Dell XPS 420 stopped working

kimbyanne

I was using our Dell XPS 420 yesterday without any issues, turned it off and went and did something else. My boyfriend then went to use the computer and it won't start up. When you power it up, the fan kicks in straight away (rather loudly) and you get a black screen with a single white flashing line.

Last night we managed to get to the BIOS and managed to reinstall Windows. All seemed fine however this morning it is not working, same problem - black screen with white flashing line.

We have noticed that the light signals seem to change, last night it was lights 1, 2 and 3 were on but 4 wasn't. Today its 2, 3 and 4 are on but 1 isn't. I have looked at the guides online but i really can't work out what the problem is. When I used it last night, nothing seemed wrong.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this or try and work out what the problem is?

If it can't be fixed (and to be fair, it is getting on a bit but we have spent a fair amount on keeping it up to date) - I might consider selling my 9.1 iMac seeing as it doesn't get used very much (as its rubbish for gaming and for internet I use my iPad). Should get £400-£500 to put towards a new PC.

Thanks

Laz123

I'm not sure about your model but most Dells have a diagnostic facility to check some hardware componants. It's F12 on mine; tap on bootup.

macman

If you did a clean reinstall and now it won't boot again, then a failing hard drive must be suspected.
Yellow lights on 1&4 would support this.