Desktop dead

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
20,819
Location
west Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Dave Taylor
Dell Dimension 3100
abt 3yrs old

When start button on unit is pressed, it beeps three times about 1/2second apart, pause and repeats about 3 times.

Monitor blank.

Light on start button remains lit.

I can only hear the fan going not the HD but it may be too quiet.

When I shut it down I only have tap the start
button, usually I would have to hold it down.

Troubleshoot or replace?
 
I started it again to hear the error beeps....and the d. thing started up!!

scuse me while I take this opportunity to make backups of recent entries!
I'll be right back to hear your solutions on my latest electronics problems!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I started it again to hear the error beeps....and the d. thing started up!!

scuse me while I take this opportunity to make backups of recent entries!
I'll be right back to hear your solutions on my latest electronics problems!
Click to expand...

The CMOS would fix the "invalid NVRAM" problem. I think you need a new battery.
 
Did it boot up with a current date? If not it's definately the battery on the motherboard.
 
gprellwitz said:
Can you tell these days? Don't they automatically get the time from ntp on startup?
Click to expand...

AFAIK, the hardware still has the date/time in the battery-backed CMOS clock. The OS gets the time by NTP when it loads.
 
mikea said:
AFAIK, the hardware still has the date/time in the battery-backed CMOS clock. The OS gets the time by NTP when it loads.
Click to expand...
Yes, but if the OS updates the CMOS clock as it loads, which I would expect it to do, how would you determine if the date had been reset after you've booted into it? You would need to go directly to the CMOS setup screen before going into the OS.
 
gprellwitz said:
Yes, but if the OS updates the CMOS clock as it loads, which I would expect it to do, how would you determine if the date had been reset after you've booted into it? You would need to go directly to the CMOS setup screen before going into the OS.
Click to expand...

You know because you'd get 3-3 beeps because the NVAM is corrupt due the dead battery. :D

You'd have to go directly into setup on a cold power up after it's been off for a while.

What Dave is seeing is BTW, what you're saying. He boots once with a dead CMOS battery and gets nowhere because the NVRAM is clear from lack of power. The AC power revives the NVRAM which bootloads factory settings from ROM and does a sanity check and the next boot works....and he's good until the next time the power goes off.
 
mikea said:
You know because you'd get 3-3 beeps because the NVAM is corrupt due the dead battery. :D

You'd have to go directly into setup on a cold power up after it's been off for a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, but remember that my post was in response to Pete's comment :yesnod::D:
vontresc said:
Did it boot up with a current date? If not it's definately the battery on the motherboard.
Click to expand...
 
It worked the rest of the day and I was able to get all the recent files off to two good backups.
I did not check the date, will try tomorrow.
If its a good date, is cannot be from any other source - no internet connection on this one or this 'network'.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
It worked the rest of the day and I was able to get all the recent files off to two good backups.
I did not check the date, will try tomorrow.
If its a good date, is cannot be from any other source - no internet connection on this one or this 'network'.
Click to expand...
Yes, that would have a bearing on my point. Basically to negate it for your case!:rofl:

Glad you were able to do a backup!
 
The Dell Dimension 3100 is a very generic model which had all kinds of different hardware put in it at different points in time. The Dell documentation never lins up unless you put their service code in (and even then its often for the wrong hardware).

It is likely that its a different motherboard and the 3 beeps === CMOS battery is not the issue. If it were the CMOS battery it would continue to post.
 
POST (Power On Self Test) Errors try their best to tell you what is wrong. When you only get beeps, that means the computer cannot display anything on the video display. That usually points to bad memory, bad motherboard or bad video board.

Open up the case and wiggle the memory and video board. That has worked for me about 60% of the time.
 
it failed to start once and then did start normally this am
the time and date are correct without external inputs
if it happens more, I will try wiggling the boards....think I can spray electrical ctc cleaner on them?
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
it failed to start once and then did start normally this am
the time and date are correct without external inputs
if it happens more, I will try wiggling the boards....think I can spray electrical ctc cleaner on them?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't need the contact cleaner. Just removing them and re-inserting them should do a good job. The wiping action cleans off the surfaces.
 
Now it is spontaneously shutting down and rebooting itself.
Just to add to the symptoms in hopes it will remind anyone of a diagnosis.
Have not yet reseated boards.
Tks.
 
Dave have you considered getting a typewriter???? You seem to have awful luck with all things electronic :D

I'll be back in Marfa for the wave camp. If you need a computer tech I think Adam, and I could be bribed with some Pizza Foundation pies:yesnod:
 
I had a similar problem spontaneously rebooting with a generic PC about 5 years old. It had an ASUS motherboard and I had installed the ASUS monitoring program running. I noticed that one of the monitored voltages was low - well outside normal operating limits. I replaced the power supply, about $40 and 1/2 hr work, and have had no problems since.

The power supply would probably be a relatively cheap and easy possible fix. They are usually easily removed with just a few screws. Just keep track of where all the wires go.
 
Spinrite....you think its a software problem then? (I have full backups).
The darned thing worked 100% yesterday.
 
Dave, just an idea... if you have a local Tech. school in your area that specializes in IT stuff, they might repair your PC for free. Just back-up all your files...

Or, find a 14 year old who's PC savy (most are) and he / she can fix it in minutes probably....
 
Andy:

Dave is more than 100 miles from the nearest traffic signal.

Really.

In his 'hood, fluorescent lighting is high-tech.
 
SCCutler said:
Andy:

Dave is more than 100 miles from the nearest traffic signal.

Really.

In his 'hood, fluorescent lighting is high-tech.
Click to expand...

LOL!!!! >

By the way, hope your ring of light is nice and bright :)
 
It didnt do it from when I first posted til today.
The morse code appears to be

_ _ _ _ _ _


with no longs or shorts (dots or dashes) that I can discern.
 
I will look today.

One more clue showed up yesterday. I was working about 4 feet away upon the desk which the 3100 was on. I dropped a screwdriver on the desk while the computer was working fine and it immediately crashed.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I will look today.

One more clue showed up yesterday. I was working about 4 feet away upon the desk which the 3100 was on. I dropped a screwdriver on the desk while the computer was working fine and it immediately crashed.
Click to expand...

Oh, that's not good. Sounds like the seismic bus has failed... you're going to need a new motherboard.
 
Simple solution to this problem.

Step 1: Find aircraft with a door that can be opened in flight (Piper Cub etc)
Step 2: load offending pc and friend into said plane
Step 3: fligh high above west texas desert
Step 4: have friend eject PC from plane over sparsely populated area taking care not to violate FAR 91.15

Problem solved :D

P.S. I would be nice to clean up the broken computer bits, as not to create an environmental hazard
 
vontresc said:
Simple solution to this problem.

Step 1: Find aircraft with a door that can be opened in flight (Piper Cub etc)
Step 2: load offending pc and friend into said plane
Step 3: fligh high above west texas desert
Step 4: have friend eject PC from plane over sparsely populated area taking care not to violate FAR 91.15

Problem solved :D

P.S. I would be nice to clean up the broken computer bits, as not to create an environmental hazard
Click to expand...
OR, after attempted repair fails, a suitable charge could be placed to replace steps 1-4 above:devil:! See you tomorrow Dave and Pete.
 
Ha, I got it going again and was messing with papers beside it. One particularly hard but not violent mashing of the paper punch and it spooled down.
Could it also not be a board connection rather than a loose device on the board, or a cracked device/printed cb?
I think someone mentioned reseating the boards, maybe its time to open it up.

Backups? Check.
Open puter, reseat everything and retest. Check.
Device failure? Check.
Send to Marfa for aerial assault on west Texas hardpan. Check.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Ha, I got it going again and was messing with papers beside it. One particularly hard but not violent mashing of the paper punch and it spooled down.
Could it also not be a board connection rather than a loose device on the board, or a cracked device/printed cb?
I think someone mentioned reseating the boards, maybe its time to open it up.

Backups? Check.
Open puter, reseat everything and retest. Check.
Device failure? Check.
Send to Marfa for aerial assault on west Texas hardpan. Check.
Click to expand...

It could be any of those. Also sounds like something could be grounding out against the case. Do you have a different power supply you can try with it?
 
vontresc said:
Simple solution to this problem.

Step 1: Find aircraft with a door that can be opened in flight (Piper Cub etc)
Step 2: load offending pc and friend into said plane
Step 3: fligh high above west texas desert
Step 4: have friend eject PC from plane over sparsely populated area taking care not to violate FAR 91.15

Problem solved :D

P.S. I would be nice to clean up the broken computer bits, as not to create an environmental hazard
Click to expand...

Do the best of both worlds. Spread a tarp first then...
attachment.php


attachment.php

and then funnel the pieces into a bag and and fly with it.
 

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Sounds to me like you have a faulty power supply, which probably overvolted the motherboard. That's why you're getting all those nice beeps.

If I remember right, the Dimension 3xxx series fits in an ATX case, so you should be able to replace the PSU fairly easily. Anything over 400 watts is overkill for that rig. But the motherboard is the biggest problem... When the power supply died, it could have potentially taken some, or all things with it. You have no way of testing this without a new motherboard.

If I remember correctly, my old Dell 3000 was a socket 478 Celeron, and you should be able to get a 478 mobo pretty cheaply on newegg.

This may be a bit out of your price range, but it's the only socket 478 board that I could find in a minute of searching. :p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138079

As for a PSU, I'd go with something like this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182023

Good luck!
 
Late Friday I opened it up, looked around. Recognized the dust but not much else. Blew it off, then proceeded to unplug then reseat every thing I could including USB card, network card, all the drive plugs, power plugs, ram(2).
Reassembled and started it up. It worked ok so I shut down and restarted it. Still ok (it does give one error message but you can F1 through it)
Its more of 'recreational computer troubleshooting' right now as I am in no serious hurry to replace it or fix it.
 
photo of insides
video of beep and light error codes
 

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