Issue w/ OptiPlex GXMT 5200

Question

System: Dell OptiPlex GXMT 5200
Windows ME
32MB 72-pin EDO SIMM RAM
200mHz Pentium processor
Quantum Fireball 3200AT Hard Drive
NEC CD-ROM
Creative Labs RW121032E CD-Recorder

Today I attempted to start up this machine, which had been rescued from certain destruction. The computer appeared to start up just fine, whirring and chirping right along, and even displayed the Windows ME startup screen.

Then . . . nothing. The screen went totally blank, even though the hard disk went on its' merry way. Resetting resulted in a repeat of this behaviour. While this was happening I noticed that the activity light for the CD-ROM would rapidly blink on and off. So I shut the machine off and disconnected both the CD-ROM and the CD-Recorder. This time I got a message upon boot that there was a hard disk failure, even though the drive sounded as though it was operating just fine.

Next I hit F2 to check the BIOS settings, and reset the startup disk to the "Hard Disk Only" option, and checked to see if "Password Enabling" was set to "On", which it was not. Nothing else appeared to be out of the ordinary, so I then rebooted. The result was the same as before.

What am I missing here?

J3st3rrm499 · Answer

I had the same issue (sort of).. just today i got an old gs 5200 dell computer from a friend that he wanted fixed.... so upon recieving the computer i checked it out ... his hard drive seemed a little small so i stuck a 6.2 gig in it.. when i booted it showed the winxp logo and started booting fine untill like he said above.. the screen went blank and i got nothing from the machine..... i never had a cd rom installed though.. .. when i rebooted to see if it were maybe a one time error or something it gave me the error 'Hard disk controller 1 failure' .. which seems odd because i had just booted from this machine 5 minutes ago.... i'd like any kind of information avaliable... seeing as how this computer was built by dell and my friends money (although it may have been years ago).. went to dell and its persons.. i think he's entitled to at least some kind of explanation as to why this would be happening (also, dont try and say that somtimes old devices go bad.. because i have many 486 and older cpu's sitting around that work perfectly)

speedstep · Answer

These systems are very slow and basically junk now.
Old hard drives do not last very long.

You can use 20 gig drives in them with the latest bios.

Personally I used to have these in my lab. Never any problems until the power supplies and hard drives started going dead due to dust and age.

I suspect the systems you have are ones with failed power supply fans
AND really old hard drives of the under 20 gig size.

Optiplex GX1's are a better buy these days being Pentium3 upgradeable and they take up to 768 MEGS of pc100 SDRAM.

Any such systems I had arround I tossed out all of them after scarfing the floppy drives,
cables, power supply and power cord. Those Items can be RE-used in newer systems like GX1 or GX110 because they are the same design.

There is no common flaw with these systems as I had them from the early 1990's until Oct 2004. Many of them Ran in the lab for 12 years without problems.

I didnt bother to save them ram from them due to their advanced age.

J3st3rrm499 · Answer

as i said above.. i put a new hard drive in it (also i didnt say this but... i cleaned the inside of the case with air duster before turning the computer on so as to avoid any possible dust short issues.. which DOES happen because i've done it)... the power supply fan works perfectly... also if i wanted a new computer i would have bought one but seeing as how im FIXING this one.. i'd rather not chunk a few hundred down on even a moderate p3 computer.... also if i were going to i would definitely not buy it from dell considering the seeming lack of technical support from any qualified dell employee about any of the issues i have been having. also one more thing to clear this up... i have my A+ and i am certified to work on and repair computers and the like... and unlike my spelling and grammar skills i am at least moderately talented in the area of computer maintenance and repair... and i took the proper safety steps before even opening the case (ground wrist strap.. holding the side of the case... unplugging everything.. yaddayaddayadda)... but i do really appreciate the post and perhaps maybe you can shed a little more light on the issue than 'buy a new computer' next time you reply to one of mine.. thank you for your time

J3st3rrm499 · Answer

Update: i got another optiplex GS 5200m computer from school (once again they wanted it fixed so they came to me).. i installed a hard drive and nic card as well as windows xp (which was a pain in the rear considering the fact that you cant boot from CD rom with these computers and the windows xp startup disk only accepts win98 and higher (dont ask me... i just follow the rules.. i've booted with windows xp startup disks before but i cant find one with cd support).. anyway this computer worked perfectly.. as a matter of fact i was very impressed with its performance for a short time.. but now exactly 2 days later.. after i've been on the computer.. downloaded games.. installed updates..... yadda yadda yadda.... it gives me the error 'hard disk controller 0 failure'..... this seems to be an intermitten problem with the dell hardware and not the specific computers seeing as how i have seen 5 of them do this exact thing to me..... if there are any support personell at Dell that would like to give me some information on how i might go about fixing this (aside from buying a new system).. please post..   and im sorry about the penmanship but im not terribly worried about making a professional copy of a forum post.. thank you for your time

speedstep · Answer

There are no drives smaller than 20 gigs that are "new".

Talking about putting used 6.4 gig drives in a system and then being unhappy when they fail is silly.

Putting Used motor oil in a car or used filters wouldnt be a good idea either.

At a minimum you need to buy a new drive, update the bios, set the drive for cable select,
then format with win95B, WIN95C, or WIN98, WIN98SE fat32.

Less than $100 you can get a GX1.

Less than $100 you can get a 20 gig drive.

Dell bashing isnt going to get any indian techs to jump up and help you with a 7 year old system.

mvhetes · Answer

>These systems are very slow and basically junk now. Old hard drives do not last very long.

The systems MAY be old and slow, but blanket statements like "Old hard drives do not last very long" are a lot of bunk. If it read "Old hard drives THAT ARE POORLY MADE do not last very long" it would ring true. I have several 9+ year old Seagate and IBM drives that purr along just fine, thank you, and have every intention of sticking with quality manufacturers such as them.

After reading all of the above messages my question(s) remain unanswered, at least in a helpful way. What I still seek is a clear, definitive explanation as to WHY this issue is occurring even if, in the long run, the machine winds up getting trashed. If it is a clear BIOS matter, please state so. If otherwise, please offer a clear, concise explanation. I'm not an expert, but I'm not asking for much.

MasterSlave · Answer

You seem to be the only one that is rude here. Speedstep is right. You cannot expect older systems to last forever. Power supplies and static and handling can also cause good to go bad. It would appear pointless to give you any advice since you seem to reply to it with anger and rudeness.

You probably wont get any further replys on this thread. Perhaps you should start another with less vinegar and more honey.

mvhetes · Answer

>You seem to be the only one that is rude here. Speedstep is right. You cannot expect older systems to last forever. Power supplies and static and handling can also cause good to go bad. It would appear pointless to give you any advice since you seem to reply to it with anger and rudeness.<

Perhaps you didn't bother to check WHO was reponding to WHOM. (Try reading the member names next time.) If fact the only one being rude here is you, for making such unsubstantiated accusations. Please stay out of this if that's all you're here for.

As for expectations . . . well, you obviously didn't understand the last message, either. All I'm asking for is an EXPLANATION, nothing more. And as for Seeedstep's being right, well, NO he/she isn't right to make such blanket assertions. They ARE baloney and should be treated as such.

My challenge remains: Can someone EXPLAIN what is happening w/ this machine?

J3st3rrm499 · Answer

while i cant explain whats happening with the machine maybe i can shed some light... excuse my typing skills please.... i had the same problem with 3 or 4 dells like i said above.. but none worked for some reason.. it seems the hard disk i was using was either bad.. incompatible.. or dell just doesnt like it.. because after switching through a few HDD's i found that 'hard disk controller 0/1 failure' didnt come up anymore... (ddnt come up with certain hard disks).. it still isnt an explanation of whats going on because i really dont know... but...  try switching hard disks.... i got all of the dell GS's to work except for one.. still dont know whats wrong with it but im tired of messing with these computers.. hopefully this can help you some.. and if not im sorry... also as for the dell bashing thing.. i wasnt bashing dell i was bashing their older products=).. and i do realise that older electronic devices tend to fail frequently... ANYWAYS... try the disk change thing.. if that doesnt work disable the failing HD controller and try the other one... and if you need both and that still doesnt work then i just dont know... maybe you could try manually assigning the cylinders/heads/sectors of the disk... but then theres no option for 'packet interface device' or 'cdrom' and it auto detects that... well i hope i helped some... and im for the most part dont with this post.... Good luck!

mvhetes · Answer

Well, it seems there's some good news and some not-so-good news to report on this matter. First the bad: It seems that this drive wouldn't work in the OptiPlex no matter what was tried, so I finally gave up on this machine.

Now the good: The drive, as I suspected, was fine after all. I simply moved it over to a machine of similar vintage, where it now happily resides. It seemed that the observation
>.. or dell just doesnt like it..<
was closer to the truth than anything else posted on this issue, since its' "new" home just happens to be a COMPAQ!

This OptiPlex will now be relegated to the spare parts bin. Thanks for all the reponses.

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Issue w/ OptiPlex GXMT 5200

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