PSWD clear = CMOS reset in Dell? Power outage fried dell.

[Gilbo]

My girlfriend's PC was in standy during a power outage that hit Halifax today because it was mildly windy and Nova Scotia power sucks. My power has gone off in light drizzles before. I live a 5 minute walk from downtown! Unfortunately the power didn't just go out, it flashed on and off for about fifteen minutes before dying completely. The computers were very cranky about that.

Her PC isn't booting. It's not even posting. The power supply is still delivering a little juice at least. The lights come on. The fans whir. The CD-ROM opens and closes but there's no BIOS no screen nothing. CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't reset the computer after many minutes of patience, so I'm pretty sure it's not the video card (or not just the video card).

The first thing that occurred to me was to try a CMOS reset. Looking around the mobo I see one jumper that has a PASSWD clear and MMODE position the latter of which I assume is maintenance mode the former of which I assume is a dumbed-down euphemism for CMOS clear. I was hoping some of you could give me some advice.

Googling Dell Dimension 4600 CMOS clear gives me the very clever advice to enter the BIOS and hit various magical key combinations. Yes, if your computer isn't POSTing, please enter the BIOS so you can fix things. What a brilliant idea... if only it was useful to me.

P.S. All my homebrew boxes survived quite happily, probably thanks to the ballsy Fortron Source power supplies. Pussy Dell. A preliminary look suggests that the even the Reiser4 partitions are intact. Gonadial...

 

[Gilbo]

More accurately it's CLR PSSWRD and MMODE, but you know what I'm saying.

 

[Gilbo]

Also I should have googled better before I posted. Google has links that lead to 404's. One of which is usefully in some Oriental language that my Linux setup doesn't display very well. Luckily Google cache still has has some info.

Sorry for the easily googled question, the triple post, and, I just realized, this probably should have been in the tech support forum.

My only excuse is that when the power went out, I hiked down to my favourite nearby pub, The Nail in the Kneecap, and had several bitters...

 

[P5-133XL]

If you are not seeing anything on the screen and its not going through Post then it most likely isn't a CMOS setup issue, especially if there was power outage right before. Something's been fried! Most likely the motherboard but theres lot to check before a definative answer.

Start out first by testing your monitor. Does it have an on-screen menu and does it work?

Assuming that the monitor isn't fried, the next step is your computer. What beep codes is it giving off when freshly booted, if any? If there are some then look up what they mean. If not then continue.

When you power up the machine is the Power light green or does it stay yellow? Does the Hard drive LED ever flash? On the back of the machine there are 4 diagnostic leds. What are their colors?

Are your fan running? Take something very thin and poke it through the power supply fan grid to make sure the fan is actually running. Do the same for the CPU fan (access is through the back of the machine: You don't need to open it up).

Next diagnostic process is to open up the machine. Is the green led on the motherboard lit? Smell and look for any obvious signs of something being burnt. Unplug the power cord (Green motherboard light should go out) and then pull out all cards including video. Plug the power cord back in and Power it up to see if there are any beep codes now? If so then most likely the problem is the video card but just to make sure check out the beep code.

Still no beep code. unplug the power cord and make sure the green LED on the motherboard is off. Now remove all your RAM. Power it back up and check out the beep codes. If if beeps now then most likely you have bad RAM but look the beep codes up anyway.

If you've gone through all this and no beep codes but the fans and power is being supplied to CD-Rom then your mother board needs to be replaced. If that does not fix it then you will also need to replace the CPU but first things first.

 

[Tannin]

Mark's advice is good. Me, I'd shortcut first, then work through Mark's proceedure. First step though, I'd swap the PSU and see what happens.

 

[Gilbo]

I talked to Dell Support. Even as it came out of my mouth I realized I shouldn't have mentioned it; I told them about the power outage, although I didn't mention the horrible on/off death that the computer died.

Dead mobo, they think. Good guy on the phone, Indian accent, but very good english. I was on hold for about 1 minute.

Verdict: natural disaster. Home owners insurance or maybe the surge protector is my best bet. I'm pissed. A Socket-478 motherboard isn't much these days, but it pisses me off that they weaseled out of the warranty like that. Bastards. I'm going to look for the surge protector warranty card, although it's not worth my time.

 

[Gilbo]

Oh, by the way thanks for your advice P5-133Xl, and yours as well Tannin. I followed your procedure before I called Dell support and you were exactly right, bad motherboard. No beep codes ever, CD-ROM gets power.

Great call by the way . Colour me suitably impressed!

 

[time]

If your experience turns even one person off Dell Hell (eg you), it was worthwhile.

 

[i]

If it's the power supply, it was coincidence it happened during a power failure.

We have a few hundred recent model Dells where I work.

You shut them down. You power them back up. Or rather you try; they don't power back up.

It doesn't matter if you went through a normal system shutdown, yanked the plug, or had a power failure. A simple stop and restart and several Dell power supplies have croaked.