single partition) if owner desires...and implements his own backup routines. Dell will also make available information whereby user can also access and use the D drive for free diagnosis ... but I have not tested that promise.

Hope this helps someone.

Lithium & LiPo (Laptop) batteries have a finite number of recharges, it can get less (because it was continually charged by a less than good charger, which appears to be the case for at least 50% of all laptops!), but it will never be more, so if you want your battery to last longer, take it out of the laptop when its about 50% charged only, when you are working where mains power is available.....

Even removing the mains plug when it gets to 100% and replacing it (as I used to recommend) when its at 25%, will still ruin the battery.....I put my battery in about 2 x per years for something or other that means going mobile.....

Its THAT simple......

Otherwise you will be buying a new battery every couple of years or so.

This is being written on a Toshiba Tecra A8 which was bought in 2006 and the battery is still perfect, because it only gets rarely put into the laptop!!