Dell Computer now broken

rizla01

Hi Guys,

My dimension e530 has now packed up.
It failed to boot up after the initial welcome screen and I suspected the HD. Booted into safe mode with tests and it failed to recognise the HD.
Removed HD and tested that and it is OK (Phew)

I looked at the casing where the PSU is housed and I noticed that the vent was partially blocked with fluff/dust and suspect that it might have got cooked OR that it's a mobo problem.

What would you suggest? How should I proceed? Would a generic PSU work OK or does it HAVE to be Dell? (Assuming my suspicions to be correct)

ALSO, less important but why am I not able to write a message from IE on this forum, using THIS computer (The spare)? Works with firefox but on ie I get a message saying 'message too short' and when previewed shows nothing in the box.

Thanks all.

Browntoa

any PSU will work (as long as its output is over the one on the dell ) try one out of another PC base unit

might be worth removing the bois battery and letting it all re detect , but I suspect it is MOBO

macman

If you can get in into Safe Mode it doesn't sound like the PSU. When that fails you usually get no life at all. i.e no fans,. no disk spool up.
Doesn't the 530 have 4 diagnostic lights on it, if so what are these telling you?
Should it be the PSU, some of the earlier Dimensions have PSU's that have different pin outs, so you need a Dell replacement, I don't know if this applies to your model or not.
Maplin do fairly cheap PSU testers, might be worth checking with one of these before you replace it unnecessarily.

aliEnRIK

Browntoa wrote: »

any PSU will work (as long as its output is over the one on the dell ) try one out of another PC base unit

might be worth removing the bois battery and letting it all re detect , but I suspect it is MOBO

Im not sure thats true Browntoa. Ive heard of DELL using special PSUs that ONLY fit in their machines (Im not saying 'all' mind, just that they do exist)

rizla01

Rethink!

Decided to power up without any other equipment running (Quieter) and found that the HD is spinning so PSU not likely I think.

So is this a screwed up Bios or something?
If I popped the battery out to let it redetect will this require a lot of re-setting or is it alll automatically set?

macman

Have you tried running the Dell diagnostics (normally tap F12 at start -up)? See what that reveals.

rizla01

Whoopeeeeee.

Took out the battery and rebooted defaults and (So far) working, and connected to the net.(Using it now)

Thanks Browntoa and all of the other help offered.

Lets just hope it carries on working, Eh?

Browntoa

only mentioned the Battery as had a similar thing with another dell , limped on for a few more months then died though...lol

deanos

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Im not sure thats true Browntoa. Ive heard of DELL using special PSUs that ONLY fit in their machines (Im not saying 'all' mind, just that they do exist)

Yes thats correct, but its mainly the older machines, the newer ones have standard wiring

macman

The problem being, how do you know which is which without an expensive smell of burning resulting if you put a generic PSU in place of a Dell 'non-generic' PSU?

deanos

Compare the wiring diagram on the PSU to a standard one, im not sure when they started putting standard one in.