Dell - Fan ramps up but no boot

[TechMonkey]

Have an interesting one. Reception phone up & they have an incredibly noisy fan. Go down and the PC isn't booting but when switched on the fan builds up to full speed. No error lights and after getting it up to the office I have found sometimes it does come on but I can't find a correlation between coming on and anything I have done or conditions. I have reseated everything, tried one memory module or the other & upgraded the BIOS.

 

Any ideas?

[Haptic]

Have an interesting one. Reception phone up & they have an incredibly noisy fan. Go down and the PC isn't booting but when switched on the fan builds up to full speed. No error lights and after getting it up to the office I have found sometimes it does come on but I can't find a correlation between coming on and anything I have done or conditions. I have reseated everything, tried one memory module or the other & upgraded the BIOS.

 

Any ideas?

 

have you tried clearing the cmos ?

[Michael]

It sounds like it isn't POSTing, but power clearly is going through the system. If possible, remove any non essential components. If the PC works after you've moved it, chances are either a component is loose or possibly the motherboard itself is shorting out on the case. It could also be a cold boot problem if the room is particularly cool.

[TechMonkey]

Reset CMOS. Nothing.

 

Removed just about everything, even HD, FD, CD, all mem modules. There are no extra cards. The stupid thing is sometimes it comes on fine, I can access the BIOS, everything appears great, boot up, get on. Turn teh machine off & restart & either straight off or after one more boot it fails again. Our room is fairly cold but I wouldn't say where it came from is.

[andy_nic]

What model is it? we have had GX260's and GX280's do it. turns out in every case we have had it was the motherboard. look at the Capacitors at the siliver bit at the ends, on the MB one will look like it has pushed up.

[plexer]

PSU.

 

Ben

[TechMonkey]

Yep it is a gx280 but check the caps and all seem fine. No obvious popping. Would it still be PSU even with power getting though ok (the power test light is fine) & sometimes it starting ok?

[Michael]

I would say the probability is it's the motherboard from what you're describing, but by all means, swap components with another system.

[plexer]

PSU still my bet.

 

I had a GX240 that would sometimes start and sometimes not the other day.

 

Changed the psu and it ran fine, I hooked up a standard ATX psu you to test it before buying a replacement.

 

Ben

[TechMonkey]

Ta for the suggestion. I'll swap with another we have in but I don't think it will be the same as it's not just not starting but doing this whole fan thing as well so power is there. I'm starting to think more it must be a mobo Ohh well, time to order another.

[akidosaint]

What did the dell diagnostic boot tell you

[TechMonkey]

Currently can't get it booted to even select that, I'll try & have a look. I imagine if I can get to teh point then it will say everything is fine.

[alextreadwell]

have you tried reseating the cpu and applying new thermal paste I have stacks of gx280s like this all have different problems but do the same super fast fan spinning trick! there was a motherboard recall on this model so if yours isn't too old you might be able to get them out to relplace it even if you are out of warrenty?

[LeMarchand]

I'm watching this thread with interest, as I'm just about to give up on the same model/problem. Tried all the suggestions above some time ago with no joy. The fan now always fires up at hoover levels, rapidly rising to harrier jump jet .

 

The machine is currently on the "one day" pile, but I'd be interested to know how much a new mobo costs if you go down that route.

[TechMonkey]

The unit is from 04 so maybe ok. I'll look for the recall, never heard about it! I do know that they all start jet fast for a second to start with but this is a real slow start & then building up to continuous jet speed added with no diag lights & just an orange power light. I'll keep this updated if I find anything & with what we do.

[alextreadwell]

Optiplex GX280 - loud fan at start up and amber power light - does not boot - DELL COMMUNITY

 

looks like the recall for gx280'w without warrenty has ended but still available under warenty mine no longer have it, also I have read its easy to replace the dead caps on the mother board (I have not attempted it yet but will be soon) motherboards were going for about £25 on ebay last month but missed the end.

[TechMonkey]

Bummer, that sounds like it all right. Well then time to find either cost of new MB or replace machine. No sign on any of the caps of damage so I doubt replacing them would be viable.

[alextreadwell]

Could be the processor I have swapped them between machines and had the problem folow the processor in the past when the motherboard was fine

[TechMonkey]

Will give that ago. Anything at the moment!

[LeMarchand]

Had a chat with one of our LEA's "top guys" about something else and mentioned this problem. His first response was "bad caps". I said that there weren't any visible signs of this, but he reckoned there isn't always.

 

Apparently another school had 2 280s go in their suite. As the suite was up for replacement anyway, they bought in a bunch of new machines and the old machines were re-purposed for class use; since then a third of them have developed the same fault.

 

Worryingly, another machine in our suite seems to be on the way out with the same symptoms .