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My son has a Dell Dimension 8400, and today he tried to start it up, but all that happened was a beeping from the tower, and the power supply fan began to run much faster than normal, then slowed down. There was no sound resembeling a hard drive spinning up. Repeated tries resulted in the same symptoms. Has anyone experienced this or similar problems?
Those beeps are a code as to what maybe wrong.
So listen closely they maybe a mixture of long and short beeps.
So post the BIOS makers name and the beep code and we can probably find out what is wrong.
Believe that would be a Phoenix BIOS. Like Train said, just post back the morse-code beeps and we can tell you what it is! Phoenix will be 3 sets of beeps seperated by a pause, i.e. 4-2-2
TEk
Thanks, I will have him check.
Here is an email that I just received from him.
I tried the computer again this afternoon. On the first attempt I heard 1 beep, a pause, 3 beeps, another pause, and 2 beeps. Each beep seemed to be the same length. On the second attempt the computer booted up normally and I'm using it to send this email!
What BIOS does that computer have, because a couple errors I found, bracketed that one said to replace the motherboard .
The Phoenix list I got says it's a "64KB RAM Failure".
May be a good idea to run a memory check: http://www.memtest86.com/
To be sure though, we'd need the BIOS manufacturer (think you press F2 on splash screen to get there) and version number would also be handy.
Also may be worth his while to upgrade his version of BIOS. On the POST/splash startup screen, you should see a reference to which revision of BIOS the Dell is using, usually in the format A02, A03, etc. You then go to Dell's support/download site for the latest version (which you can run from within Windows). Version A09 is the latest for this desktop. Here is the link for the 8400: http://tinyurl.com/29naxl
TEk
If your ram passses the test, the run this one.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
Seen a number of times where one would catch what the other missed.
"64KB RAM Failure" sounds reasonable.
I am still waiting for him to do as instructed. I was amazed to see an almost identical problem being worked on an 8700...same error code, and the same racing fan symptom.
Some times those errors can be real hair pullers.
That racing fan symptom is standard for all Dells - I think it's just a way of blowing away the cobwebs/dust!
TEk
It really did just that... a cloud of dust right in my face! I was up close and listening to the box when it revved up.
The BIOS is Pheonix. I suggested to first try removing the memory cards and then reseating them. He did this and now the computer boots normally until it gets to a BIOS screen, then it gives a message that it can't find the hard drive. Any ideas?
Bad ribbon or power connection.
Try a new ribbon.
Bent pin in the ide connectors.
IDE controller not enabled in the BIOS or set wrong..
Bad hdd.
Can't find the hard drive usually means that the hard drive isn't installed/ypu accidently unplugged it when you where inside the case and or the drive died and went to computer heaven.