Dimension 8400 boot issue

Sorry---but this will not be a response for resolution to your issue.  I'm having a somewhat similiar problem with my own Dell Dimension 8400 (which I've had since late 2004).  The PC is loaded with Windows Vista & has 2 GB of RAM.  It's a Pentium IV, 2.8 Mhz......What happens when I try to power up my PC is the Dell logo comes on the screen & normally you can hit F2 or F12 to go into the boot or setup menus.  It doesn't even bring up the Windows flash screen....So, when I try & hit F2/F12 (or any other of the F-function buttons), nothing happens.  Throughout the years, I've had various hard drive issues....The PC would sometimes lock up or when I boot up the PC, there would be some kind of "hard drive" failure message.  But if I powered it down & powered it back up, everything would be back to "normal" (i.e., I could get into Windows, etc).  I have a friend that told me (without looking at it---& me just telling him the issue) it might be a BIOS issue.  I'm thinking that after all the years of the hard drive "getting by" that it finally might have just bit the dust.  Anyone have further thoughts on this issue?  I spent quite a bit for the PC a few years back so even if I have to spend a few hundred to get it fixed, I'll probably do it.  But it would be good to know what the issue(s) is & what I might be looking at investing to get it fixed.  Thanks in advance for any feedback on the matter.

Jason

Long explanation coming sorry :) I have had the Dimension 8400 for a few years now and I am very happy with it. Recently there is an issue of when its powered off and I press to turn it on it reaches the normal XP logo with the green bar but then it blanks out with no cpu activity. Normally if I press and hold the power button for it to turn off and turn it on it will either load the second time or if not it I have been able to load it into safe mode and then restarting into normal mode from there is no problem. Restarts seem to be ok in general. I have tried to look inside for things like seating or loose cables and I don't see any problem. Cleared the dust a bit while I was there. All fans seem to be working. Ran a multitude of security stuff (spybot, spyware terminator, ad-aware, AVG, rootkit revealer) all negative. Looked into system and application logs in event viewer, no errors that I can see. My guess is maybe PSU or graphics card issue, I guess I can replace them if needed but I was hoping to find tips as to which is more likely or if its possible that it's more something serious with the motherboard. Another thing that I started seeing perhaps a few days before the boot issue is the monitor getting brighter and dimmer randomly once in a while. I plugged the monitor into my brothers' computer and it was ok so that may be another clue as to what is going on in the PC. This is Windows XP pro, hadn't done anything, installed, upgraded anything when I first started noticing this. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

thegazer

Did you also, clean the case fan, heatsink cooling fins and the air intakes in the front panel?

When the problem happens, is the power button LED, solid green, blinking green, solid amber, blinking amber and what is the sequence of the diagnostic lights on the back panel of the case, see HERE.

Bev.

Hi Bev, thank you for the reply. I opened the case again this morning and cleaned every part you mentioned, there is less dust in there now. Booted up and waited, got the windows logo on the black screen with the bar below it and then like before after that it went blank. I waited a couple of minutes, all the while watching both the power LED and back panel lights. the power LED remained green all the while I was watching and after going through a series of yellow and green flashes (just when I had powered on) all four back panels remained green.

thegazer

Have you tried removing and reseating the PCIe x16 video card?

While the case is open, check the motherboard for any capacitors with bulging tops or are leaking,the tops should be perfectly flat.

Bev.

Thank you for replying Bev. I tried to look closely, don't see any bulges. Removed and reseated the video card, this is the second reboot since and both have gone well. But just in case and since the issue wasn't happening every time, can you please tell me what you would have suggested if the issue was still occuring after all your help so far? I hope it's ok to not mark this solved for now.

thegazer

Try a different PCIe x16 graphics card.

Bev.

Had he found bulging or leaking capacitors, what would you have advised him to do?  I had inhome service under warranty done about a year ago and the technician who performed the work said that there was a known defect in the 8400's motherboard that resulted in the capacitors going bad.  Are you familiar with this issue?

Robert

Had he found bulging or leaking capacitors, what would you have advised him to do?  I had inhome service under warranty done about a year ago and the technician who performed the work said that there was a known defect in the 8400's motherboard that resulted in the capacitors going bad.  Are you familiar with this issue? Robert

Robert.

Yes, I've been aware of that issue, plus the issue about the heatsinks for several years, as I have a 8400.

If there are any bad caps, the motherboard needs to be replaced.

There's also THIS company that can replace the motherboard's capacitors, but I've not used their services and so have no comment about their viability.

Bev.

What about the heatsinks?  How can I tell if a capacitor has gone bad?  Are there visual or other clues obvious to a non-technical owner?  When this was mentioned to me, I contacted, as I recall, while my system was still under warranty.  I got no response on this. Another question: Can the PSU of the 8400 be upgraded? By the way, are you  familiar with the PSU issue regarding the new i7 processor systems and the ATI radeon 4850 (minimum power requirement = 450 watts;  Dell's shipping PSU=350 watts)?

It would seem that some the 8400 six pipe heatsinks installed by Dell had problems, causing the system case fan, to sound like a 747 taking off.

I had one of those systems and ended up replacing the default heatsink, with a Zalman CNPS7700-Cu, that took care of the noise problem, the 8400 is now runs silent.

THIS should help you identify bad caps.

Yes, the power supply can be upgraded, the 8400 systems can use most standard generic ATX power supplies, with either a 24-pin or 20+4-pin main motherboard power connector, without the on/off switch and a minimum of two SATA power connectors.  If a power supply with the switch is installed, you will need to cut a hole in the back panel for it.

No, as of this date, I've not heard of any problems with the i7 systems.

Bev.