4700 Memory Problems

Hi

nothing on screen, fans are running and the green light on the front of the base unit on

yes I have gone thru various permutation of memory configuration, only using 1 DIMM in slot 1 - I have 2 x 256 and also 2 x 512 all confirmed to be working in another PC

is the motherboard dead ?

jfish99

Welcome to the Dell forums!

When you boot up, do you see nothing at all, the screen remains totally black? Can you hear fans running? Have you tried removing all memory, and placing your old memory one at a time and booting?

jfish99

Maybe

Power down and open case. Replace memory as it was originally. inspect and reconnect the wires coming from the PSU to various components. Do you have a stand alone video card? If so, remove and re-seat it. Reconnect everything and re-test. Still nothing? Take a video cable and monitor from a working system and switch them for yours; re-test. Still nothing? What beeps do you hear (pattern)? Re-post.

Almost sounds like you might have bad memory slots on your motherboard. Can you just insert one of the memory sticks in a slot and does it do the same thing?? Have you tried different slots with the memory?

You don't want ECC RAM.

I was hoping you could take a video cable and monitor from another system and try them, together, on yours; as well as other tests previously mentioned; and re-post.

Hi

I have gone thru various memory config

with memory in old slot 1 then only in slot 2 then only in slot 3 then only in slot 4 - same problem - this with all the memory I have.

I have tested with the existing memory and also with the new memory

however just now I had some ECC Reg RAM, inserted that into the motherboard and the BIOS beeped complaining about the ECC memory inserted.

the video card is on board - dont have a spare video card to test

the video cable/monitor plugged into my Comaq desktop and IBM ThinkPad laptop work fine, therefore nothing wrong with the video cable/monitor.

as the video is on board - dont have a spare video card to test - think I need a PCi Express card as well .. will see if I can borrow one from somebody and test it out

To be clear, I understand you to say that when you try to start your computer, nothing shows up on your monitor at all, stays black; but the fans and lights come on. The MB appears to have a problem. Installing a video card is an idea, but how can you go into the BIOS and change on-board graphics to PCI-E; when the BIOS screen never appears?

Remove all of your usb connections they are most likely causing a conflict, then once to get to the desk top add then reboot the system, to ensure that each one is working!  Also reseat your memory and reboot

Remove all of your usb connections they are most likely causing a conflict, then once to get to the desk top add one then reboot the system, to ensure that each one is working!  You should get all green lights! Also reseat your memory and reboot

You may have to remove  any cards that you have added to the systemto ensure there are no interrupt conflicts! Do this along with my earlier post!

to sumarise issue

a Dell 4700 Dimension, PC  boots up with green light on front fans running - the diagnostics lights on the back indicate amber for A B and green for C D which is an memory issue. However when I start PC up with no memory at all I get the POST beeps about no RAM installed. With RAM installed get no display on monitor - which works on my Compaq desktop and my IBM Thinkpad laptop.

I have purchased some new DDR2 memory - which works in another PC - tested with these and still get the same issue

no  onboard cards like Modem or VGA (as VGA in on board)

as suggested will try unplugging all USB connection also - at the moment no CD/DVD/Hard Disk are plugged in

will report back on issue

I suspect the motherboard is faulty