RE: [SLE] Need help diagnosing hardware problem

On Monday, October 16, 2006 @ 8:00 PM, M. Harris wrote:

On Monday 16 October 2006 19:19, Greg Wallace wrote:
I'm starting to suspect the video card as the problem myself.  Other than
the instance with the two beeps (which might could be caused by a video
card problem, though I have no way of knowing), all of the other cases
resulted in me not seeing any activity on the screen at boot up.  I mean
I
didn't even get the bios screen.  Then there was the time when the screen
was just completely covered in garbage.
This is one of four things, which can be checked in order:
1) memory
2) video card/memory
3) power supply
4) main logic board

I used the Dell diagnostic tool to check the memory, processor, etc. All
checked out ok. However, I don't think it checked power supply.

Before you do anything else, take the thing apart (use an ESD wrist
strap) and reseat all of your connectors. Actually unplug the DIMMS (memory

modules) and replug them. Unplug the power supply connectors and reseat
them. Gently unplug all connectors on the main board and reseat them.
Unplug
your cards (particularly your video card if its not on-board) and reseat
them. Reboot and see what happens.

All of this is way over my head. I don't even know what an ESD wrist
strap is. What are connectors? The Dell diagnostic tool ran several tests
against the memory and that all seemed ok. What are the power supply
connectors?
I'll try unplugging and re-plugging the video card, but first I've found
some information on line about my computer that might help me. Turns out
there are 4 diagnostic lights in the back of the machine. Normally, they
should all be green. If one or more of them are yellow, then the particular
pattern tells you the source of your problem. E. g.,
green-yellow-yellow-yellow = Possible BIOS failure; the computer is in the
recovery mode, green-yellow-green-yellow = Possible video card failure or
bad on-board video, etc. So, at this point, I think I'll wait until the
machine freezes again and see what those lights tell me. That will save me
a lot of effort if I get a specific diagnosis. If not, I can come back and
address some of the issues you mention here.
I am really curious about this power supply component though. Where is it
and how do you go about swapping it out?

Is your video card an nVidia chip set? If so, try another one...
voodoo,
etc.

It's a Radeon

I keep an 250 watt power supply in the closet for this purpose...
basicly, swap out the power supply with a known good one and see if the
problem goes away. Bad supplies are notorious for causing this type of
failure.

Again, could you point me in the right direction as far as locating this and
describe how to swap it out?

If the problem does not go away with another power supply and the
video
is on-board, then your main logic board is probably bad.
Intermittent problems are almost always hardware related... however,
some
flaky problems can be due to drivers also... have you upgraded any of your
systems drivers that might correlate to the hardware problem you are
experiencing?
Oh, one more thing... instead of rebooting... when your screen locks
up
have you tried bringing up a black screen console with ctrl+alt+F1 ?

Haven't tried that, but I will.




--
Kind regards,

M Harris <><

Thanks,
Greg Wallace


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