# [SOLVED] Dell PC will not power up



## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

Have a 7 year old Dell Windows XP PC that will not turn on. The computer when i push the power switch a yellow light blinks, but will not turn green and power up. The yellow light continues to blink, and no power to key board etc. I tried unplugging and different plug and nothing. Tried holding down power switch and nothing, only yellow light located next to power button blinks. Is there somthing else i can try, like some kinda power reset or process. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Can this kind of issue be repaired.. Help:upset:


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Model of the dell?

Power supply may be bad...see if you can borrow one to try


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

it does sound like a power supply issue, one thing you can try first, open the case, make sure it is dust free, and make sure all cables and cards are plugged in properly.


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## Fred Garvin (Sep 4, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

When you power on the computer does the fan on the power supply spin up?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Highly likely the PSU has failed. Any OEM PC over 2 yrs. old is a good candidate for PSU failure.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

The model is a Dell Dimension 2400. I checked all connection and all appeared secured. The fan does not turn on only the yellow blinking light. Although I opened the case and could see a small green light on which is near the mother board. I removed the power supply and tried plugging it in to and still nothing. If the power supply was good , should the fan spin when plugged, even if it's tested unattached on pc. I don't have and extra power supply so I ordered one online the same one for 40.00 with ship. When this arrives do I just install and try powering up, or is there something else I have to do before powering? Ok thanks all.


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## Fred Garvin (Sep 4, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Carl, if you remove the power supply and plug it into a wall outlet, it won't automatically start up. You would have to place a load on the PS, like a fan or hard drive, and jumper 2 wires to test it.

Since you've already ordered a new one, mount it in your case, carefully connect all your plugs and fire it up.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Thanks Fred... Wow i figured it would start up out of the pc.. I'm not to much of a tech person, so i dont know how to jump it with wires.. I hope it's the power supply, since i already ordered it. Can't wait for it to arrive, so i can test to see.. I'm going to check at my employment and see if they have any old pc's laying around that are not needed. Can I use one from another dell, does it have to be a 2400. what if it doesn't have all the plugs mine does. I have about 6 plugs that hook up inside. I was also thinking of adding another memory card. My PC has two spots and it only has a 256Ram. I was told to buy a 1gb and plug on other spot. Then i would have the 256ram and the 1Gb. Can I do that? Well first I'll wait to see if this power supply solved my first issue.. thanks all for the valuable help.. You guys are great...


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Mixing ram is really not a good idea...problems tend to pop up. If you get it working with the new psu, Go to cruial.com and run the system scanner.
http://www.crucial.com/
Crucial is the best memory for OEM pc's like dell,hp, etc. Then compare the prices at an etailer like newegg or tigerdirect, etc.


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## Fred Garvin (Sep 4, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Carl, since you've already ordered a PS, I didn't bother explaining how to bench test it. What is it you want to remove from an old work PC? RAM or a power supply? Don't get too far ahead - wait to install the new PS. If you ordered the correct replacement PS, it will have all the necessary plugs.

If you want to add additional RAM to your computer, it looks like the largest memory stick you can add is 512MB, so the max memory you can install in that PC is 1Gig. 256 is the bare minimum to run Win XP, so adding more memory will be a drastic improvement. If you can find a 512K chip from a computer at work for free, do it. Or even buy 1 or 2 512K sticks. Mixing and matching won't be a problem, as long as they work and match your PCs specs. 

I'm basing the max memory info off a quick search on your PC, you'd have to verify this is correct. Dell says your PC uses PC2100 (266-MHz) or PC2700 (333-MHz) DDR SDRAM (non-ECC) memory.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Ok.. No luck with used parts. I'm going to wait for the psu to arrive and see if this solves issue. Then I will order two 512 memory cards and see how it works. What next if the psu doesn't solve power up? Just getting prepared if there is another problem. Thank you for your guidance...


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Still waiting for part, should be here on Wednesday . Can't wait to test it out ...


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Since you cannot reach BIOS at all, it wouldn't help to reset everything to failsafes, so until the PSU comes in, I wouldn't touch anything. 

I would try to buy RAM off somewhere like Craiglist as DDR prices are through the roof. Again, maybe a store online will be clearing out its aging stock, so you may be lucky. 

Its amazing you are even surfing the web properly with 256mb PC 2700.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Dell's also have 4 diagnostic lights, when you get the new PSU, install it clear the CMOS by removing the coin cell battery on the motherboard while you are installing the power supply, if it still won't start take a look at the Diag lights and see what code they are giving you.

Diag> http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/advtshoo.htm

Motherboard layout> http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/techov.htm#1105465


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

So I need to remove the small battery inside after or before i install the psu. And these diagnostic lights you mention, where are they located.


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## Derreem (Sep 15, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

check the switch behind the power supply and change it to a diffrent voltage and see what happens


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*



Derreem said:


> check the switch behind the power supply and change it to a diffrent voltage and see what happens


No the switch is set to the voltage that is used in the country you live in, changing it to 115v if you live in Europe will burn the PC up.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*



Car121 said:


> So I need to remove the small battery inside after or before i install the psu. And these diagnostic lights you mention, where are they located.


The lights are located on the back panel near I/O ports.
I would remove the battery while you swap the supply but it makes no difference when.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Wrench, i kinda thought the same thing as far as changing the voltage. Thanks for catci g that.... Now I'm new at this stuff . What is the IO ports not sure what they look like and where located, sorry . The psu should arrive in a few hours. I will remove battery, connect psu, install battery and plug pc. Should I connect computer screen and all other components like keyboard etc. Or just plug pc in outlet and see if it turns on?. And if it works then turn off and plug all other components?.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Input/Output ports where all the wires connect to the rear.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Oh ok... I just got the psu, I'm going to install now. I'll advise how it goes asap.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Great!!!!!!! We got power... It,s running I also located the ABCD lights in back panel. So when it started some of the lights were yellow and some green, then moments later as I let it run A B C turned green but D is still yellow. Is that normal? Should I connect all components back now?


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Great!!!!! We got power it's running. I noticed some of the diagnostic lights were green and some yellow. Moments later I heard a beep and now A B C are green and D is still yellow. Is that normal. Do I have to do something else? Can I connect all the components back like screen, keyboard etc ? Let mebe waiting response.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Ok not sure if I keep repeating my emails. But my response not showing up on my end. I installed psu and worked , I now have power and pc is on. I looked at diagnostic lights on rear panel and some were green and some yellow. Moments later I heard a beep sound and A B C turned green but D is yellow. Is this normal? Is there something else I have to do before attach all components such as monitor keyboard etc?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Make sure everything is connected to the motherboard, HD,Optical,etc......Go ahead and hookup all peripherals and see what you get


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Ok just got ur response. Going to hook all up now.. I post response asap. Stay with me on this one if you can please.. Thank you


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Outstanding !!!!!!! All looks great on monitor ... Wow thank all for your guidance.. You guys are the best.... Now that that pc works again, I want to try and replace memory cards My system has two slots and only one memory card which reads 256 ram. I not sure if I can install two 1gb chips one in each slot or two 2gb cards or smaller . Some say my system max memory is 1 gb and some say 2gb. Can anyone help with this.. Again I have an 8 year old Dell dimension 2400. Thank all again.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

I am assuming all the diagnostic lights are green?

Go to crucial.com and use the system scanner tool, They are the best memory for OEM systems like yours, Then compare the prices on newegg


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Good job getting it up and running

For the Ram
Use the configuration utility at www.crucial.com, for Dells Crucial is about all I use they are picky about the ram you use in them.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

All the light are green and seems to even run faster on the internet, maybe just me... Anyway ... Again thank you sooo much Wrench 97, Shotgn and all others.... You guys really know your stuff and I wll highly recomend this site to others in need... I will now check for the memory chips and see what crucial recomends... When i get these do i just remove the old one and install the two new ones and turn on pc? Or is there another process for this?ray:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Unplug the power cord press and hold the power button a couple of times to dissipate any stored current, then remove the old and install the new, replug. On that model the bios should read the new ram automatically on boot and you're off and running.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Very good Wrench .. im going to shop for some memory cards and see where the best quality and price are. Crucial said my system will hold 2gb max.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

For XP that's all you'll really need.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Well i figured I stay with Crucial, so i ordered two 1gb cards from them.. Thanks again all.. Ill advise when they arrive and start this set up.


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## Car121 (Sep 5, 2010)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Well my memory finally arrived.. I installed it and what a difference... Sweeeeeet.... You guys are the best.. Thank you sooooo much for your support and guidance through this process... My PC is up and running really fast and with no problems at all... Thank you all that assisted me with repairing my PC. I will highly recommend this site to others...


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Glad you got it going...Dont be a stranger


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Dell PC will not power up*

Glad it went well


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