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Vostro 200 has no display
My mother's 4 year old vostro died a few months ago, it just wouldn't turn on at all. Finally she took it to staples, and they hooked it into a new power source, the computer turned on, and they told her that it was either a bad power source, or a bad motherboard. We bought a new power source and the computer turned on (still no display) and the computer beeped 4 times. I took out 1 stick of ram, and it beeped 2 times, so we figured it was a ram issue and I just bought and installed 2 1gb sticks of memory.
Now there is no beep, the computer comes on, or at least the fan does, and the front of the computer glows a solid dark blue, but there is no display. I hooked her system into my monitor (that I'm using now) and there are no beeps or anything, just no display. There is a small yellow light on the motherboard under the cd-rom, but as I said, the front of the computer is blue, so any ideas why there's no display?
ty
RoHe
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October 31st, 2011 17:00
What color is the power button and is it steady or blinking?
Does this system use on-board graphics or an add-in video card? If it has an add-in video card, remove it and switch to on-board video.
Did you try each of the original RAM modules, one at a time, in slot 1?
The light on the motherboard only means there's power to that board. Check that the CPU power cable is correctly attached to the motherboard.
Try clearing BIOS:
Powering off and unplug
Press/hold power button on tower for ~15 sec
Open the case and remove motherboard battery
Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
Reinstall the battery (right-side-up!) and see if it boots now with only mouse, monitor and keyboard connected
DrunkenHines
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October 31st, 2011 19:00
The power button is a steady blue. No I didn't try the original ram, well what I did was take out the first ram chip and it beeped 4 times, like before. Then I took out the second ram stick (putting the 1st one back in) and it beeped twice, so I replaced the ram with new.
The new ram is in the same slot as the old ram, dimms 1 and 3. I tried clearing the Bios, it didn't work. The keyboard doesn't light up, there is no display, the front of the computer is still solidly blue. Also checked the cables, nothing is loose or unconnected...
RoHe
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November 1st, 2011 12:00
Where did you buy the new RAM? Dell PCs are VERY fussy about RAM and the new stuff may not be compatible even if it has all the right specs. So that may just be complicating the issue
I think you need to work only with the old RAM for now. Put one old stick in slot 1. Then clear BIOS by removing the motherboard battery and pressing/holding power button for ~30 sec. See if it boots now. Then repeat the process with the other old module (including the battery thing).
If neither module works in slot 1, try again using slot 3, and then try 2 and 4.
Do you know if that motherboard battery is any good?
Do you use an add-in video card or on-board graphics?