Reply With QuoteTo me it sound like the video card has given up the ghost.
Since this forum is a mine of useful information watch wise and otherwise, I thought I would see if anyone can help me with this evening's conundrum.
I have a 2010 Dell XPS desktop with an Intel i5 processor which has been pretty reliable over the last 11 years. This evening, whilst in a Teams meeting, the screen froze with a weird pattern of colour and then it went blank. On attempting to restart, the PC appeared to have the usual boot sounds but then emits two beeps and gets no further. No signal sent to the monitor and no further sounds from there. On occasion when trying to start there is a single beep but nothing else.
A Google has suggested it may be related to faulty RAM. When removing two of the older modules, the startup is the same but the two beeps have a lower tone and greater spacing but no further progress in booting. Another suggestion was the CMOS battery so I replaced that with a brand new identical one which made precisely no difference....
Now, I realise that the computer doesn't owe me anything at this age and very fortunately, I have a cloud backup of important documents from 4 days ago and a local HDD backup for the system from literally an hour before the crash (which runs weekly so just well timed), However, it would be good to get access and ensure that everything is transferred if possible even if the fault is terminal. Also acts as a reminder to everyone who doesn't have a regular backup...
Could any of the members with experience in this area suggest any other things to try and thanks in advance!
To me it sound like the video card has given up the ghost.
Yeah, the POST beeps indicate a RAM or motherboard failure. The Hard Drive is probably okay and could be mounted on another PC via a HDD Docking Cradle which cost around 25 quid.
Some troubleshooting here if you've not found it already:
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/e...ell-desktop-pc
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Thanks, that was my conclusion/plan based on that article and others but thought it was worth a post in case there was anything obvious I had missed!Originally Posted by Mr Curta
I don’t think it is just the graphics card as I would expect the rest of the PC to run with some input to the monitor but there is zilch.
check your keyboard...most pc will halt at boot with a dead keyboard unless the bios is told different
Have a close look at the motherboard and see if any of the capacitors are swollen at the top of bottom and if some are leaking. These can cause all sorts of problems and I’ve seen quite a few on dell motherboards over the years.
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
That is certainly a possibility for interrupting startup.
A stuck key can do it also, I believe.
But - if it crashed while in use, I'd suspect something else was the cause in this case.
Another thing that you can try is to use a clean rubber or rubbing alcohol on a cotton bud to clean the gold contacts on your RAM. Some people worry about static using a rubber but I've never had a problem yet with it. Just make sure you remove any loose rubber left on the RAM. With heat cycles and age the gold can take on a tarnish that can cause problems.
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
Thanks everyone, disconnecting the keyboard unfortunately makes no difference and the keyboard works fine connected to my old laptop. Grossly all the capacitors looks fine and I have checked to make sure there aren't any loose wires to the board. I suspect that it is something internal on the motherboard but after 11 years of constant use, I don't think I can really complain and I should be able to restore any required data.
If you lived local-ish to me, I'd be happy to lend you my Dell power supply tester, iffy voltages on the 12v and 5v lines can cause all sorts of oddities but as you say, you've had 11 years off it so you've had your money's worth.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Remove all of the ram and see if the beeping pattern changes, then try installing just a single stick and see if the pattern changes. Then move that stick to the next slot, repeat and rinse to see if it changes the behaviour in any way.
If the pc has a video card in the expansion slot the remove that and try using just the onboard.
Where in London are you, am in NW London and don’t mind having a look at it if you are nearby and can drop it off?
2 beeps indicates a RAM problem: Understanding Beep Codes on a Dell Desktop PC
This page may also be of interest: A reference guide to the XPS Desktop Diagnostic Indicators
Thanks for the above, will try the suggestion about RAM as I removed a couple of modules but will try removing them all and then replacing one and also removing the graphics card.
I think it is time for a new computer anyway so as long as I have all my data (should be able to get it from the HDD as I think that’s fine) will probably leave it at that rather than trying anything more drastic!
Interesting!
I’ll have to read to see if there is anything relevant to my issues.
Have a look at the thread about my problems which didn’t sound completely dissimilar:
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...-PC-Problems!!
Despite the various bleeps it may well be the PSU. I had a Dell previously and despite beeps to the contrary it was the PSU. I was lucky in that my model did not use the old Dell proprietary internals. So I got a new PSU and all was well. I also now have a cheap very low end gfx card that I can swap in to check things. In my experience of building PCs the PSU is the thing not to cheap out on as a good one generally gives you a nice stable system.
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