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11893
February 22nd, 2008 14:00
Problem With Dell OptiPlex GX150
I have posted this before but I have more information than I did the last time. A friend asked me to try and fix their Dell. The first thing I did was booted the PC. It did not recognize the USB mouse but did recognize the PS/2 keyboard. I managed to boot into safe mode with command prompt. I looked at some Windows log files in C:\WINDOWS and noticed a ton of hardware messages frrom 04/16/2007 saying that Windows found new hardware but not drivers for:
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CD-ROM Drive
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Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442
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Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443
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Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2444
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Intel(R) 82801BA Bus Master IDE Controller
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Primary IDE Channel
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Seconday IDE Controller
I said uh-oh, that's not good. I now own the PC and gave the HD back to my friend. I bought an new HD and installed it but not an OS yet. I installed a known good DOS 6.2 Boot Floopy into the floopy drive and accessed the boot menu via F12 and tried to boot from the floopy. The green light came on and the drive hummed for a while, then I got the following error message:
strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility
The PC does recognize the floppy, CD-ROM or any USB port.
Does this sound like a corrupt BIOS or a hardware problem? Any help would be greatly apprecieated. Thank you very much...
tr4
1.7K Posts
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February 23rd, 2008 01:00
Your original problem is that windows was installed but not the chipset drivers. Download the drivers for the operating system you plan on using. After windows is installed,install the chipset drivers. If you want to use amouse before this, get a ps/2 mouse.
retierney
5 Posts
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February 23rd, 2008 11:00
Thank you for your reply. I should have mentioned that this PC was working fine for a good while and then one day it started getting all these hardware errors. I do have a PS/2 mouse. The problem is that I have no way to input data into the system. The system will not read the floppy, the CD-ROM or any USB port. I'm not an expert, but I believe that I either have a corrupt BIOS or a hardware problem. Any other thoughts? Thank you...
tr4
1.7K Posts
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February 23rd, 2008 12:00
ttchwrth
9 Posts
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February 24th, 2008 22:00
I'm in agreement with the above guy, check for bulging or leaking caps, especially the ones surrounding the CPU, and make sure the cables are all snug. Have you tried pulling the battery to reset the settings? Have you tried testing it with a different power supply? The caps in the power supplies can go bad as well. You can use a standard ATX PSU and set it outside the case just to test. Your boot floppy may be bad or you system isn't setup to boot to the floppy 1st in the BIOS? Try a boot CD-ROM like Win98SE, 2000, or XP or a homemade one.
Often when there are erratic hardware errors, I suspect overheating and check the heatsink. Remove the heatsink and apply a fresh layer of thermal compound. (assuming you have some).
Your USB mouse probably won't work until you load windows and windows loads a device driver for it. The floppy should work regardless.
retierney
5 Posts
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February 25th, 2008 09:00
Thank you everyone so far. I did indeed pull the battery. Didn't help. Get this though. The original owner "bought" this computer from a rent-to-own outlet. Well the outlet placed a large ownership sticker on the back of the computer. Yup, you guess it. The sticker covered the exhaust outlet from the CPU cooler shroud. Man alive...
I will check for bulging capacitors tonight. I already cleaned the inside of the case. I pulled and cleaned the CPU fan shroud and the CPU heatsink--filthy. Cleaned them all and put them back together with new thermal compound. I don't have an extra floppy at this point. But it doesn't read any I/O ports, except the PS/2 keyboard. Just got a PS/2 mouse to try. But then again there is no OS loaded on the HD.
I don't have an extra PSU at this point either. Have to get one I see.
I thought my first objective would be to get it to boot the known good DOS 6.2 boot diskette. My brother in Florida is certified to do Dell Warranty work. He is going to send me another MOBO. If you have any further suggestions I would greatly appreciate them I want to learn very badly. Thank you !!!!