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Dimension 8400 Power Button
We have a Dimension 8400 at my office that stopped working a month ago. The ONLY way to power it up (using the power button) is to open the case and remove the battery (I know, makes no sense to me either) Have replaced the power supply and get the same result. Today we replaced the motherboard and still have the same result. My question is, do these power buttons actually go bad? Or is there some setting somewhere that turns this off and somehow removing the motherboard's battery resets it for the next time you power it on. Once on it works fine, but if you shut it down you are forced to remove the battery again.
Message Edited by Penz2k7 on 05-02-2007 01:16 PM
shesagordie
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April 23rd, 2007 19:00
Check out the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the front panel first.
Bev.
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shesagordie
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April 23rd, 2007 19:00
Have you tried replacing the front control panel and ribbon cable?
These are proprietary items and if you are not under warranty, they can be obtained from Dell Spare Parts.
Bev.
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Penz2k7
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April 23rd, 2007 19:00
RoHe
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April 24th, 2007 23:00
Ron
Penz2k7
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April 25th, 2007 10:00
RoHe
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April 25th, 2007 15:00
So when you remove the battery, you reset all BIOS settings to factory defaults which apparently allows the system to boot properly. If you have a battery you know is good, put it into the new motherboard. It's reasonable to assume the new board came with a good battery, but one never knows.
I suppose it's also possible you have a short circuit in the power switch which is draining the battery when the system is off just enough to scramble the NVRAM settings.
Do as Bev suggested and check the wiring to the button and maybe see if you can buy a replacement.
Ron
Penz2k7
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April 25th, 2007 18:00
shesagordie
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April 25th, 2007 18:00
Penz2k7
Oh, it's a pain alright.
The power button and circuit board is one unit. Dell has not published a guide to remove the front panel and control panel of the Dimension 8400, but you can use the guide, <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
here, it's for an Optiplex GX50 Small Mini Tower, but the procedures are the same.
Bev.
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Penz2k7
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May 2nd, 2007 17:00
Message Edited by Penz2k7 on 05-02-2007 01:19 PM
RoHe
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May 2nd, 2007 18:00
Run BIOS setup and look through the power management settings to see if any are of use. Look at those that say what to do in response to power failure. Suppose you set it to reboot after power failure, and then use a power strip or surge protector to turn off power to PC after shutting Windows down normally. When you hit switch on the strip/surge, it should boot without pressing power button. Doesn't solve the problem but gets around it, if it works...
Also try stripping down to just bare basics. Disconnect data cables from floppy drive, optical drive(s), remove all PCI cards, except video card (PCI-e video on 8400), remove all RAM modules, except the one in slot 1, disconnect all peripherals except mouse, monitor, keyboard. Clear NVRAM by removing battery. Reinsert and press power button. Then shut down normally and try booting again just by pressing power button. If that doesn't work, swap every RAM module into slot 1, one at a time. If it works with 1 RAM module, try 2 and then add back other hardware piece by piece until you find the offender.
Ron
Message Edited by RoHe on 05-02-2007 12:42 PM
Penz2k7
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May 4th, 2007 13:00
Message Edited by Penz2k7 on 05-04-2007 09:46 AM
chucon
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May 12th, 2007 02:00
Message Edited by chucon on 05-14-2007 09:09 AM
Penz2k7
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May 14th, 2007 10:00
chucon
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May 14th, 2007 12:00