Resolved intermittent boot up problems

am working on a dell vostro 220 mt client periodically is having problems with the machine booting up. i also having problems with the machine in my shop. finally got it running and doing diags now. have done all the things you can think of receded, memory and other components, have tried just booting with keyboard mouse no h.d. etc you name it ive done it.

big question i have is on the motherboard i do not see a power on light nowhere on the board. to me this is unusal dont think ive ever seen a board without a light on the board. used a pci board tester and it toggles thru all the codes okay but again no board light and when i shut machine down uplug the power cord and push in the power button nothing spins up that should be forcing the power from the system.

is the board bad ???

 

steve

it goes nowhere. the case fan and processor fan spin you can hear the h.d. drive spinning but nothing displays on monitor. monitor light stays amber. and again i find no power light on the motherboard and that confuses me. i dont think ive ever seen a board without a light.

got the machine up finally after again receding things ran dell diags and they pass all tests. i see no leakage on the board. i dont know whats going on with this machine.

 

steve

yep thats pretty much where i thought it should be also and its not there. i dont even see what should be a light bulb on this board and again that makes no sense.

i usually hold the power button in for 5 secs and this last time it did finally spin the fans and discharged but no light on the board. im confused big time. there has to be a light.

 

Support.Dell.com > Troubleshooting Dell Vostro 420/220/220s

 

spywaredr

yep i read all that stuff from dell before posting here. going to close call gave back to client is running now so not sure what else i can do.

thanks all.

 

You're welcome. Good to hear you got it running, thanks for letting us know.

 

no problem. got a feeling its the graphics card unceding itself. i was receding things one at a time and trying to boot the last thing i receded was the graphics card and it booted. not sure how it comes loose but hopefully thats it.

still not sure why this system board doesnt have a light on the board. that still confuses me.

 

Do you mean unseat / reseat? ( "unceding" is not a word and "receding" would mean to move back or away, or to grow less or smaller).

Bet there's at least a dozen old motherboards around me here that do NOT have any sort of light.

 

senior moment. yes mis-spelled.

this is a newer dell vostro 220 only 3 years old. just never seen one without a light.

 

I'll try and take a peek in some of the Dell's around the office. I'm pretty sure I saw a little light glowing down on the motherboard in a 460 last week, but I'd have to double check to make sure.

 

ah the 460 thats a nice machine one can really load that baby with memory.

steve said his 200 has a light and ive seen that in the 200 before but cant remember opening up a 220. next time i see one i will for sure myself.