6 Beeps on Startup - No Monitor Display - Dimension 8400

Please reference this Dell document:

 

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

Thanks guys, will try this now

My Motherboard appears to be working, lights on and such.

 

Video card is spinning, doesn't appear fried.

 

Leads me to think the problem is with the RAM.

 

This leads to 2 questions

 

1) Why am i not getting a monitor display?

 

2) What are the odds of both RAM modules dying at once?

About status lights and whirling fans:

 

On the 8400 motherboard there is a green reserve power LED lamp mounted to the motherboard inside the computer. When the motherboard capacitors are completely discharged, the LED will cease to glow.

 

The 8400 has four status lamps on the back plane of the motherboard, numbered one through four, visible when the case is closed and powered on. These status lights glow in green or amber depending on status. There are two more status lights on the front bezel. One is beneath the power button which glows green when powered up, amber when asleep. The second front bezel status light is to indicate hard drive activity. The floppy, and optical drives also have activity lights.

 

There are two key fans on a standard Dimension 8400. The first is the power supply fan and the second is the CPU fan mounted to the back plane of the computer chassis. Both of these should spin freely and quietly whenever the computer is powered up.

 

Lastly is the video adapter card cooling fan. Not all Dimension 8400 models were shipped like this. Most came with a passive (large heat sink) cooling system to reduce noise levels. Video adapters with cooling fans were normally high end video cards or are after-market non Dell adapter.

 

In the case of a whirling fan on a video card adapter, this does not mean it is working fine. It only indicates that the fan on the adapter has power. The adapter card still may be misaligned in the PCI-e slot. It is not at all uncommon for the steel bracket which is inserted into the chassis backplane to become misaligned with the chassis causing the adapter card to look fully seated when in reality it is not. Viewing the installed adapter card from the wide surface along the pin edge of the card should indicate a uniform line along the entire row of pins when compared to the adapter slot. If the card appears slightly higher nearest the backplane or at the rear it is misaligned. It still might work for a short time but cease when the limited contact surface is disturbed.  

The 8400 uses DDR2 RAM

 

This means that there should be different colored tabs on the memory slot retainers.

 

There should be an empty slot between the first stick (nearest the CPU) and the second stick. The tab ears (color) of the installed memory should match.

 

If in the event the same problem exists with memory in the proper place

Remove the stick farthest away from the CPU and reboot.

If no problem the stick you removed is bad.

If same problem, replace the memory stick nearest the CPU with the one removed and try again.

If no problem the stick of memory outside of the computer is bad.

If same problem, both sticks need to be tested. This does not mean they are both bad.

 

Screw?

I don't think the 8400 uses screws to retain any of the peripheral cards. I believe there is a green colored guillotine that holds them in place.