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fan and video

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4 replies

by k2

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I have a dell xps gen 3 (4 years old which I use) and an older dell dimension xps (10 years? which I no longer use). I thought I'd see if there were any compatible components to swap out before sending the older dell to the attic. I disconnected my newer dell and took it to my room where the older one is currently stored. After opening both cases and determining there was nothing I could swap I closed both systems and reconnected everything back to my newer dell. Upon turning on the system the fan ran really fast and continued to do so. The monitored displayed a message that said "monitor is in safe mode activate using pc". The diagnostic lights show a yellow a and c and green b and d, which from the dell sight means something is wrong with the graphics card. I tried removing the card and re-installing it but I get the same thing. This has never happened before. I have an nvidia g force 6800 card. Any ideas?

4 replies

by tintoman

That when you were re connecting the VGA or DVI cable you bent one of the pins at the computer end of th cable, if you are careful you might be able to straighten it but PLEASE make sure you disconnect it from the monitor first or at least turn it off

by thechas

Aside from poor or damaged connections, there is a good chance that your CMOS battery is weak.

Things worked fine as long as you were plugged into a power outlet. As soon as you unplugged the power, the CMOS battery was not able to source enough voltage to maintain the BIOS settings.

Replace the CMOS battery and perform the reset CMOS process. (Usually, you set a jumper, press the power switch, move the jumper back.) Then, enter BIOS setup on the next boot and set your CMOS settings.

If you are storing the older Dell. (Why not donate it to Goodwill or another charity that recycles computers?) It would be a good idea to remove the CMOS battery from it.

Chas

by mjd420nova

I have seen this before with a bent pin on the monitor connector causing the fault. In one case the pin actually shorted to another pin and bles the video card. I was able to replace the bent pin and unsolder/resolder and new driver transistor on the video card to get things going again. The transistor cost two bucks and the user was advised to not be so heavy handed when connecting his monitor the next time. I hope it's just a bent or broken pin as few service centers will do any component level repairs and just replace the card.

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