Hello all;

If anyone has good Troubleshooting experience with Dell Desktop machines - in particular, Optiplex G270's, please let me know!

I am experiencing a Trouble Indication referencing a Main Board Component failure (indicated by flashing Amber Lamp on power button).

I am thinking the failure may be the On-Board Video Adapter, as it never worked since I got the machine (in early 2004).
Placed an AGP card in the appropriate bus slot, disabled the on-board video in the system BIOS, and everything was fine...until last week!

That's what I get for shutting my machine off, and leaving it off for more than 24 Hours!!!
Seriously, I have no trouble with machines if they are always left running - or if powered down, only off for up to 24 hours. As soon as they get shut down for >24 Hours, something always goes FUBAR!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA!

Scott

Bad battery? That will cause it to get stuck in an "auto config" cycle where it reverts to factory default everytime it reboots. My father in law had that happen and it was just a doorstop. This was the "coin" battery.

Hi! We have 50 Optiplex G280 here, and during 2 years we had 3 bad of them. It just didn't start at all.

I'll check tomorrow the report with the repair guys.

One was the ventillator, that's sure, it also doesn't like the low memory, min 512 is good, I'll check the rest.

Unfortunately, this kind of problem is usually caused by a bad motherboard or CPU. Just to make sure it isn't, try unplugging and reseating all of the components that are plugged into the motherboard, specifically the CPU and memory. Most component and memory problems should still allow the computer to boot to the BIOS. Another possibility is the power supply, but when they go they generally like to go down in a puff of smoke.

If you do pull the heatsync off to reseat the CPU and it works, be sure to clean off all the old thermal compound and put a fresh coat on. By removing the heatsync, you introduce air bubbles that will decrease its cooling efficiency.

Not too sure if this would help.... While I was last in Norfolk (Virginia, not England), we had 3 or 4 Dells experience a "thermal event". I was told by the repair tech that Dell purchased mother boards with defective capacitors on them. They would overheat, swell and fail. Look for caps that resemble a soda can that's spent too much time in the freezer.

He replaced the mother board and we were back in business in about 15 minutes.

Hello again everyone, and thank you for the replies!

Been trying a few things + looking for signs of failed components, but no luck as of yet.

Reseated all socketed devices - DRAM DIMMS, Adapters in the Expansion Bus, CPU, etc., and still no luck.

Tried to boot with a device removed (or with only a single DRAM DIMM per attempt), and no luck.

Will purchase a new Lithium Cell (CMOS Battery), and try to boot with replaced Cell.

If that doesn't work, then it's time for a new Board, as it would appear to be a core device - CPU, Video Adapter, Bridges, Drive Controllers, etc.
I just need to accumulate some $$$ first!

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions.

Will keep you all informed of the final outcome!

Scott

p.s. I miss my machine!!!

I think you will find a board for a Dell is amazingly close to the price for a new machine. Funny how that works huh?
They don't use much "industry standard" stuff either. Most Dells even have a strange power supply connector layout. I doubt you can buy a 3d party board that even fits in the case. I tried to build a Dell "woodie" (from Ebay parts) but I never got enough real Dell stuff to get it going.

Hi,

The flashing amber power light indicates either a faulty motherboard or, more likely, a faulty PSU. Modern PSU's dont always go with a bang anymore, they usually just quietly give it up.

On the back of your PC there are 4 status lights, A, B, C, D. These indicate component faliures like the memory or CMOS battery. Turn it on and see what lights you get and post back.

Be careful replacing Dell PSU's with generic ones, Dell have a habit of altering the pinout on the PSU connector. This results in either another blown PSU or a blown motherboard.

Good luck!

Hello everyone,

Here's the latest news on the Desktop Story:

Replaced the CMOS Battery with a new one...
No luck.

Reseated everything connected to the Motherboard...
No luck.

Tried to get to POST with items removed...
No luck.

Looks like it's time for that Machine to become either a large Paperweight, or very extravagant boat anchor!

johno12345:


All Four (4) of these LED Indicator Lamps are dark (no status), as are the activity indicator lamps next to the NIC, which normally shows pings and such even when the machine was powered down.

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There was a Dell optiplex G260 at work - which I thought was laying around because someone upgraded their workstation, but it apparently had some issues with random rebooting and possibly a loss of smoke scenario, so that board, CPU or PSU are not on my frankenstein parts list!

Just kills me - every time I shut off a machine for +48 hours, they either commit suicide, or induce long-term brain damage (fixed disk drive failure).
Nothing funny about getting dumped at IRQ 80! (although if I could even get to that point after POST, I would find it enjoyable...)

So it's time to toss the old, and purchase the new.

On this subject, all the pre-built packages come with Vista and no options for XP (I haven't dug too deep, so maybe there are XP options I just haven't seen).
Has Vista gone through its "Public Domain Beta Testing Period" yet, or is this O.S. still on its first release?

What I am referring to is:
Has Microsoft collected enough data on known issues with the Vista Operating System, since its first public release, in order to compile a somewhat stable SER through an OEM vendor (like Dell), or is it still in the "Try These Patches, And Cross Your Fingers" state?

Simply stated: Is it stable, or will I see lots of "BSOD" (Blue Screens with White Text - AKA "Blue Screen Of Death), &/or GPF error messages?

Sorry, old habits never die...
Don't buy the first production of a new CPU,
Wait for second releases on Operating Systems so the bugs are more worked out,
Wait for "version 2.2x.xxx" of software applications before investing,
etc.

Scott

Vista is a huge honker. I was over looking at my son in law's machine that was running slow (3gz with a half gig of memory)
This thing gobbled up close to 400 meg of memory, just to boot to the desk top! That is a lot of overhead just to play solitaire and read your Email.

I believe that the "recommended" requirements are at least 1GB of RAM.

Hi,

I have a Vista PC at work and it is reasonably stable, possibly more than my XP system was. I have 2gb ram and I havve to admit, it could do with more but then I have this problem with never closing apps or rebooting the system.

There are lots of nice features in Vista, apart from the fact that it looks pretty. I think the visuals are just a gimmic. IE7 is better too with the tabbed browsing, helps keep things neater. I have a work related browser, a non-work browser and another for things that I dont leave open.

Hardware wise, I have never had a more reliable system than an IBM/Lenovo. They are built like tanks and are easy to upgrade. You also have the best technical resource for drivers, manuals etc on their website. Second to IBM/Lenovo would be HP/Compaq. They arent as well built but they too have an excellent website. As far as I am concerned, they are the only good PC manufacturers when we had our tests a few years ago. At the bottom of the list was Dell. Poor build quality, too plasticy and you can order 2 Dell PCs, same spec but they often have subtle differences like motherboard or graphics card which is fine if you have one but when you have 200 of them, it is a nightmare. Their website is a bit naff too.

Failing that, if you are a meddler, get one built up by your corner PC shop. Just make sure you know what is going in it and get all the boxes and drivers so you can do an easy rebuild later should you need to.

Failing that, build your own. It's not that difficult as long as you are methodical and organised but you are on your own when it goes wrong.

Good luck!

I built this machine. (AMD64 3400, 500mRAM). I have more memory on order.
Like all of my machines, it is in a wood case, cleverly disguised as furniture.

Scott,
Something doesn't add up here.
You mentioned that you never turn your computer off and that every time that you've had to for any length of time, it spits the dummy.
What I can't make out is why after an arbitrary power down period, the computer refuses to boot up again?.
I was thinking that it could be something temperature related on the motherboard itself, that has cooled down and is no longer making contact upon re-starting, the likes of a bad solder joint on a SMT device or what-not.
Just my $0.02 worth.

Open up the case and look closely at the motherboard. You will likely find buldged electrolytic capacitor cans. If there are and you are under warranty great, but most likely it is out of warranty.

If you are savy with a soldering iron and have a high grade soldering station which includes a desoldering vacuum (it had been awhile since I have done any of this and can not think of the proper terms) you can replace the capacitors.

I would recommend replacing ALL the electrolytic capacitors. It will run about $20 available at www.digikey.com and other component places.

When odering verify proper voltage (greater is acceptable but do not go less) and capacitance and that you observe polarity markings when you install. Somewhere at www.tomshardware.com they discuss this.

I just opened a Dell GX270 yesterday and found this problem.