# Dell Dimension 4700 wont start



## Chantilly486 (Jul 6, 2008)

At the moment, its working. But sometimes, when I go to turn it on, it starts up for a second then shuts off. Then the orange light start flashing. So I have to unplug my computer for a few minutes or sometimes a few hours and hope when I try it again it starts. This happens once a week or so. Im thinking there is something wrong with the power supply or fan.


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## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

Hey mate,
when you start your PC successfully, for how long can he stay on??? 5min, 15min, 2 hours???
Also, does it shuts down when you play some games, or when PC just plays some music or when you do nothing???
Open the case and clean heat-sink on processor from dust with vacuum cleaner or with compressed air...
Also clean PSU with compressed air...
Maybe you should replace thermal paste on processor just to make sure it is not over-heating problem...
Be sure you remove old paste first with alcohol and do not apply lot of paste...
report back please...


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

on the back I/O panel, there are 4 lights. Some will be amber, some green. When properly running, note color sequence (light A to light D), and again after a failure. report back with codes.


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## Chantilly486 (Jul 6, 2008)

"when you start your PC successfully, for how long can he stay on??? 5min, 15min, 2 hours??? Also, does it shuts down when you play some games, or when PC just plays some music or when you do nothing???"

i opened it up today and cleaned it real good with compressed air. I all the dust out, a lot out the power supply and off the boards. when the pc starts up succesfully, it stays on fine. never turns off or acts up. runs smooth. im not sure what you mean by the paste on the processor.

ill have to check those four lights the next time it decides it dont want to start. but right now, A, B, C, and D are green. i had this computer for 4 yrs and never noticed those lights on the back. 

Could be a dust problem i never cleaned it with air, only with a brush and blowing air the old fashion way until i feel like im floating. I did get pretty hot after being on for 4 or 5 hours. :4-dontkno


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

what are you running
video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
wattage

any error message
check your tempretures and voltages in the bios and post them


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## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

Chantilly486 said:


> im not sure what you mean by the paste on the processor.


Did you see that heat-sink on processor is dusted???
Did you clean it???
Thermal paste is applied on processor and it is placed between processor and heat-sink...
If heat-sink was dusted, then it should be good to remove old one thermal paste and to apply new one...
make sure you apply just a little bit, you do not need to apply lot of paste...
Look in the local store for arctic silver thermal paste...


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

on the back I/O panel, there are 4 lights. Some will be amber, some green. When properly running, note color sequence (light A to light D), and again after a failure. report back with codes.

THAT is dell's system of giving you error codes. Dell does not use a BIOs like most of us think they do, as we're spoiled by asus and gigabyte. Dell's BIOS, or the one i've used on my dad's 4700, will NOT give you an error log (option typically greyed out, and isn't there half the time), NOR temperatures, NOR voltages...

basically, all it does it turn drive connections on and off and choose boot priority. And that's really it.


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