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Studio 540 power issues
I just inherited a Dell Studio 540 desktop computer. Unfortunately it did not come with a power chord. I cannot determine what type of chord to purchase and whether or not it needs a converter. I have some old power chords from other computers, but when I plug them in and try to boot the computer it makes a couple of beeps, but produces nothing on the screen. The monitor I am using is VGA and the tower has a VGA port. Any ideas?
Matt
fireberd
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December 12th, 2017 05:00
The AC power cord is a standard computer power cord.
However, the beeps indicate a problem. Exactly what are the beeps.
MattSA
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December 12th, 2017 10:00
On boot, there is a beep followed by a short pause (about 1 second) followed by two shorter beeps. No output to screen.
fireberd
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December 12th, 2017 13:00
I can't find any error code specifically for your model. There are several beep code charts (the one I have from about 6 years ago does not have the 1-2 beep code). I did find one doing a search and that one suggests 1-2 beeps is a video card problem. If the unit you have has a separate video card, try to reseat the card. Reseat - with the PC powered off, open the case and remove the video card, then reinstall the card making sure its fully and correctly seated. Then try to boot and see what happens.
MattSA
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December 12th, 2017 15:00
I tried reseating the video card - no luck. I noticed the card was extremely hot after the CPU had been powered on for less than 5 minutes. I also noticed that the VGA port was not attached to the video card so booted without the video card installed and I got video. Thanks.
fireberd
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December 13th, 2017 03:00
The video card is apparently bad. The BIOS automatically switches to a video card if installed. If not installed then it switches to the internal video and thus why it is now working.