Inspiron 20 AIO

no, it's the 3084 series

Is this an Inspiron 20 3064 ?

Some things to try:

Power off and unplug power adapter from rear of PC and from the wall. Press/hold power button on PC for ~30 sec. Reconnect PC and see if it boots normally now.

How many RAM modules do you have? You can try each one, one at at time in slot #1. You'll have to look at the numbering on the motherboard to see which one is marked something like "DIMM1", because it might not be the one closest to the CPU.

How old is this system? If more than ~2-3 years old, the motherboard battery may be weak. It's a CR2032 3-volt coin cell. Before you remove the battery, restart and immediately press F2 to open BIOS setup. Copy down all current settings to be safe. Then power off, unplug and press/hold power button for ~15 sec. Open up and replace the battery.

it has one 4 gig module that was in the slot closest to the board, it does the same thing no matter which slot i put it in.
i have also removed the battery and replace it with one i knew was good but that didn't help, only thing i can do to get it running normal is out the ram, then put it back and turn it on lol

Any warranty left on this system?

And you're 100% sure the new battery is good. Unused batteries sitting around in a drawer can be dead, especially cheapo brands.

Did you try disconnecting the power adapter and holding the power button for ~30 sec before attempting to boot?

What color is the power button when it won't boot and is it steady or blinking?

Any beeps from the system when it won't boot?

Don't suppose you have another power adapter that's specific for this model handy...

 

warranty is long since expired.

i tried several times unplugging it and holding the power button for 30 sec. ...no change.
when i turn it on, the power light is solid white, no beeps, and the fan runs kinda fast. the power adapter is good and also worked well on an hp aio i had without any issues. as far as the battery, the one i used was the only spare one i had, but i put the original one back in some time ago.
also, when it's on, it stays on even after several restarts, the only problem is after shutting it down and turning it back on later on.

There seems to be some issue with BIOS not seeing things correctly, which suggests a bad battery, or the motherboard circuitry has lost contact with the battery.  After the PC is on and restarted, it's not losing power like it does when you turn it off, so it works correctly.

You can try this:
Get it ready to boot, power on and immediately press F2 to open BIOS setup. Copy all current BIOS settings to be safe.

Now power off, unplug and press/hold power button for ~15 sec. Remove battery and press/hold power button for ~30 sec.

Remove RAM and use canned air to blow out dust everywhere, including RAM sockets and battery socket.  Use clean, lint-free cloth to wipe contacts on RAM module. Wipe battery and battery socket gently with lint-free cloth. Reinstall RAM.  Hold battery by edges and reinstall it. I'd go with brand new battery from reputable brand (check expiration date on package too!)  Does it boot?

If not, get it ready to boot again. Then boot and immediately press F12. Look for option for diagnostics and run them, including RAM and extended hard drive tests. Be patient - this may take a while. Copy error message(s), if any.

If none of that works, remove the RAM again and see what happens when trying to boot without any RAM and only mouse and keyboard connected. You should get beeps from the PC signalling no RAM is detected.

 

it's just beeped without the ram in

i got it to run and did a test, everything in the test was ok-ed, except it says the hard drive test was unsuccessful, but it's on again right now and booted right into win 10, ??

Glad you got it to work again, but it sounds like the hard drive may be on the way out. Back up your personal files and/or image the hard drive ASAP. You can use free imaging software like Macrium.

Right-click the Start button and on the Run line, type in: chkdsk c:/r
You'll get a prompt saying chkdsk can't run now, but accept the offer to run on next boot. Then reboot. Copy error messages, if any.

 

ran tools from hdd properties and it said no errors found, but the onboard diag tests say all tests passed except the hdd test,..this is what it said ::
hdd 0 - dst short test
results : fail
error code : 2000-0142
validation : 77313

---

@JaceMurdock wrote:
ran tools from hdd properties and it said no errors found, but the onboard diag tests say all tests passed except the hdd test,..this is what it said ::
hdd 0 - dst short test
results : fail
error code : 2000-0142
validation : 77313

---

Back it up and get a new hard drive. It's not going to last much longer...

maybe i should've kept the hp aio, and threw out this dell ! LOL

tried to make an image but couldn't due to bad sectors on the drive so i'll have to start fresh with new drive, thanks !