POST Card

[rlriii13]

If the motherboard doesn't beep then it's either faulty RAM (or DIMM slot), badly-seated or damaged CPU, or the graphics pathway is garbled. Those are the only 3 things checked at POST. After that BIOS takes over and it handles disks, NICs, etc.

But would the disks still spin up if it wasn't actually getting past the POST?

Monitor isn't the issue. I have two of them for display and both work with my laptop.

So, you have two monitors plugged in? One is HDMI and the other is VGA? While doing your diagnostics, did you have both monitors plugged in? I would recommend only plugging in the VGA monitor when testing. Mixing an analog and digital signal can cause some confusion.

It powers on and there is movement in fans, HD and everything else

If you power it on and just let it run for a few minutes, do the fans and the HD continue running?

Are there LED lights inside the case that light up and remain lit? How about the LED lights on the outside of the tower? I don't know about that model, but certain Dell models are infamous for problems with this or that. Many times the behavior of the main power button's LED light can help you find out if there's a hardware issue. You could also try calling Dell.

[Jayson]

But would the disks still spin up if it wasn't actually getting past the POST?




So, you have two monitors plugged in? One is HDMI and the other is VGA? While doing your diagnostics, did you have both monitors plugged in? I would recommend only plugging in the VGA monitor when testing. Mixing an analog and digital signal can cause some confusion.




If you power it on and just let it run for a few minutes, do the fans and the HD continue running?

Are there LED lights inside the case that light up and remain lit? How about the LED lights on the outside of the tower? I don't know about that model, but certain Dell models are infamous for problems with this or that. Many times the behavior of the main power button's LED light can help you find out if there's a hardware issue. You could also try calling Dell.

Question #1, I was wondering about the HD spinning question too, but figured since there wasn't a beep it wasn't getting past post.

#2, I unplugged the HDMI first try and have tried plugging and unplugging as I tested originally. Both work on other computers and when plugged into the down computer, they display like it would be off or in sleep mode.

#3, Yes, the fans and HD continue running. You can tell it isn't processing anything by the sounds it makes, just running. The LED light inside the case beside the batter is orange and stays orange when the computer is turned on and plugged in. The LED light on the front of the computer which usually displays white when the computer is on, is displaying orange also (just like it would when in sleep mode or hibernate). The little light on the front that flashes when it is initially turned on(wife calls this the thinking light) doesn't do anything at all. I thought initially that I might have had a bent USB pin from the plugging in of the microphone, but they appear to be fine, and I think that would have been solved by unplugging that from the motherboard.