4 Posts
0
1486
April 2nd, 2020 07:00
Vostro 410 power-up problem
Hi, I have a problem with my Vostro 410, and am looking for some advice.
Up until a few days ago everything was fine, then one day I pressed the power button and ... nothing!
Having poked and prodded it quite a bit here is a summary of the symptoms.
Sometimes the computer will boot normally, but a lot more frequently it will not boot and the power button flashes yellow. Sometimes, after multiple attempts, it will kick into life, but other times not.tried various things.
The PSU green light is on, and a yellow LED on the motherboard is also on.
I have opened up the system and tried various things.
- detach all peripherals except keyboard - no effect
- attach another PSU - no effect
- remove video card - no effect
- remove one pair of RAM sticks - no effect
- remove the other pair of RAM sticks - no effect
- remove all RAM sticks - PC bleeps
When the PC is not booting you can see that it repeatedly tries to start - there is a small 'clunk' noise and the CPU fan kind of 'flicks'.
Just recently, when trying to nail down the problem, for a little while it seemed to be starting ok, but then after about 5 or 6 seconds it made the faint clunk noise and restarted the power up process. This happened 5 or 6 times until I stopped it.
When the PC does boot it will then run for hours without problem.
I am tending to think the problem might be the motherboard, but wouldn't want to bet money on it.
Maybe its a hint that I ought to get a new PC, which I may well do, but I'd prefer to get this one sorted out rather than just scrap it.
Thanks for any advice, John
Oh yes, spec of PC
Vostro 410 tower
8GB RAM
2x HDD (1TB, 2TB)
DVD drive
AMD video card (1GB)
- i.e. pretty stock really
nyc10036
4 Operator
•
5.6K Posts
0
April 6th, 2020 07:00
Yes, a fault can be intermittent such a component on the motherboard going bad. Eventually it dies completely.
.
Johnf53
4 Posts
0
April 6th, 2020 10:00
Ok, thanks for your advice. New computer then!
nyc10036
4 Operator
•
5.6K Posts
0
April 2nd, 2020 07:00
F12
Dell Diagnostics
It's either the hard drive or the motherboard
Johnf53
4 Posts
0
April 2nd, 2020 10:00
Thanks for that. I can't get it to power up at all, at the moment so can't run Diagnostics.
I did try disconnecting the hard drives - no difference.
So.... looking a little bit more like it's the motherboard.
nyc10036
4 Operator
•
5.6K Posts
0
April 3rd, 2020 07:00
The problem can be the power supply.
The LEDs on a desktop PC are used for diagnostics. You'll need to find what the ones for the Vostro 410 means.
.
Johnf53
4 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2020 09:00
Ok, thanks. I did try another PSU, with the same results.
The diagnostic LEDs for a Vostro 410 desktop are in the power button. The Dell site says:
Blinking orange - The computer is receiving power, a device might be faulty or incorrectly installed
Solid orange - The computer is in a fault condition including the power supply
Both are said to indicate a POST failure.
So, not really telling me a lot, just that something is wrong, and probably a hardware fault.
My feeling is that I've tried disconnecting or substituting most parts except the motherboard.
Therefore the motherboard is kaput!!
I would be interested to know if motherboard faults can be intermittent, as sometimes I can get the PC to boot normally, then other times (most times!) it's no go. My thought is that yes the fault could be intermittent, but I'm not a hardware expert so other opinions would be good.
Regards, John