Dell Desktop won't start up.

Gabriel_Pitt

I've had a Dell Dimension 8300 for a few years, and when I tried to boot it up this morning, nothing happened. It was working last night fine, and I shut it down like normal, but this morning, when I hit the power button, nothing happens. As far as I know, there were no random power surges or anything else over the night (everything else on that power outlet is still working fine), and I haven't opened it up yet to see if anything is obviously wrong.

What would be the checklist people would recommend going through to figure out what's wrong?

Thanatos

Make sure the on/off switch in back (if it has one) is on. Make sure the plug it's plugged into is working. Make sure the power cable is plugged into both the wall and the computer. Make sure you're pressing the on/off button hard enough.

Gabriel_Pitt

Switch would've been the first thing I checked, but it doesn't have one. Checking the wall plug was the second thing I did, and it's working fine. Making sure it was plugged in was the zeroth (I.E. before first) thing I did, and finally, I pushed the button both harder, and longer than usual on a couple different times, and it resulted in nothing.

Also, I've opened it up, cleaned out a surprising amount of dust, and checked all the cables, and connectors, and bits, and pieces, and everything looks like it should be working okay. I am mystified as to why it isn't.

One thing to consider - for two years, I've lived in Japan, in a typically unheated apartment, so during the winter, the temperature can range from 40-ishF to 60f (if I'm running a heater), plus whatever heat the computer cooks up itself. And it just has turned really cold again. Possible problem area?

Catcher

Thanatos wrote:

Make sure the on/off switch in back (if it has one) is on. Make sure the plug it's plugged into is working. Make sure the power cable is plugged into both the wall and the computer. Make sure you're pressing the on/off button hard enough.

You forgot to add that he should make sure that the power supply is not fried, that the electrical circuit is up and working and that the power supply unit is securely attached to the mainboard.

Gabriel_Pitt

How do I check to see if the power supply is fried (when I had it open, I look for scorch marks and smelled around to see if anything had burned, and came up nada on both). The power supply is firmly attached. I checked the mountings, and all the cable connections, and its on there as solid as it's always been. It was running just fine fourteen hours ago, when I shut it off and went to bed, and the only physical change between then and when I tried to turn it on was the sun had come up.

ZERO.

Is it all dusty inside?

I had I similar problem with my computer and it was just some dust balls causing a cross wire.

If nothing looks damaged inside, I would just clean that motherfucker out and see if it will work.

Gabriel_Pitt

It was dusty, but I cleaned it out. When I plug it in, a LED comes on on the motherboard, and when I unplug it and hold the power button down for ten seconds (discharging any power left in the system) the LED goes out. So there's not a total break in the connection to the power button.

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

when you do try to start it up is there any noise? rotation? lights that come on?

Gabriel_Pitt

Total zilch. I spent about two hours IMing a dell tech, who finally declared that the mother board must be dead, and I should send it in for replacement. Goof thing I got that four year warranty. Too bad I'm not going to be in the states to actually do it until Christmas.