I had posted this previously, got really good help at first, then no response for about 2 weeks.  Here's the dialogue so for:

Me:

I have a Dimension 4300 (actually it belongs to a friend) and It will not boot.  No Beeps No lights on the back and the power button is brown instead of green.  The hard drive spins and everything else seems to be funcitoning normally. 

We ordered a new motherboard but it doesnt seem to be the problem.  I've tried an alternate powersupply, alternate memory, and removing everything but the memory,processor, and power and still no luck.  Sometimes it gives me half a beep and cuts off. 

About the only thing I can think of is a bad CPU but I dont want to have to buy a new one just to test for it.

Any Ideas??

Tech:

Je,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
A solid yellow light on the power button indicates the power supply is good.

To make troubleshooting easier you should remove all extra components.
Hard drive, CDROM drives, Floppy drive, PCI expansion cards, IDE cables.
You should only have the memory, processor, video card, motherboard, power supply, connected together.
Have the monitor connected to the video card, and remove all other external devices.

Try the following to clear the motherboard settings.
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You will need the diagrams located here.

How do I use the RTCRST Jumper for troubleshooting a "no post" situation?

Answer:
Remove all external devices and cables from the back of the system.
Remove the system cover and locate the RTCRST jumper.
(Location differs by platform refer to the service label or user documentation or Dell technical specifications).
Remove the jumper shunt from the (PSWD) Password jumper block.
Place the jumper shunt from the (PSWD) jumpers, onto the RTCRST jumper.
Remove the coin cell battery.
(Location differs by platform refer to the service label or user documentation or Dell technical specifications).
Reinstall the coin cell battery up side down, and wait 15 seconds.
Again remove the coin cell battery.
Reinstall the coin battery back to the original orientation.
Remove the jumper shunt on RTCRST jumper block.
Replace the jumper shunt back onto the (PSWD) jumper block.
(You must place the jumper shunt back onto the correct pins on the PSWD block.)
Install the system power cord, video cord, mouse, keyboard.
Power up the system to see if the problem has changed.

Me:

THANKS!

Ok, now I can get to the BIOS and when I start up the first time I get 2 beeps and it says "Invalid Configuration".  Then it says that it is configuring my IDE automatically and it lets me go into my BIOS and set the time, view the event log, etc.

It gives me 2 options:  F2 setup & F12 boot menu.  If i let it continue to start up normally, it goes to a black screen with a flashing cursor at the top-left of the screen and hangs.  If i press F12 before this point it gives me the boot options.

One of the boot options lets me start with a boot disk but Ive tried to use a boot disk to see If I can at least get that far with no luck. The floppy drive spins for a bit then stops and sends me back to the black screen.

Any ideas?  I'm going to try placing my other hard drive there and see what happens but It just doesnt seem like that should be the problem.

Thank You In advance.

je062

Tech:

Je,

Good to hear you can at least get into the bios.
The system is looking for IDE drives, and if you do not have any
of them connected, it will cause the error message you have.
Try the following.

1.Reconnect your floppy drive.
-Do not connect any other drives...leave the CDROM and Hard drive(s) disconnected.

2.Go into the bios and change some settings.
-First reset your bios defaults, this will make sure there are no incorrect settings.
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Entering System Setup:
Using the F2 key the user may enter System Setup program.
If you are having trouble entering setup using this key,
press the F2 key when the keyboard leds 1st flash.
Also, (Ctrl-Alt-Enter) key sequence will still work.
Once you are in the System Setup Program (BIOS),
the top of the screen will read: Dell Dimension 4300

Resetting the default settings:
Press and activate the following keys.
(Capslock, Scroll Lock, Num Lock.)
When all three keyboard lights are lit, press the following keys.
( ALT-E )
With the keyboard lights lit, Clears the ESCD information stored in the NVRAM.
( ALT-F )
Resets all fields in the system setup to their factory default settings.
ALT-D With an individual field highlighted, resets the field to its factory default.
(ALT-B)
Exits System Setup, saving any changes, and reboots the system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

-Second, turn off the IDE controlers in the bios.
The system will be looking for IDE drives, you need to turn these off so they don't cause error messages because they are missing.

Set the Primary Drive 0 to OFF.
Set the Primary Drive 1 to OFF.
Set the Secondary Drive 0 to OFF.
Set the Secondary Drive 1 to OFF.

-Third, change the boot sequence to Floppy first.
Under the Boot Sequence Option in the bios, make sure Diskette Drive is at the top.

3.Test the system.
Now that you have changed the bios settings, try to boot to a floppy disk.
Use a Win98,WinME floppy disk, and try to boot to it.
You can download some from Bootdisk.com

4.If the system boots to a floppy, at least you know it works that far.
Turn the system off and reconnect your first Hard drive.
Then go into the bios and set Primary Drive 0 to DETECT.
Reboot the system to the Windows floppy disk.
Once you get to the A:\ prompt, try accessing the Hard Drive.

If you can get this far, we at least know you have access to the hard drive.

Me:

Thanks, by the way, for all the help so far.   Here's where I am now:

I tried taking the processor from my other machine (P4 2.4 GHz) and placing it in the Dell (1.5 GHz).  Everything worked fine (started windows, ran programs, etc.) which, of course, would make you conclude that the processor was damaged. 

However, when I placed the 1.5 GHz chip into the other system it works just fine.  To sum it all up:  Both processors work on my custom system, but only the 2.4 GHz CPU works on the Dell.  The Dell still freezes about 80% into the white BIOS bar with the 1.5 GHz(which originally came with the system) installed.

??????????????

Thats where it ended, if anyone has seen anything like this before please help.