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xps 700 motherboard dead?
My xps 700 (purchased around june of 07') locked up tonight, and when I tried to reboot, I got a solid amber light on my power button. No diagnosis numbers were lit. After reading up on the forums for people with similar problems, I found one who had my same problem. He was eventually told that his motherboard had died. I've tried everything I can to diagnose the problem (power cycling, removing and reseating the memory and video card, removing both cards and booting, removing all usb drives except for keyboard.)
To go over the problem quickly, I have the amber light, and when I try to boot the computer will not post. The fans speed up to the "leaf blower" sound level, and remain that way. The computer will not boot, post, or anything. No diagnosis lights blink or come on, and the power light is solid amber/yellow.
Having given in at this point, I've been trying to find a replacement motherboard. Apparently there are none in production, and the only one I can find is from Dell for $500+ refurbished. Seems a bit much because for another $100 I can build a brand new system with better specs than the XPS.
If anyone has had this problem, or can help, PLEASE help.
bobdodd
1 Message
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August 15th, 2009 11:00
I'm in the same boat. I see mention of an XPS 720 upgrade, but haven't found it yet.
terryoregon
52 Posts
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October 20th, 2009 19:00
My XPS 700 was purchased in November 2006. Last week I left my computer for about an hour. When I came back, it was dead. The hard drive LED on the front panel was not on at all (normally flickers all the time). When I tried to reboot, all that happens is the internal cooling fans start, but are running faster then normal (fans normally slow down after a couple of seconds). The hard drive LED on the front panel never starts and there is no Dell splash screen. Since the Dell splash screen comes from the BIOS, that means the motherboard isn't getting far enought to boot. I took the computer to the Geek Squad at a local Best Buy for diagnosis. One day later they told me it was the mother board. They tried using their own power supply, and tried swapping and reseating various cards (memory, video card, etc). Nothing brought it up. So, that was that. I have a new XPS 9000 on order. I suspect replacing the motherboard would be an expensive and difficult repair, even if one was available - with no guarantee that the motherboard didn't damage something else when it went out - or that something else failed, and blew the motherboard. This was my third Dell computer, and nothing like this has ever happened.
My XPS 9000 will have a four-year warranty.
TheShmoo
12 Posts
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January 8th, 2010 20:00
My XPS 700 died Monday; same thing you descibed. I bought it December of 2006.
I was fortunate to find some postings and work through the troubleshooting myself, but wasn't happy with the conclusion. I've been looking for replacement motherboards, but the prices seem high for used parts. Plus I worry the same thing will happen again in another few years.
Three year lifespan... not good. My Alienware Aurora has been running strong since 2004 with no issues. It is a pre-Dell Alienware machine.
I hate to brick the XPS 700, but the cost of fixing it leads me to conclude buying something new would be smarter in the long term.
rdmsolo
1 Message
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January 9th, 2010 05:00
I have a XPS 710 that I bought 3 years ago and it just took a dump in the same manner yours did 3 days ago. Blue screened on my (forgot what the reason was) and when I rebooted all I got was fans on high and a solid amber start button. Just ordered a new Alienware Aurora system, so I have to suffer with useing my old EnPower system that I built about 6 years ago that has never given me any problems (other that being slow and dirt) until the new one arrives.
cowboycat
190 Posts
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January 9th, 2010 08:00
My 710 MB died 1-3 -10 . Lucky I purchased the exstended warranty.But Dell has not gave me any solutions to what there going to do.Tech support say a new machine is most likley what I will get. After this happened I did research on the Dead MB problems. From My research the 700/710/720 MB are no good. From what I have read there are 3 solutions to the dredded 7xx MB delima.
By a refutbished one and take a chance that it might last a year or 2.
Modifiy the case at the cost of building/buying a new computer
Throw it away.
Wish you people the best of luck...
axionjaxon
6 Posts
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March 14th, 2011 11:00
my xps 700 just died. With dual 10k rpm drives in raid, Extreme duo processor and 500 mb ATI crossfire, it was a great computer while it lasted...was hoping to keep using it for a decade or more like my 1998 xps t450 (what I'm writing this on ). Now the 700 is an impressive $4k pile of junk.
giving the benefit of a doubt, was even actually entertaining the thought of buying another dell...but it seems they're covering their tracks by deleting a lot of community threads regarding their xps 700 series disaster. Sketchy.