Turned off the winxp computer normally the day before and now it comes on and off by itself.
The computer sometimes boots up to the point of the bios loading but then stops.
When I press the power button nothing happens, it just keeps starting and restarting on its own.
Sometimes it just remains dead, with no response when the power button is pressed.
Diagnostic lights 3, 4 come on first, then 2,4, then 1,2,3 show when it goes through the longest bootup process.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Try one memory module at a time in slot 1. The system will run a bit slowly but it should run on one module.
Please post back and let me know if you need more help.
Osprey
Hi Mjinga,
Here are the diagnostic lights. Lights 1, 2, 3 indicate "other failure". I know, not too helpful. This can mean you are having a problem with the hard drive. I would start by check the connections to your drive, both power and data cables. If that looks fine, then try running the Dell diagnostics by booting to your Dell drivers and utilities disc. I've got a link to the procedure below.
Tried the cables without any progress. The computer does not boot far enough for 'F12' to show. The BIOS bar loads halfway and the computer shuts down and restarts as before.
So far I have also removed the graphics card as well as replace the stock memory modules and move them two at a time between the slots with no luck.
Just a suggestion, please don't just pull parts out of the system randomly. You may inadvertantly cause a different problem. Troubleshooting means trying one thing at a time.
Can you get into system setup (F2)?
Plugged power back and got far enough to load into the bios.
I was running the extended diagnostics, stepped away for a moment and it is now doing the same thing of going on and off.
Are you running the diagnostics from the Dell drivers and utilities disc? If so, then I would keep an eye on what component is being tested when the system reboots.
The diagnostics was running from a partition on the hard drive. The computer did not come with the disc.
Ok, then this is what you need to do. Go to downloads and find the diagnostics for your system. Usually there are two versions, one for upgrading the hard drive utility partition, and one for preparing a bootable flash drive or CD. You need to prepare a bootable flash drive or CD to run the diagnostics.
i cannot seem to find a way to create a bootable disc. Any suggestions?
If you have a floppy drive, there is a diagnostic down to create a bootable floppy diskette with the diagnostics.
I managed to get the diagnostics running but it keeps shutting down by itself.
It seems to shut down when it it doing the memory check.