Dimension 4600 Monitor won't come up

Question

We have a Dimension 4600 that suddenly quit booting up completely. It has integrated video only. The indicator lights show A & B as yellow and C & D as green which indicates some sort of memory error but I pulled the memory and booted and got the beep code so it recognizes the cards when they are in. I also put in new memory to test if the existing cards were bad, with no results. It is apparently not getting past the POST portion of boot-up. I tried clearing the bios by removing the lithium battery, discharging any remaining charge, waiting 15 minutes then re-installing the battery. This did not work. I can't find a CLR CMOS jumper on the motherboard to clear the BIOS that way nor can I use the F2....ALT+E.... keystrokes method as ther is no splash screen, no monitor at all. It is not the monitor as I checked it on another workstation and also, when I disconnect it from the offending machine, it displays the self test pattern. What can I do short of getting a new machine?

Davet50 · Answer

Your best bet looks to be to pick up a PCI video card to add to the system.

RodneyDemko · Answer

With the indicator lights being yellow for A & B and green for C & D, I worry that there is more than a video card issue here. I'd hate to purchase one only to discover that was not the issue. Are there any suggestions for definately determining that it IS a video card problem? Thanks for your quick response.

Davet50 · Answer

I would be thinking since you tried new memory that it is either the video or the motherboard. You can pick up a very inexpensive video card to try to further isolate.

RodneyDemko · Answer

I installed a PCI video card and that was not the issue. I think now that it is a CPU cache issue. At any rate, I think it is time to throw in the towel and just get a new tower. Thanks for the responses.

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Dimension 4600 Monitor won't come up