Dimension E310 Black Screen

We need to isolate this to the computer or the monitor. Do you have another way to test the monitor like on another system or perhaps you have another monitor to try on the 310.

At the moment this can be a monitor issue, a video card issue or motherboard.

To help. when you power on the system look at the color and condition of the power button light. look at the diagnostic lights, Do you hear the fans spinning up, do the hard drive and optical drives spin up, do you hear any beeps.

See HERE

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

for info on the power button and diagnostic lights.

Note all these indications and report back.

actually my brother has an E310 system and I will go and test the monitor on his system tomorrow

thanks for the reply

Davet50 , I'm currently having this same issue. I am positive it is not the monitor....   The fans definetly spin, I have not heard any beeps.  The power light is solid orange. Any help would be very very much appreciated.

I know that this post is over 4 years old, but I’m hoping that someone here has figured this problem out. Because I’m having the same problem! The power light is orange (amber) and no diagnostic lights are lit. The fan sounds like it’s on and you can feel the air flow out back of the computer. The monitor tested out fine as I hook up my netbook to it and everything looked just fine. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks!

My first suspicion is the power supply, and I'd test it by swapping in a known good unit. If that didn't correct the problem, I'd be suspecting the mainboard next.

Additional info... I lent my computer to a family friend and from what I understand she was looking at some video online (she likes to watch Korean or Japanese TV show dramas) the screen went black and the computer started to reboot then she saw what I think was a BIOS screen as she remembered the strike F1 or F2 keys... so she hit F1 to continue and the computer was stuck on the Windows logo screen and never booted to the user screen.

You might try removing the coin-shaped battery from the mainboard for a minute or so.

Interesting... I’ve been researching this situation where the Dell E310 won’t boot (also black screen, bios screen) and I have never come across that option... Removing the coin battery this will reset the BIOS? Please explain why remove the coin battery for a minute or so? I know how to see the BIOS what key to press on boot up. There are many options to set in the BIOS so your saying something went wrong with one of the BIOS settings? Is it something you can have me check? So far I’ve checked all the USB ports on the computer and they all look fine no cracked plastic or grounding pins. I unplugged all the USB except for the keyboard and mouse and tried to reboot no change. Apparently there seem to be an issue with this model there seems to be others experiencing this same problem. Many thanks for your help.

Hello Bentar I have a Dell Dimension 3100 and it's has a manual, it's the same PC as yours.

Did you add anything new to it ?

Can you get into the BIOS. Keep pressing F2, anything on screen ?

Have you got an AIR DUSTER.

Entering System Setup

1 Turn on (or restart) your computer.

2 When the blue DELL™ logo is displayed, you must watch for the F2 prompt to appear.

3 Once this F2 prompt appears, press immediately.

I F THE POWER LIGHT IS STEADY AMBER — A device might be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed.

• Remove and then reinstall the memory modules (see page 67).

• Remove and then reinstall any cards (see page 69).

I F THE POWER LIGHT IS BLINKING AMBER — The computer is receiving electrical power, but an

internal power problem might exist.

• Ensure that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power at your location (if applicable).

• Ensure that the processor power cable is securely connected to the system board (see page 65).

With any luck... I'll get some help?! My apologies in advance for the long post...plus I am new to the forum!

I own a Dell 3100 E310 machine running Windows XP Professional (nothing special or added to it)... I used it for music production. My problem is I did a Windows update on my PC and after installation it gave me the option to restart for the updates to take effect. (clicked yes/restart now) ...PC boots up to the tune of "NTLDR missing or corrupt" ...I found out what the problem was and fixed it... Reboot... Second reboot states "hal.dll file is missing or corrupt" found and fixed the problem... Reboot #3 ...I get the BIOS splash screen...followed by the 8 bit Windows loading screen... Followed by a black screen and nothing! Meaning no movement/visuals/mouse cursor/login screen/ect.. Now, I power the machine off again for what will now be the 4th reboot... I select "SAFE MODE" to no avail... It was hanging at "mup.sys" ...now it hangs at "aswRvrt" (associated with Avast) ...5th reboot.. My selection is "Last Known Good Configuration" in which I get the same results as REBOOT #3!!! ***I have tried MOST options given on boot screen! I.e. Safe Mode Safe, Mode With Networking, Safe Mode With Command Prompt, Start Windows Normally.... What I DID NOT try was Enable Boot Logging, Enable VGA Mode, Directory Services Restore Mode, Debugging Mode... Dont have to use "Disable auto restart" being as though its NOT on a reboot loop.

That''s my story in a nutshell! ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

Just in case: Dell System DV051, Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz, Installed memory 2.0 GB DDR2

**EXTRAS** ...NOTHING but the keyboard and mouse are plugged in to the usb slot. No other external HHDs or anything. There has NOT been any beeping of any kind from the PC at all!

I have heard that it COULD be something so simple as dust causing overheating to memory to power supply.. 

..:Question!!!:.. (Windows Recovery Console) Whats the difference between RECOVERY and REPAIR??

Once again, thanks in advance!

This thread is five years+ old and has been locked, anyone with a similar issue, please use the 'New post' feature at the top of this page.

Bev.