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Jason_csh

40 Posts

10480

November 27th, 2004 12:00

Dimension 4400 Processor failure ?

Hi all..
 
Yesterday/last night my Dell stated freezing in Windows and would not do anything forcing me to power off.  Then intermittently it would not boot up.
 
As of this morning it powers on, the drive spins up and then the machine stops and the processor light goes out without booting up.  Due to another recent issue with a new drive, I know that my main hard disk is healthy so does this indicate a processor failure ?  and if so, how do I go about getting another one from Dell.
 
It is/was a Intel P4 1.9GHZ
 
Any advice would be much appreciated.:smileysad:

ejn63

1 Rookie

 • 

87.5K Posts

November 27th, 2004 13:00

Your best bet is to download the manual for your system at support.dell.com - it will tell you what the LED patterns mean.

ejn63

1 Rookie

 • 

87.5K Posts

November 27th, 2004 13:00

What pattern of lights (ABCD-amber/green) is showing on the back panel?

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 27th, 2004 13:00

Thank ejn63, I'm prinitng it off right now.  Looking at the codes, as it happens I do seem to remember seeing a bunch of yellow lights on the back which indicates;

System board is receiving power, but the BIOS is not executing.

But I'll double check the pattern and follow any instructions from there if I am able to do so.

Thank you for helping me out :smileyhappy:

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 27th, 2004 13:00

Ah !  I haven't checked that out.  I'm at my folks house on their machine at the moment but will check the light on mine when I get home.

Are you able to advise me of the pattern and their meaning ? I can then print off your reply and take it with me incase I can't get mine up and running.

SR45

12.1K Posts

November 27th, 2004 14:00

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4400/codes.htm#1101572  This link will take you to our systems trouble lights.
 
Dim 4400 ( June 2002 )
2.6 ghz (upgrade from 1.7 ghz)
768 MB 2100 DDR Memory
Gainward Ti 4200 128 MB Nvidia
XP Home plus SP-2
17 inch Dell LCD monitor (1703 FP)
48 X CDRW

SR45

12.1K Posts

November 28th, 2004 09:00

You should also call tech support or e-mail tech support to have this on record, not just here

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 28th, 2004 09:00

Hi again,
 
Well.....I checked the lights last night and none of them were lit.  I did have power to the PC as it started up initially before dying.
 
Bizarelly this morning I have powered it up and it's booted as normal and I' using it to wrote this message.  I'm not sure how long it will last so I'll run some diagnostics on it now while I have the chance.
 
I'll post back later to let you kow the outcome :smileyhappy:

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 28th, 2004 10:00

I will do first thing tomorrow as they are closed today.  Interestingly though, I ran the extended diagnostics and no errors were reprted which makes it even more confusing.  Shortly after I posted my previous message the system locked up again.

SR45

12.1K Posts

November 28th, 2004 18:00

Keep us informed.  I too have the 4400 system and would like to know what the fix was

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 29th, 2004 04:00

Will do.  I think now that it might be the Motherboard.  I keep getting different error lights on the back and now I'm using the system to type this but it will lock up soon I think.
 
I'll post again later when I have spoken to Dell Tech Support.

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 29th, 2004 07:00

Ok, I have just spoken to Dell Tech Support and the guy has advised me to roll back my BIOS upgrade to A05 as they are still doing tests with A06 and it might be that which is causing the problem.
 
I was a bit surprised as A06 has been out for over 2 years, but thinking about it, these freezing/non booting problems did start soon after I flashed to A06.
 
I'll try A05 when I get home tonight and post the outcome (assuming I can use my machine) :smileyindifferent:

Jason_csh

40 Posts

November 29th, 2004 19:00

SR45,
 
It turned out to be a BIOS issue by the looks of it.  A06 just didn't do my system any good.  I rolled back to A05 and this was much better, but I still got a lock up.
 
I'm now running with A03 and this seems very stable (touch wood) and all seems fine.  As for my hard drive problem (Seagate 16gb) I ran a SeagteTools extended diag on it and it returned the following error; (long paste)
 
So I need to double check the disk because of my lockups and see how it goes.
 
SeaTools Desktop v3.00.07
Copyright (c) 2004 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
11/29/2004 @ 8:47 PM
The following information has been generated by SeaTools Desktop.  Use
this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access
problems.

System Information:
BIOS Date                 01/08/02
Conventional Memory size   639 K
Extended Memory size      58532 K
IO Channel type            PCI
 
Drive Information:
SIZE         MODEL
---------    ---------------------
160 GB       ST3160023A                             

Serial Number = 3LJ21DZB
Int13 Num = 81, PHYS CHS = 16383x16x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 19457x255x63
PARTITION       CYLINDER          SIZE
----------      ------------      ----
 #   Type       Start    End      MB
 PRIMARY
 1   NTFS       0        19456    160049

Diagnostic Results:
Seagate DiagATA Quick Test Result:  Passed
    Recommendation:
    The "Quick Test" is adequate for most situations.
    Consider running the "Full Test" which
    verifies each sector on the drive if you need to run a more
    comprehensive diagnostic.
 
Results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
              DIAGATA.EXE Version 3.07.40526ML
Copyright (c) 2002 by Seagate Technology, LLC.  All rights reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Timer Resolution: 0.000122
Short Test Begin: 29-Nov-2004 19:45:45
Cable Test - 0 Errors
Buffer Test - 0 Errors
Identify Data
   Model Number: ST3160023A
   Serial Number: 3LJ21DZB
   Firmware Revision: 8.01
   Default CHS: 16383-16-63
   Current CHS: 16383-16-63
   Current Capacity: 16514064 Sectors
   Total Capacity: 312581808 Sectors
   Conductor Cable Reported
   ID Method: CSEL
SMART Check: Passed
DST - Passed
PIO/DMA Data Compare
   Total Bytes = 8245248
   Estimated PIO Transfer Rates
      Min: 2.24MB/s Max: 2.33MB/s Avg: 2.29MB/s
   Estimated DMA Transfer Rates
      Min: 73.58MB/s Max: 367.91MB/s Avg: 91.35MB/s
SMART Check: Passed
Short Test Passed: 29-Nov-2004 19:46:26

-----------------------------------------------------------------
End results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI
ATA Full Test Result:  Passed
 
Results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
              DIAGATA.EXE Version 3.07.40526ML
Copyright (c) 2002 by Seagate Technology, LLC.  All rights reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Timer Resolution: 0.000123
Long Test Begin: 29-Nov-2004 19:46:28
Cable Test - 0 Errors
Buffer Test - 0 Errors
Identify Data
   Model Number: ST3160023A
   Serial Number: 3LJ21DZB
   Firmware Revision: 8.01
   Default CHS: 16383-16-63
   Current CHS: 16383-16-63
   Current Capacity: 16514064 Sectors
   Total Capacity: 312581808 Sectors
   Conductor Cable Reported
   ID Method: CSEL
SMART Check: Passed
Full Scan (0 to 312581808) - Passed
   Elapsed Time: 1.01 Hours
   Estimated Internal Transfer Rates
      Min: 28.43Mb/s Max: 772.75Mb/s Avg: 370.07Mb/s
PIO/DMA Data Compare
   Total Bytes = 20680704
   Estimated PIO Transfer Rates
      Min: 2.25MB/s Max: 2.32MB/s Avg: 2.28MB/s
   Estimated DMA Transfer Rates
      Min: 73.34MB/s Max: 122.23MB/s Avg: 90.00MB/s
Long Test Passed: 29-Nov-2004 20:47:14

-----------------------------------------------------------------
End results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI
 
  File Structure Test Result:  
    Partition 1 (NTFS (160 GB) No Name)    Result: Failed with critical Errors

    NOTE:  Any report of possible errors in the file system tests are for
    informational purposes only.  We suggest you should consider testing with
    the official file system diagnostic utilities for your operating system.
    Seagate is not able to assist with troubleshooting or reviewing
    file system test results.
 
******************************************

Recommendation:
All selected physical diagnostics passed.
If you are not experiencing data loss and SeaTools reports File
System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or
failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors
may be repaired through normal system maintenance which
includes using the Windows provided "Defrag" and
"Scandisk / Chkdsk / Error Checking" utilities.
If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate
the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how
to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After
completing any maintenance tasks, run SeaTools again to
verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to
occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer
professional.
 

========================================================
 

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