Dell XPS 430 Core 2 Duo wont boot

[chris-t]

Hi All,

Having a problem with an XPS 430 desktop machine. When powered up the machine fires up, processor fan comes on at a very high speed, the hard drive light comes on for 10 secs or so then goes off, doesnt even reach post let alone start to load windows.

The person using the machine said it just started doing it and hadnt changed anything before it started doing it. Interestingly though, they also said when they waggled the VGA lead at the end plugged into the graphics card it started to boot, but this so far hasn't happened for me.

 

If anyone has any ideas they would b greatly appreciated as I'm kind of stumped and google hasn't helped much!

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Chris

[FN-GM]

What is the pattern with the 4 Diagnostic lights? On desktops you normally find them on the back.

[Dos_Box]

Re-seat the RAM.

[chris-t]

Doesn't appear to be any that I can see. There is only the light on the power button which flashed amber when powered up then stays solid blue. The HDD light on the top at the front, a green light on the PSU and amber on the MOBO. Thats all there is im afraid.

 

Should mention the fan stays at the constant high speed however long the machine is left on.

[chris-t]

Hi already reseated RAM, processor and HS. Thanks for the reply though

[AngryTechnician]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Vostro 430 is a fairly new model, so this machine should still be in warranty... may be worth just giving the Dell support line a call.

[chris-t]

Its an XPS 430 not a vostro, i have been onto Dell live chat and when i entered the service tag it said it was out of warrenty and to phone up and they would help for a reasonable price!

[robmal]

Could be the graphics card isnt seated properly or is defective in some way... swap it out and see if you get anywhere. Sometimes the user does give you a clue! Otherwise, you have already done all the obvious things

 

Good luck

 

Rob

[rlweb]

Yeah try reseating the graphics card and checking the power to the graphics card. Edited April 14, 2010 by rlweb

[chris-t]

Hi, thanks robmal and rlweb. Took the graphics card out, gave it a quick clean put it back in and now fires up fine (obviously one of those rare times a user has given me decent info!!). Still can't work out that causing the fan to run at such a high speed but problem solved!

 

Thanks again,

 

Chris

[rlweb]

If its a nivida graphics card have a look under the nivida control panel as you can change the speed of it.

[Cue]

Is it a constant high speed or a temporary thing? Some fans may do that, though generally it's servers that I find do it more, or the fans in heavy duty graphics cards (my 8800GT sounds like a jet when you first boot the PC up, then after 5 seconds or so it dies down). Generally it won't make a sound unless it's going extremely fast or it has something caught in it, might be worthwhile checking for anything in the fan. If not, check your BIOS settings for fan adjustments.

[chris-t]

Sorry wasn't clear there. It was the CPU fan running fast and reseating the card has solved that problem and also now boots too. The fan on the card its self is fine.

 

Thanks again for all the help!