has my computer died?

JasX

How many RAM cards does your PC have in? if its more than 1 I'd suggest removing all but 1 of them and trying to reboot.

Caveats:

Ground yourself and be careful to avoid static electricity build up while touching RAM modules, holding them by the corners only is best.

Ideally put them in an antistatic bag when not in your PC, failing somewhere safe from physical damage and charge/static free (eg plastic surface = bad).

When booting from a single RAM board some motherboards only work with the one RAM board in a specific 'primary' slot (often a different colour to the rest). If you can;t tell for certain which one this is it won't do any harm booting with your 1 RAM board in the 'wrong' slot, try swapping them about a bit.

If you have 1 good board and can get it in the right slot it should boot up without the current error beep code.

virgin_moneysaver

macman wrote: »

Reboot it with the side panel off and if it's still giving a burning smell you should be able to locate the source of it better.
TBH it doesn't sound like you've cleaned it very extensively, you need to blast it with a can over the motherboard, around the processor fan and heatsink, and from both both inlet and outlet of the PSU. Just blowing with your mouth will not really do the job
Most Dells have a set of 4 diagnostic lights on them that can be interpreted to tell you what is wrong, if you post the model number or better still, the service tag (7 digit code on a label at the front or side) then better advice can be given.
Is the IDE connector now secure?

yes the ide is now secure & I used a cold air pump to clean the dust away

the pc is a Dell Dimension 8400 series & the diagnostic codes read A&B yellow C&D green which they say a memory failure has occured but since cleaning it the motor sounds ropey

JasX

Ok, according to the manual your 'primary' memory slot is the one closest to the CPU/processor (square thing that will have a big heat sink ontop of it). (EDIT: slot labelled No 1 on the 2nd drawing here http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/SM/techov.htm#wp1060221)

You need you try booting with ONLY one RAM board in your computer and it must be in this slot, if that doesn't work take the RAM board out and swap it for one of the other ones and try again.

If any one of your RAM boards is still good you should be able to boot.

If not you're probably going to have to spend some money.....

virgin_moneysaver

we are getting somewhere! - took cover back off & located memory modules - there were 2 of them but this pc uses pairs according to the blurb - anyway took out no 2 & turned on, diagnostics came up with a different set of lights which read as another failure occured.
put it back & it responded - diag lights say pc fine but what I'm left with is a really noisy fan/motor - when the cover was off, there was a disc turning and all the noise was coming from this - I can't make out from the diagram as its not clearly marked but I'm assuming this is the fan or motor?

macman

virgin_moneysaver wrote: »

yes the ide is now secure & I used a cold air pump to clean the dust away

the pc is a Dell Dimension 8400 series & the diagnostic codes read A&B yellow C&D green which they say a memory failure has occured but since cleaning it the motor sounds ropey

Yes, that diagnostic sequence indicate a memory failure-you probably have 2 RAM chips of 256MB each? Test each in turn on it's own in slot 1 as advised by JasX. By 'motor' do you mean the fan in the PSU? Could be that you've shifted only part of the crud and now it's running out of balance. Reblow all the fans again when you have tested the RAM.

macman

virgin_moneysaver wrote: »

we are getting somewhere! - took cover back off & located memory modules - there were 2 of them but this pc uses pairs according to the blurb - anyway took out no 2 & turned on, diagnostics came up with a different set of lights which read as another failure occured.
put it back & it responded - diag lights say pc fine but what I'm left with is a really noisy fan/motor - when the cover was off, there was a disc turning and all the noise was coming from this - I can't make out from the diagram as its not clearly marked but I'm assuming this is the fan or motor?

What was the new diag sequence then? Sounds like the no. 2 RAM chip just needed reseating, but in that case it shouldn't have give a different error message with one removed-it should have cleared it. I suspect you may have a RAM chip which is intermittently failing. Best to retest chip 2 in slot 1 on it's own and see what it does-to try and isolate the faulty one.
Can you explain which fan you are talking about? Is it the one inside the PSU (at the top back of the tower)), above the processor on the motherboard (the CPU fan), or possibly on the graphics card (on the card that connects to the monitor port)?

virgin_moneysaver

macman wrote: »

What was the new diag sequence then? Sounds like the no. 2 RAM chip just needed reseating, but in that case it shouldn't have give a different error message with one removed-it should have cleared it. I suspect you may have a RAM chip which is intermittently failing. Best to retest chip 2 in slot 1 on it's own and see what it does-to try and isolate the faulty one.
Can you explain which fan you are talking about? Is it the one inside the PSU (at the top back of the tower)), above the processor on the motherboard (the CPU fan), or possibly on the graphics card (on the card that connects to the monitor port)?

as this machine uses memories in pairs I assumed thats why it gave another error once no 2 went back in it responded - will have another go at trying to identify the source of the noise

macman

No, it is optimised using matching pairs. But it should run OK with just one RAM chip, as long as it is in slot one, as JASX advised.
I assume you have 512MB RAM (2 x 256MB). If one is faulty, I suggest you replace the pair with 512MB x2, as your current RAM is the minimum necessary to run XP properly. But it will run much better with 1GB.

virgin_moneysaver

macman wrote: »

No, it is optimised using matching pairs. But it should run OK with just one RAM chip, as long as it is in slot one, as JASX advised.
I assume you have 512MB RAM (2 x 256MB). If one is faulty, I suggest you replace the pair with 512MB x2, as your current RAM is the minimum necessary to run XP properly. But it will run much better with 1GB.

OK - you have the patience of a saint! - so where do you advise I get the new RAM, is there different brands?, I haven't been into a computer shop since buying the gateway in 2000 - my Dell came from a work promotion & was a packaged deal that was delivered to the house

P.S. - I've now moved onto my PC unstead of my sons laptop where I've been talking to you - & Shsh! the fan thingy has gone quit!

macman

http://www.crucial.com/
Use the system scanner and it will scan your PC and select the right memory options for you.
It may just be that with the side panel off and up on the bench, it sounded noisier.