Unsolved
7 Posts
0
2004
Dell XPS 8700 weird failure to boot needs your HELP please ....
HISTORY.> bought tested good, then in dust free unheated storage for 4 years ..just now installed the new Mobo..
PROBLEM ...> Powers on No video, No beeps, No power button light, and then
after a bit it shuts itself down, and restarts itself, but now 4 beeps, No video, no post, and now the amber power button blinks steadily...
Then about every 2 minutes it repeats the self shut down and restart loop with the same 4 beeps, no post and blinking amber power button..
If I force shut down and pull power cord, or hold power button 30 secs, on retry it starts the sequence loop with no beeps no light, then restarts it self with 4 beeps and blinking light ...Ad Infinitum..
WHAT I HAVE DONE..> I have tested PSU as good, tried another working PSU, tried other working PC3 ram, checked for bent cpu pins, cleaned the CPU and Ram contacts, reseated all 3 times, redone the thermal paste, and now tried a known tested good new motherboard, tested, reseated and changed the CMOS battery, reset the bios, tried 1, 2 and 4 sticks or ram in various slot combinations ...
SO what am I missing here ?? Any suggestions, or Ideas Please ?
savvy2
2 Intern
2 Intern
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2.5K Posts
0
August 9th, 2019 05:00
why skip the coin cell RTC battery. but you did but did you check the voltage on both ? 2.9v or less bad.
we use a voltmeter to test all coin cells. or its just a big circus act, not fun .
tested 4years ago by you or the seller 4 years ago (promises)?
no mention of fans. the CPU faN MUST SPIN ALL THE TIME (if turned on, my guess, dead?) this first. fans.
the blinks mean power failure or bad mobo. (both can fail and kill power on all PC< things short)
4 beeps is ram, bad, re-seated fails, or tested one by one, 4 beeps wrong ram is top reasons.
no CPU stated, if you had, id tell you the correct ram to use, for DENSITY not just simple SPEED.
DO FULL RESET, THIS TIME. COIN CELL OUT, AC UNPLUGGED,
HOLD POWER BUTton for 10 full seconds,
then wait say 10 minutes, push power button one last time if fans twitch , IT needs this 2nd push, even 3 times.
now the PC is 100% dead, now, all caps are fully discharged NOW, A GOAL
then put in a new coin cell if , you dont have a voltmeter (DMM)
and push power on with AC mains attached, do the fans spin, now if yes try F2 key.
no sata devices,
no usb devices but one the keyboard.
f2 BIOS now, see screen: no PCI cards either use the base VGA port only.,
see BIOS>? now? yes push BIOS reset to defaults. now.
test with 1 ram at a time, to see that all ram works 1, at time. then add more if those tests work.
some ram will not work, if Core processsor MMC , IMC logic rules are violated for density rules.
we can't see you PC nor for sure see what is connect to it at all.,
do minimum system only test, no PCI cards, no usb things but keybaord, use VGA on the iGPU port only.
no SATA anything connectec (both cables pulled not just one , both sata and power pulled to hdd/ssd, cd/dvd.
test in minimum state first.
use only the iGPU VGA port to test, using VGA monitor.
above is and answer for bad ram, or after good rams lands there, what do do next if dead PC, fans dead.
we strip dead PCs down too find what is bad. (called fault isolation testing)
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
0
August 9th, 2019 09:00
Yes, I have had machines go bad after sitting in storage.
I suggest you get something working on a table ... minimal without front-panel or other case things ... jumpstart it or use a simple switch from old machine.
Don't assume any parts are 100% working until you see it yourself. People like to sell used PC parts, and pretend they didn't know they are bad/flakey.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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44.3K Posts
0
August 9th, 2019 10:00
I'm confused... It worked when you put it away, so why did you replace the motherboard now, 4 years later? Did the old motherboard fail so you just bought another one?
Do you know the "new" motherboard is any good?
What am I missing here?
kingofammo
7 Posts
0
August 10th, 2019 04:00
Ron...the original board gave the same symptoms as described, so after checking and changing all other parts I put in this New board that had properly tested and posted on another system .
kingofammo
7 Posts
0
August 10th, 2019 04:00
Savvy ...I of course both tested and changed the battery, and the Ram, and the PSU, and the CPU fan and all other fans spin ...remember the computer seems to boot first even after all power has been drained, then it stops and then it restarts itself with the 4 beeps as described , and it did this same no post loop with the old mobo ,and with a new PSU, and with tested working RAM from another computer.
Regarding the RAM, I have seen many reported instances of 4 beep RAM failure in Dell 8700 computers that were not actually RAM failures but instead seem to be something flakey about the system posting checksum where the dell does not recognize the RAM that has worked and wants it reseated, or changed, or different chipsets or the like.
Here's the CPU spec if you can match the RAM required please...>
CPU Intel Core i7 (4th Gen) 4770 / 3.4 GHz
Quad-Core
Chipset Type Intel Z87 Express
LGA1150 Socket
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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44.3K Posts
0
August 10th, 2019 18:00
4 beeps - RAM can be a video card problem because there's RAM on that card too. It's probably dedicated to video, but it still has to pass the POST.
If you haven't already tried, remove the add-in video card, and connect the monitor to one of the onboard Intel HD Graphics ports, either DisplayPort or HDMI. You have to physically remove the add-in card because the onboard ports are disabled while that card is installed. Be good idea to remove motherboard battery and press/hold power button for ~30 sec after removing the card to force BIOS to see the add-in card isn't there anymore. Then reinstall the battery and try to boot with fingers x'd...