Computer Won't Start, Fan on Full Blast

 Shteve

What is the reading of the power button LED, green, blinking green, solid amber, blinking amber?

Check the sequence of the diagnostic lights on the back panel of the case.

Dell's XPS G3 Troubleshooter is HERE. 

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Bev.

I found a picture in the manual of where the lights are (or should be) so I will check on those again when I get home which likely won't be till very late tonight.

Now, I am slightly colorblind, but the power button appeared to be a solid amber. Aside from that, I was unable to locate the diagnostic lights last night ( I believe I couldn't find them last time I looked when I had a very simple problem 5 years ago).

I assume they wouldn't really be hidden, but I could not find them on the exterior of the case. I doubt I had overlooked them as my room was pretty dark and any lights would have stood out pretty well. Should I be looking inside the case for these lights, or is it possible my model for some strange reason does not include them?

First of all I would like to thank you for all your help on this issue. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get replies or how much they would help and you've been extremely helpful for both of those.

I finally got around to testing those other things last night and unfortunately there was no change. I haven't looked around and prices and availability for replacing my motherboard and/or processor, but I figure it wouldn't be worth buying new ones for an 6+ year old system. Thanks again for all your help.

 Shteve

Sorry to hear that and personally, like you,  I would place the money the repairs cost, towards buying a new system with Windows 7, as the XPS G3 has a lot of Dell proprietary parts, especially the power supply.

Bev.

BearPa.

Answered in your other post HERE

Bev.

Have similar problem and just posted a new thread on it: Power supply test - on button . . etc. (10-28-2010 9:01 PM)  Any thoughts appreciated!     - Bear

Funny, I too have an XPS Gen 3 that had this almost identical problem appear about two weeks ago.

Mine is a bit strange however, as I am posting this reply from the computer with the problem.

Two weeks ago, I started the computer up, and got only a series of beeps, I believe 1-3-2, the code indicating a memory problem.  After a couple of tries, the computer started up correctly, and I immediately did a full external backup of everything just in case.  It was time to do that anyway, my system was due for its yearly reformat. :)

So, after the backup competed, I shut down the computer with the intention of cleaning out the dust that collects in the video card.  After this, the computer began refusing to start, giving me a full blast from the fans.  I reseated the ram modules and video card several times, and managed to get it to start once or twice before it finally stopped booting. 

I believe the light code on the back was B-D.

Now the kicker.. I went away for the past two weeks on business, and just returned tonight.. and now it works again (for the moment, no idea if it would start again).  It did start up with beeps at first, but after one or two tries, it booted fine, and I'm posting from it now.  Is there any way to diagnose more directly what might be wrong, or even fix it?  The errors seem to indicate a memory or maybe video card problem, but I imagine fixing this system up may be a lost cause since it's so old.  I don't plan on spending a bunch of money on it, but I'm going to miss WinXP if I need to get an entirely new desktop, so I'd like to keep it useable if I can.

This thing is over 6 years old now, so I kind of expect the hardware to be shot, but my hard drives seem to be fine, so I'll probably be migrating them directly to a new system when I get one.  In the meantime I'm surviving on my laptop, which is only a year old.

Chronocidal Guy

You could start with running Dell Diagnostics extended test on the XPS G3 and see if it finds any hardware issues.

Bev.

I'd love to, unfortunately it seems to be dead again this morning.  No high-powered fan blasts, but it'll do one of two things when I try to start it:

1: No beep code, no light code on the back, but the power light remains amber the entire time

2: System will initially spin up quickly (as if it's going to start up), then stop for a moment (as if it's turned off), then come back on, this time with an amber power indicator, 1-3-2 beep code, and the B-D light code on the back.

I'm not worried about data loss, since I just backed up, and the hard drives still seem to be perfectly fine, but if it can be fixed by something like a new video card or ram, I wouldn't mind shelling out a few bucks to get it running, even with how old it is. 

Anything more complicated than that though, I'll probably just go for an entirely new system, probably an Alienware to help with all the graphics rendering work I do.

I'd love to, unfortunately it seems to be dead again this morning.  No high-powered fan blasts, but it'll do one of two things when I try to start it: 1: No beep code, no light code on the back, but the power light remains amber the entire time 2: System will initially spin up quickly (as if it's going to start up), then stop for a moment (as if it's turned off), then come back on, this time with an amber power indicator, 1-3-2 beep code, and the B-D light code on the back. I'm not worried about data loss, since I just backed up, and the hard drives still seem to be perfectly fine, but if it can be fixed by something like a new video card or ram, I wouldn't mind shelling out a few bucks to get it running, even with how old it is.  Anything more complicated than that though, I'll probably just go for an entirely new system, probably an Alienware to help with all the graphics rendering work I do.

Chronocidal Guy

Blinking amber, or solid amber?

Diagnostic lights YGYG indicate a possible graphic card issue, first try removing the card and reinstalling it and see if this makes a difference.

Bev.

Mine is a XPS Gen 4. I went away on vacation for 10 days and shut my computer down, came home and now it won't start up. Turn it on, light says solid green and fan runs like crazy. Lights on back suggest video card, a & c are amber, b & d are green. So, from what I'm reading here going to remove and then put back in the video card. Right??

daisyann

YGYG diagnostic lights usually indicates a video card issue, try removing  the card from the slot, then reinstall it and see if this makes a difference.

The XPS G4 Diagnostic Guide and Troubleshooter, is HERE 

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Bev.