Dell won't power on. Please Read

Shane_TweezyShane_Tweezy
edited December 2004 in Hardware
Hey everyone. New to the site. Hope someone can help me out here.

First off, the computer I'm having trouble with is a Dell deminsion 8200.
For the past several months, I've had a problem with getting the computer to power on after shutting it down. The power button in the front would blink a yellow-ish light after shut down, and as soon as it would stop blinking, the computer would power up instantly. This blinking light would last anywheres from 2 minutes to 10 minutes. I tried unplugging the power cord and re-plugging, switching the input switch from 110 to 220 volts, and then back to 110..etc... Nothing seemed to make any difference though.. Basically, the computer would just turn on when it was good and ready to.

Yesterday, I shut down the computer because I was re-arranging my room. When I had everything hooked back up, I hit the power button, and nothing happened. There wasn't even a blinking yellow light this time. After checking to be sure the power cord wasn't bad, I opened the case to see if there was any obvious problems.. There is a green light coming on, on the motherboard.
I checked the fuse in the power supply, and it's good. From what all I've read when searching around on google, it seems like the most common answer is the Power supply is the problem. Does it sound like that's most likely my problem as well? If so, why has my computer been difficult to power on for this long, and the power supply just went bad? Has my power problem been something different in the past, and the power supply going out just a coincidence?
If the power supply is indeed the problem, how much will a new one cost me (approximately) ?

Comments

  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited November 2004
    i'm bad at diagnosing problems like this when its just not working. my suggestions (first) would be to go ahead and reseat your ram (unplug it and plug it back in) and reseat your cpu. i've seen that be the culprit in some of these prebuilt systems.

    but what i can tell you is that if it IS your power supply, since you own a dell, you're going to have to call dell to find out how much a new PSU would be, because you ABSOLUTELY MUST BUY THEIRS or you will destroy your machine
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited November 2004
    might want to make sure that the power button is pluged in and is not shorting out

    or had came off the board header
  • mikechinymmikechinym New
    edited November 2004
    just call the DELLMAN because for things under warranty, u better don't break the seal that stick on it. anythings send for warranty...if not, when seal is broken then probably u had to pay the things for it :eek:
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    It sounds like the computer is going into suspend instead of shutting down. Check in your BIOS and see what your ACPI settings are.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • wishbonesrwishbonesr
    edited December 2004
    I belive that TheBaron is closest. My co-worker brought his Dell to me after a lightning storm. Same exact symptons. But don't give up....If you really need the computer to run immediately, there are a few key ways to accomplish, at least key things that got my friends to run.
    The green light on the mother board. If it was dim, and not full bright, I would cycle the power until it became bright. When doing so, and it finally got bright, I would hit the power button. The LED power on the front would blink, but eventually power on. In agreement with TheBaron, it's probably the mem or processor or possibly a card. I'm still trying to figure out what is wrong in the first place with my friend's Dell.
  • Shane_TweezyShane_Tweezy
    edited December 2004
    wishbonesr wrote:
    I belive that TheBaron is closest. My co-worker brought his Dell to me after a lightning storm. Same exact symptons. But don't give up....If you really need the computer to run immediately, there are a few key ways to accomplish, at least key things that got my friends to run.
    The green light on the mother board. If it was dim, and not full bright, I would cycle the power until it became bright. When doing so, and it finally got bright, I would hit the power button. The LED power on the front would blink, but eventually power on. In agreement with TheBaron, it's probably the mem or processor or possibly a card. I'm still trying to figure out what is wrong in the first place with my friend's Dell.

    I decided to go ahead and change the power supply.. Picked one up off of ebay for $65.. It was for the 8250 model, but after some research, I found out that it was basically the same... I installed it, and the computer powered up with no problem at all..... :)
    Thank's for the replies!
  • rykoryko new york
    edited December 2004
    congrats on fixing the problem!!!

    i was going to say that there are adapters available that will turn an ordinary psu into a dell proprietery psu. check ebay if interested, they are usually < $10.
  • wishbonesrwishbonesr
    edited December 2004
    ryko wrote:
    congrats on fixing the problem!!!

    i was going to say that there are adapters available that will turn an ordinary psu into a dell proprietery psu. check ebay if interested, they are usually < $10.

    Excellent post. I guess that is the direction I need to proceed with my friends Dell.
Sign In or Register to comment.