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Won't Boot. No Video. No beeps codes?

C

comradesean

Experienced Member
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Oct 6, 2014
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Location
NY, USA
Picked up a cheap Dell Dimensions xps r350 for Quake and I'm short on parts to actually determine the failure.

It's a PII 350 mhz on a 200 watt psu with, I believe, that wonky dell atx port and an aux connector. No second psu to test with.

If everything is connected then nothing happens except a click from the floppy, a click from the cd-rom and running fans.

It's got an agp slot with an ATI rage and no onboard. If I remove this there is no change in boot.

If I remove the cpu, it simply wont power.

But, If I remove the RAM, I get two short beeps.

One other odd thing is that power button doesn't function properly. It powers up immediately when I plug it into the wall and I can only shut it off by holding down power button for 10secs. Reset does nothing.

I don't have a second gpu or psu to swap out, but does anyone have any idea what might be the cause? Or cheap solutions to figure it out?

I've got a cheap psu tester coming in, but couldn't find one that supported aux connectors.
 
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Beeps with ram removed means the processor and power supply are functioning enough to produce bios display. No beeps with video card removed probably means fault is not the video card. I would say bad or wrong ram.
How many ram sticks? What size? Ram should be PC100. If more than one stick try each individually. If slots have numbers try lowest number. Hope this Helps.

PS - power on with AC applied is a bios setting. Power off after button held 10 seconds is normal.

Larry G
 
I think it's just about there...18 years old.

The reset switch may be shorted. Try unplugging it from the header on the motherboard.
 
Usually, this behavior means that the CPU isn't even getting into the BIOS. Bad Juju.

Try removing all of the memory, leave the CPU in and see if it beeps. You should get a string of beeps that says "I have no memory!".
 
Chuck(G) said:
Usually, this behavior means that the CPU isn't even getting into the BIOS. Bad Juju.

Try removing all of the memory, leave the CPU in and see if it beeps. You should get a string of beeps that says "I have no memory!".
Click to expand...

Yeah, removing both sticks gives me the no memory beeps.

I just removed the connector from the front panel, but no change.

I tried each individually with no luck. Both sticks are identical and I can't read it very well, but it looks like it's pc166? I'm not 100% sure what all was aftermarket. Gonna check documentation to see if this is supported.
edit: scratch that. It's pc100. Deciphered the text and found the memory online. Didn't help that the 0's looked like 8's.

This is a longshot, but is there a chance a dead CMOS battery could ever halt boot? I did make sure to check the jumper and that's not the issue.
 
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Maybe? Have you tried pressing any keys during boot up? If not try F1, F2, F10, DEL, or ESC.
 
haha epic

I just took home a Dell XPS-R350 over christmas. It's my new ~2000 gaming rig. I've got all the original manuals and media still sealed. I'll have a flick through the documentation over the weekend and see if I find anything that'll be helpful. I doubt I'll be much help, but I'll check.

Usually for situations like this (> 2000 era) systems I rely on a parts pile and play the swap-parts game.
 
Just decided to bust out a multimeter and test the psu manually. Followed this diagram for the ATX connector and each of the +5v was putting out exactly 5v, but the +12v seemed to be doing 11v. Not sure if that's enough to be concerned over?
Checked the Aux and it was doing good putting out a little over 3v in the three blue wires.

Edit: found an aux diagram and it appears to be functioning properly as well. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-10.html

Second edit: Did some more reading and it sounds like if the 11v reading is correct then that's the problem. I only have this shitty cheap analog multimeter though so I don't know how accurate the reading is.
 
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11.9 or 11.8 is fine, but if it's getting near 11.0V I'd be changing it. ATX power supplies are a dime a dozen.
I did remember one thing with mine, the Montegro (I think?) sound card from Turtle Beach - mine failed, and for some reason actually prevented the machine from POSTing (no beeps).
 
Chuck(G) said:
I take it that the 3.3V output is reading on target?
Click to expand...

It actually looked closer to 3.1, but it was uniformly across all the rails so I kinda just shrugged it off due to my multimeter being cheap.

Also in regards to replacing it, dell is nonstandard so I actually have to find a duplicate replacement psu. There's a couple up on eBay, but it's gonna cost me $25 for it. That's more than I paid for the system so I just want to be 100% sure before I drop the cash on it.
 
SpidersWeb said:
Ugh, you're right, it is non-standard, I just checked mine, very annoying.
Click to expand...

I was debating on just dropping the motherboard and going standard for a little extra (the cheaper PSU almost offsets the cost of the motherboard!), but Dell has changed just enough to make it a real PITA. I'd have the change the connector on the Power/Reset and the CPU heatsink (which is bolted on) would smash against the chipset heatsink which comes on the standard mobo.
I'm also not 100% sure if I can remove and reseat the plastic CPU frame/holder, but they appear to be screwed in.
 
I have 5 or 6 Dell PSUs from machines around that era. I you can be specific about the PSU I might have one you could use.
 
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