8400 Abrupt shutdowns

sounds like the power suply.  a lot of 8400's have had problems with them.

Thanks for the response, JD. I was really hoping not to hear that. I can easily do the mechanical repl of a power aupply, but I'll bet Support won't ship one...if they agree with that diagnosis.

Anyone else?

Hi, I just saw your post after I put mine up. I have been having the same problem see the post "unexptected shutdown". I have been trying to troubleshoot with tech support but they want me to do things that I really do not feel comfortable with. I opened it up and checked the connections, re-seated the memory etc. but the problem just returned yesterday and it is the same as what you described with the system unresponsive and blinking amber power light that I have to hold in to power all the way off and then restart and it will be fine for awhile until the next time. It is not as often as what you have had only once in awhile but sometimes several in one day. It usually happens when I leave it running and go do something else and find it like that when I return, only once when I was using it did it happen and the screen just went black and it was in that partially shutdown state with the blinking light, I have a 8400 that I bought last August. Please let me know if you find anything more out about this.

Hello,

Yep, they sound like the same problem. So far today my system's been up and running fine for just over 9 hours.

I didn't mention something in the original post....and it may not be related to the power-off issue directly...but I had to shut off all hibernation and standby modes and anything else that would take the PC from a ready state to another, except for a simple screen saver. I was getting unexpected power-offs or standbys or whatever they were, and I couldn't get the system back by moving the mouse or hitting any keys on the keyboard. Nothing would bring it back. As I said, though, may not be related or the incidents may've been powerdowns and I wasn't recognizing it correctly at the time.

I will certainly post whatever I learn or observe. Thanks for your info.

...Bob C.

Is there any chance it could be the hard drives that are failing? I had an 8400 that Dell just took back after a year because of numerous hardware failures. Among them was 3 hard drives that failed on me. The first one failed four months after I had the machine, the second one a few months later, and the last one was two months ago.

This may be as simple as a card not seated correctly. I have an XPS gen2 with the big blue case that opens up like a door. I have found that when i open the case it can cause the video card and mother board to flex and the result is that the video card ends up not bing seated correctly in its slot. A few times this caused simaular problems as you are having other times it would not even boot. Each time i just unpluged the video card and pluged it back in then closed the cover of the case carefully and that fixed it.

Bluesman,

Thanks. I will have the opportunity to reseat any cards and memory tomorrow and will do so. Appreciate the comments. I will post the results.

...Bob C.

Jon,

I understand. Everyone has their own comfort zone. Can't estimate how many computers I broke or made worse in the early-learning years. They're just supposed to work - right?

Assume you're still under warranty so Dell should take care of you. Just have to get through all the Support steps...sounds like you're already experienced with that process.

Thanks, again, all of you for the information. This Board is very responsive and that's a pleasant surprise.

...Bob C.

Hi Bob,

Tech support just advised me that it seems the memory modules are failing and need to be replaced and that they will send a tech to put in the new ones. I will update on the results after I see how it goes. The problem has been sporadic but lately it seems if I leave it idle for a few hours while I am doing something else it has gone into that non-responsive state, at least the 3 days in a row so it definitely seems to be more often. Hopefully this will take care of it.

 

Jon

Jon,

Thanks for letting us know. I'll bet there are a number of folks here who'll be interested in the outcome.

...Bob C.

Hi Bob,

Just thought I'd let you know that the tech came Friday and put the new memory modules in and the computer was ok until Sunday at 1pm and it started doing the same thing again. So it's back to the drawing board.

 

Jon

Let us know how this turns out.  My 2400 is doing the same thing.

thinks

Glenn

Power supply? Well, that makes sense when I consider the error I'm still having...when the system quits the power light flashes amber slowly. Believe you said you experienced the same.

I had several good days and just enjoyed them. This morning I have had 6 failures so far. Finally opened the case and reseated everything - cards, cable connectors, physically reinstalled every piece but the processor. Failed once right after...now up and running for a straight 30 minutes or so.

*sigh* Guess I'll have to break down and call Support soon.

Hope the PS solves it for you. Let us know when you get a chance.

...BC