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Dell Dimension 9100

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16 replies

by ron k. 1 view

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I turned the computer off and pulled the power cord during a lightning storm. When I plugged it back in it wouldn't boot and the power supply fans wouldn't turn.
I assumed that the PS had died and bought a more powerful supply.
Everything is connected, the 115/220v switch is in the right position and the power supply switch is turned on.
When plugged in the PS fans whir briefly, something that didn't happen with the old PS, but the computer still won't boot. No BIOS information, nothing, just a brief whir.
I connected the power cord to a known good outlet. Whir. Nothing.
Of note, the PS exhaust air was very warm, hot, when I unplugged the old one.
I'm ready to cannibalize the thing for parts but I'd like more than a clue as to why it died the way it did.
Any suggestions, besides what I can go do with myself?

16 replies

by santeewelding

The "during" that you mentioned, as in turning it off and unplugging during the storm; not, "before" the storm.

by ron k.

It's probably toasted somehow.
I'm not spending another dime on it. I'll pull the parts and will likely ditch the case too.
I have clean backups of all of my data so it's not that much of an issue.

by seanferd

Could be the button is bad. Have you tried holding it down to see if it boots further?

by ron k.

No go. I should dismantle the case further so I can see the power button and try it, maybe splice another one in there. Dell doesn't make that part easily accessable.

by ron k.

I haven't found how to get to it yet.
While looking for a way I saw the button blinking orange. I pulled the 'data' cable to the back of it, reconnected it, after having to pull the CPU fan and ductwork. Now it doesn't even blink orange. :D

by seanferd

Oh well, you may have found your problem, though. Loose leads sink... computers, I guess.

Yeah, I have an Optiplex 745 with the Small Form Factor disease. Power button is behind the fan, and I have to pull out two or three other things just to remove the fan safely.

Good luck!

by mafergus

You can get em everywhere. I know tigerdierct had em for under $10 bucks, but I'd be willing to bet money that you have something on the mother board loading down the PS. When they initialize, if the load is off, then they shut down to protect themselves.

by ron k.

It seems unlikely that both a new PS and the old one would both be bad.
I did get it to boot to the past the BIOS screen where it told me that I need to hit F2 to access the BIOS screen for setup. At that time the C:\ drive wasn't hooked up.
I unplugged it and hooked up the primary drive, booted past the BIOS screen and was told to hit F1 because the secondary drive could not be found, as I'd switched power and data leads.
I never reached Windows and since then I've not been able to get the PC to even power on.
PC for sale cheap. :)
I'm tired of messing with it. I'll pull the RAM modules one by one later. I'll also pull the PCIe card to see if I get a series of beeps. If so I may buy a cheap PCIe video card and give it a go again.
Troubleshooting something that semi-boots intermittently is frustrating.
If it's the motherboard or the CPU it's toast as far as I'm concerned. I'll gut it and save the new PS for a spare as my mew PC has a drive the makes a weird noise upon start up, occasionally. It's still under warranty. Their tech support heard the noise over the phone but the PS doesn't always make the noise so they're not sending a new PS.
Sux to be me, sometimes.

by ron k.

According to what I've read at Dell the flashing orange power button could be either a bad power supply or a motherboard.
I'm going with it being a bad motherboard after trying 2-new power supplies.
I'm tired of screwing with it so I may strip it for parts, definitely my new power supply.
The data is safe and backed up so that isn't an issue.

by robo_dev

:)

Of course I could do with few less of these 'learning opportunities' from time to time.

by santeewelding

Under my desk. When I push it, someone somewhere in the world experiences a "learning opportunity".

Don't tell Ron.

by mafergus

Everybody always thought I was paranoid. It's good to know I am right sometimes!

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