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February 24th, 2013 17:00
Dell Optiplex GX520 Computer comes on, but no screen
I am trying to fix a Dell Optiplex GX 520 OS Windows XP pro. The computer comes on, you can hear and see the fans running, but no screen of any sort just a black screen. I have added a PCI Video card because that was the first thing that came to mind. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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rdunnill
8 Professor
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February 24th, 2013 20:00
Try removing the CMOS battery for a minute or so. If that doesn't work, I suspect the power supply or motherboard may be failing.
skylarking
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February 24th, 2013 21:00
If clearing the CMOS by removing the battery does not help you, consider some further fault finding.
The system goes through a POST (power on self test) during boot up process and the front diagnostic lights will flash as the POST proceeds. These diagnostic lamps, as specified in the user manual, give you a good idea of what is happening during boot.
These diagnostic lamps work in conjunction with BEEP codes and power button lamp when fault finding.
You could use such information as a fault finding method to check if the BIOS is booting as it should.
For example, pull all cards, memory and CPU from the motherboard and check that the system does not boot with a posts error of "a processor failure has occurred" (lamp 4 on). Install the CPU and reboot and you should get a POST error of "no memory module detected" (lamp 1 on). Install memory and reboot and see if you get a POST error of "possible hard drive failure has occured (lamp 2 & 3 on). etc, etc. During these errors, you will also get a beep code.
In my case, i had a corrupted BIOS that would not allow the system to POST at all, nothing was displayed on the monitor and no beep codes were herd and all diagnostics lamps were off with no flashing of these lamps as POST progressed. Oddly the fan would spin up. On another Dell system i had, it would just spin up the fan with nothing else happening other than the fan getting faster and faster and faster. Both units weren't worth repairing these hardware faults, so i used the few good bits as parts. My other GX520 is still going very strong.
speedstep
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February 25th, 2013 10:00
Adding a PCI video card will not work ESPECIALLY if its not PCI 2.3 even with that you will have to hook up 2 monitors to enable the PCI video. 5V cards will fit in the slot but unless it has 2 keyways(PCI 2.3) and meets the full PCI 2.3 spec with buffers near the edge connector it will NEVER work.
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