CPU won't start

[55Jay]

Watching streaming vid last night, sound stuttered, screen went wonky, then blue screen of death. Didn't get the error code. Subsequent attempts to restart result in black DOS screen with message, see attached jpeg of the monitor.

This morning, got to the initial DELL start up screen twice then it freezes, then cycles to the same error msg screen as above.

Removed and cleaned all 4 memories sticks, which has sometimes worked in the past. No joy.

is the messsage about memory (GDDR3)? The last part looks like something to do with video card?

J

[steve187]

try unplugging all harddrives,cd roms and modems etc. and try booting into bios, press either delete or f2 buttons on start up

[manarak]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

[lmfao]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

This guy Is correct, fair play to him, no flies on him, lol

check out this link for proof and compare the message you are receiving...

http://www.pcsuperstore.com/products/10543029-Asus-EN7600GTSILENT2DHT256M.html

Edited January 17, 2014 by lmfao

[55Jay]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

That's what my gutt was telling me. Had a few non-start fits the past 9 months or so, but never saw this type of failure msg before.

Had this Dell XPS 420 nearly 6 years, so guess it's done well.

Will take it to the shop and see about a video card. it's just my daily internet/email rig, nothing heavy.

Thanks,

J

[rakman]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

That's what my gutt was telling me. Had a few non-start fits the past 9 months or so, but never saw this type of failure msg before.

Had this Dell XPS 420 nearly 6 years, so guess it's done well.

Will take it to the shop and see about a video card. it's just my daily internet/email rig, nothing heavy.

Thanks,

J

Power off, remove the card, clean the contacts (cloth and some Isopropyl alcohol) then reinsert the card. Sometimes a card will work enough to get ID'd but not run.

Edited January 17, 2014 by rakman

[55Jay]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

That's what my gutt was telling me. Had a few non-start fits the past 9 months or so, but never saw this type of failure msg before.

Had this Dell XPS 420 nearly 6 years, so guess it's done well.

Will take it to the shop and see about a video card. it's just my daily internet/email rig, nothing heavy.

Thanks,

J

Power off, remove the card, clean the contacts (cloth and some Isopropyl alcohol) then reinsert the card. Sometimes a card will work enough to get ID'd but not run.

Did that with alcohol on vid card, no change. Did same on the 4 mem sticks and good to go again!

Thanks for the tip, seems to have done the trick. I usually just dry brush the contacts and carefully vacuum out the slots.

I feel it's about time for some major component to fail on my older computers, and I thought this was it. Not yet I guess...

[suthansman]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

That's what my gutt was telling me. Had a few non-start fits the past 9 months or so, but never saw this type of failure msg before.

Had this Dell XPS 420 nearly 6 years, so guess it's done well.

Will take it to the shop and see about a video card. it's just my daily internet/email rig, nothing heavy.

Thanks,

J

Power off, remove the card, clean the contacts (cloth and some Isopropyl alcohol) then reinsert the card. Sometimes a card will work enough to get ID'd but not run.

Did that with alcohol on vid card, no change. Did same on the 4 mem sticks and good to go again!

Thanks for the tip, seems to have done the trick. I usually just dry brush the contacts and carefully vacuum out the slots.

I feel it's about time for some major component to fail on my older computers, and I thought this was it. Not yet I guess...

Vacuum the slots? Static electricity from that can damage your components, as I recall.

Use a paint brush with fibre bristles, not nylon ones.

[Pib]

Using a pencil eraser to clean board electrical contacts works great, especially for plug-in circuit boards like memory modules, video cards, etc. A person should also use some type of electrical/electronics contact cleaner to spray/brush the contacts "within the slot" the board plugs into. But if it's a dirty contact problem, usually cleaning the module with the pencil eraser and then inserting & removing the module a few times will help clean the contacts "within the slot" if you don't have any electrical cleaner to clean the slot.

[harrry]

to me, it looks like the video card is fried.

if your motherboard has an onboard GPU, take out the video card and try to connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA and see if that works.

That's what my gutt was telling me. Had a few non-start fits the past 9 months or so, but never saw this type of failure msg before.

Had this Dell XPS 420 nearly 6 years, so guess it's done well.

Will take it to the shop and see about a video card. it's just my daily internet/email rig, nothing heavy.

Thanks,

J

If all else fails it is possible to get a usb video card.

http://www.shopwiki.com.au/l/USB-DVI-Video-Card

[NeverSure]

"Removed and cleaned all 4 memories sticks, which has sometimes worked in the past. No joy."

"Did that with alcohol on vid card, no change. Did same on the 4 mem sticks and good to go again!"

His issue is with his RAM. I think there is a good chance that there is a cracked printed circuit on either one of the RAM sticks or the motherboard. It doesn't take much movement or change in temperature to cause cracked printed circuits to separate and lose connection. He shouldn't have to periodically pull his RAM and clean the contacts, however doing so could cause enough movement to bring the printed circuits back into contact.

A problem is going to be that his computer is older. I recently upgraded mine for more speed, and quickly found that nothing much was interchangeable. I had to replace the motherboard to get the correct socket for my new CPU. The motherboard wouldn't take my old RAM or Graphics card so I had to replace those. The new motherboard had no connections for IDE drives - not even a floppy which is now obsolete in favor of memory sticks, so I had to buy a couple of new SATA drives. In other words, except for the case which is fine, and power supply which was fairly new, I had to build a new computer.

I think he's looking at that before long.

PS: OP, your "CPU" is the central processing unit affixed to your motherboard. It is the "Intel inside." It is not your case or your computer or any of the other parts with make up a computer.

Edited January 18, 2014 by NeverSure

[rakman]

Using a pencil eraser to clean board electrical contacts works great, especially for plug-in circuit boards like memory modules, video cards, etc. A person should also use some type of electrical/electronics contact cleaner to spray/brush the contacts "within the slot" the board plugs into. But if it's a dirty contact problem, usually cleaning the module with the pencil eraser and then inserting & removing the module a few times will help clean the contacts "within the slot" if you don't have any electrical cleaner to clean the slot.

Gold is a great conductor, but not a perfect one. It still to an extent oxidizes and with the high humidity in LOS all sorts of contact issues can arise.

But, remember, the gold on these contacts is "flash" deposited gold. It is only microns thick, so using a pencil eraser, or anything that's "pink" has fine abrasive particles and will remove more gold than you want, exposing the substrate materials, like copper, which oxidizes more rapidly.

If you want to use an eraser, use a "gum" eraser, usually a brown one. Be sure to clean off the residual dust from the eraser.

Something like this:

http://www.eraser.com/products/fybrglass-brushes-erasers-product/br1f-eraser-fine-stick-brush-2/

Is the hot ticket. Used a similar product in my 25 years of HP minicomputer based test systems (http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1975-09.pdf) , not PCs, repair and the best thing going.

[55Jay]

"Removed and cleaned all 4 memories sticks, which has sometimes worked in the past. No joy."

"Did that with alcohol on vid card, no change. Did same on the 4 mem sticks and good to go again!"

His issue is with his RAM. I think there is a good chance that there is a cracked printed circuit on either one of the RAM sticks or the motherboard. It doesn't take much movement or change in temperature to cause cracked printed circuits to separate and lose connection. He shouldn't have to periodically pull his RAM and clean the contacts, however doing so could cause enough movement to bring the printed circuits back into contact.

A problem is going to be that his computer is older. I recently upgraded mine for more speed, and quickly found that nothing much was interchangeable. I had to replace the motherboard to get the correct socket for my new CPU. The motherboard wouldn't take my old RAM or Graphics card so I had to replace those. The new motherboard had no connections for IDE drives - not even a floppy which is now obsolete in favor of memory sticks, so I had to buy a couple of new SATA drives. In other words, except for the case which is fine, and power supply which was fairly new, I had to build a new computer.

I think he's looking at that before long.

PS: OP, your "CPU" is the central processing unit affixed to your motherboard. It is the "Intel inside." It is not your case or your computer or any of the other parts with make up a computer.

I did think of that after posting my question, not sure why I said CPU. Damn thing won't start, would of been good enough.

Thanks for the additional comments and explanation on the RAM. All good for my small but slowly growing tool box.

Wasn't that long ago, I would of never considered removing ANYTHING from inside a computer. After moving to LOS, have learned a few basic steps to take, rather than always lugging computers into town where some smirking teenager fixes it in 4.5 minutes flat.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

[55Jay]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

Vista on both counts.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Would you like to update it to Windows 7? Genuine of course.

[Pib]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

Vista on both counts.

You poor man. The saddest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from XP to Vista; and the happiest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from Vista to Win 7. Vista gave me such headaches for the first 6 months or so until drivers and software caught up with the Vista release...this left a bad task in my mouth about Vista. But hey, I will admit after updated drivers/software was released for my hardware/software programs Vista worked OK, but seemed bulky and kinda slow. Upgrading from Vista to Win 7 was a piece of cake. Heck, right now I have three laptops...one running XP (I may upgrade that one to Win 7 once Bill G. stops XP updates in a few months)...one running Win 7 and one running Win 8.1-----I refuse to let Vista back into my computer family.

[NeverSure]

OP, when your computer boots, it should tell you what kind of bios it has on the screen. If it doesn't, simply download a free program called CPU-Z and it will tell you.

Now go here and listen for beep codes as your computer boots. Match any codes you hear to what's listed here and you'll know what's wrong.

If you don't see the bios that's named by CPU-Z, then just google beep codes for that bios.

You would have heard the beep codes for bad ram in your case.

[55Jay]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

Vista on both counts.

You poor man. The saddest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from XP to Vista; and the happiest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from Vista to Win 7. Vista gave me such headaches for the first 6 months or so until drivers and software caught up with the Vista release...this left a bad task in my mouth about Vista. But hey, I will admit after updated drivers/software was released for my hardware/software programs Vista worked OK, but seemed bulky and kinda slow. Upgrading from Vista to Win 7 was a piece of cake. Heck, right now I have three laptops...one running XP (I may upgrade that one to Win 7 once Bill G. stops XP updates in a few months)...one running Win 7 and one running Win 8.1-----I refuse to let Vista back into my computer family.

Same same here. Ha ha, yeah, does take longer to kick start than Win 7 but, once it gets going, downhill, with a tail wind, it's alright.

[55Jay]

Would you like to update it to Windows 7? Genuine of course.

Although I prefer Win7, I'll keep orig Vista and run it until the wheels come off. Tx.

Edited January 19, 2014 by 55Jay

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

Vista on both counts.

You poor man. The saddest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from XP to Vista; and the happiest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from Vista to Win 7. Vista gave me such headaches for the first 6 months or so until drivers and software caught up with the Vista release...this left a bad task in my mouth about Vista. But hey, I will admit after updated drivers/software was released for my hardware/software programs Vista worked OK, but seemed bulky and kinda slow. Upgrading from Vista to Win 7 was a piece of cake. Heck, right now I have three laptops...one running XP (I may upgrade that one to Win 7 once Bill G. stops XP updates in a few months)...one running Win 7 and one running Win 8.1-----I refuse to let Vista back into my computer family.

I'll help you with the upgrade when the time comes.

[BudRight]

This is definitely your graphics card.

Pick up a GTX750Ti. All will be well.

Edited January 20, 2014 by BudRight

[55Jay]

Did that machine come with Vista or no OS? What are you running now?

Vista on both counts.

You poor man. The saddest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from XP to Vista; and the happiest day of my computering life was when I upgraded from Vista to Win 7. Vista gave me such headaches for the first 6 months or so until drivers and software caught up with the Vista release...this left a bad task in my mouth about Vista. But hey, I will admit after updated drivers/software was released for my hardware/software programs Vista worked OK, but seemed bulky and kinda slow. Upgrading from Vista to Win 7 was a piece of cake. Heck, right now I have three laptops...one running XP (I may upgrade that one to Win 7 once Bill G. stops XP updates in a few months)...one running Win 7 and one running Win 8.1-----I refuse to let Vista back into my computer family.

I'll help you with the upgrade when the time comes.

Cool, thanks!

[55Jay]

This is definitely your graphics card.

Pick up a GTX750Ti. All will be well.

Could still be part of the problem, but cleaning contacts and the RAM seems to have worked. Again. For now.

[fifthcolumn]

Do not use alcohol to clean electronics <deleted>, it has huge amounts of water in it.

Blow it out with air. Reseat everything. If there are no memory errors, do not remove it. Memory is very easy to zap with static.

Most likely Dell is using onboard video (tl, dr). Just go get yourself a cheap 2nd hand card at Panthip fir a few hundred B.

[55Jay]

Do not use alcohol to clean electronics <deleted>, it has huge amounts of water in it.

Blow it out with air. Reseat everything. If there are no memory errors, do not remove it. Memory is very easy to zap with static.

Most likely Dell is using onboard video (tl, dr). Just go get yourself a cheap 2nd hand card at Panthip fir a few hundred B.

Hey thanks, get all sorts of conflicting info here but it's all good. She's been up and running again the past couple days, no issues. Has a vid card (not on board) and seems to be working fine, for the moment. Thanks again, J.

[NeverSure]

Do not use alcohol to clean electronics <deleted>, it has huge amounts of water in it.

Blow it out with air. Reseat everything. If there are no memory errors, do not remove it. Memory is very easy to zap with static.

Most likely Dell is using onboard video (tl, dr). Just go get yourself a cheap 2nd hand card at Panthip fir a few hundred B.

I agree with the cleaning, but a new video card like that will use some of his onboard ram. So does his onboard video. No joy there.

OP. How many slots, and how many sticks of ram do you have? If you have more than one stick and if this happens again, pull one stick and restart the computer. If it still won't start, remove another stick and replace the one you pulled. Keep doing this until the computer will start. You may have found a bad stick with a cracked printed circuit or a bad slot with a cracked printed circuit.

A little more time and testing and you can prove or disprove whether it's a bad stick, a bad slot, or neither. If it's a bad stick, replace it. If it's a bad slot, you can always buy a stick with more ram in it and run it in the good slot.

[55Jay]

Do not use alcohol to clean electronics <deleted>, it has huge amounts of water in it.

Blow it out with air. Reseat everything. If there are no memory errors, do not remove it. Memory is very easy to zap with static.

Most likely Dell is using onboard video (tl, dr). Just go get yourself a cheap 2nd hand card at Panthip fir a few hundred B.

I agree with the cleaning, but a new video card like that will use some of his onboard ram. So does his onboard video. No joy there.

OP. How many slots, and how many sticks of ram do you have? If you have more than one stick and if this happens again, pull one stick and restart the computer. If it still won't start, remove another stick and replace the one you pulled. Keep doing this until the computer will start. You may have found a bad stick with a cracked printed circuit or a bad slot with a cracked printed circuit.

A little more time and testing and you can prove or disprove whether it's a bad stick, a bad slot, or neither. If it's a bad stick, replace it. If it's a bad slot, you can always buy a stick with more ram in it and run it in the good slot.

OP is still here, just got off the road from Khon Kean. Nice town, bloody long line at the Pullman American Embassy Outreach this morning.

My computer is working but this thread is still going. All good for me, just increases my knowledge, and maybe somebody else stumbles in here with the same or similar issues. JingThing had a no-start not long ago. Who knows.

NeverSure - I have 4 slots and 4 RAM sticks, I think they total 3GB. This is an off the shelf, US sourced Dell XPS420 from 2006 or '07. Anyway, I saw a tech (in Korat) put 2 in once, so matter a fact (by pure accident) I did that this last time around and it did start up. When I put the second 2 in, I got a beeping sound and a no start, which wasn't the problem before. A few presses on the RAM, and a couple re-starts, and it finally got going.

So, I think you are on to something, and next time I get the initiative, I'll do a process of elimination on all 4, to see what happens.

When you mentioned a broken contact (or whatever you said), I thought you meant on the mother board. I guess it could be that as well, but I hadn't thought about the RAM itself, but it makes sense. Moreso that I've been pulling/pushing them in and out a few times the past year since moving over to LOS.

Good stuff. Thanks again.

Cheers,

J

[55Jay]

Do not use alcohol to clean electronics <deleted>, it has huge amounts of water in it.

Blow it out with air. Reseat everything. If there are no memory errors, do not remove it. Memory is very easy to zap with static.

Most likely Dell is using onboard video (tl, dr). Just go get yourself a cheap 2nd hand card at Panthip fir a few hundred B.

'Ecking, 'ell, now you tell me! My computer just BLEW THE **** UP!

Just kidding.

I did use alcohol as one poster suggested, but did ensure the RAM was well good and dry, alcohol and residual H20, before reinserting.

I am a bloody moron when it comes to mechanics but, my mum once told me electrics and wadda no mix. Still rings in me ears.

Thanks and cheers, mate.

J