DELL DIMENSION 4100 & DELL MONITOR E773s: Boot failiure & blank monitor

I am attempting to fix a PC for somebody.
Dell Dimension 4100
Dell E773s MONITOR
PC133 SDRAM - 256 MB RAM

No OS. Not booting at all!
When I power everything up, the monitor (after I press the menu button) says "monitor in power safe mode - enabled by using the pc" and to use the POST to diagnose! POST displays the proper screen with the colors just as they should when working properly, but those two screens are all that will display! Went through 5 keyboards before I found one that would allow me to turn on num lock - but no other keys work after boot, not even caps lock!

Try to use Win 98, 2k, and an XP CD - nothing. The drive reads the disk for a few, but nothing after that from tower or monitor! Did same thing with and without (floppy) boot disk - same thing!

The diagnostic lights on the back of the tower indicate that the memory was not enabled or properly installed. Re-docked a couple of times - Still no difference!

Floppy indicator light doesn't even come on - pins are bent, will replace and try from there!

Please help if anything comes to mind! The monitor not displaying anything is biggest irritation. No windows or BIOS warnings - nothing.

 

Monitor is working - according to Man. Documentation. I only get the message that the monitor needs to be enabled by the PC. I researched this issue and found that every step necessary to ensure functionality gave me the same results AND according to the Man. Documentation the monitor is working properly.

The fans do start and are reasonably clean. There is an indicator light on the motherboard and it is lit. All lights are working - except for the floppy drive. When I boot the lights work, no POST beeps, the keyboard (5th one I've used to get any keys to work after boot) lights up and I am able to use the Num Lock key, but not Caps or Scroll. No other keys respond.
Attempted to change out floppy with no luck. I have OS disk - don't need boot disk, do I? Last time I had a system with the same problems of the monitor and keyboard - I had to use a boot disk to operate the keyboard. I have tried the boot and OS disk, but still I had to go through 5 keyboards.
Can't even get to BIOS to check the boot order. Thank you.

 

Checked the capacitors - seem to be fine. Put in a battery - unsure if it is working. When the system was working, it supposedly had Win Me, which it is designed for.

 

Pete pretty much covered it from A-Z but we should try to get into that BIOS. If the delete key doesn't do it, try alt-enter or hit ctrl-alt-del twice. You can also try clearing CMOS with the jumper (holler if instruction is needed) or by yanking the battery for an extended period of time. Assuming you get into setup, go with default settings and then redetect the HDD and reset your clock. Verify that the floppy type is properly identified before exiting BIOS and saving settings.

 

It should, I tried and no go. The other keyboards I tried before this one would flash the Num, Caps, Scroll Lock keyspower during the initial power up, but no keys worked afterwards. This keyboard did the same except has power to Num Lock only! Last time I dealt with this situation it was due to lack of a floppy boot disk (even with an OS CD). This time - no floppy to swap out!

 

You lost me.

 

Floppy Drive.

 

I wasn't that lost but thanks for the vote of confidence.

In post #3 you referenced swapping out the floppy and in post #8 there was no floppy to swap.

 

Sorry - Researching, swapping parts, troubleshooting, etc. all at once. Frazzled over something so simple JUNK OR NOT!
No functioning floppy to swap! My only extra floppy drive seems to have the same problem as the original - LED doesn't light up.
In the other system that I was speaking about - I had the same exact symptoms with the monitor and keyboard until I swapped the floppy drive and used a boot disk + CD to install!
So, I was wondering if the floppy drive (making me unable to use boot disk + CD) would even keep boot up or POST from occurring. I'm not even getting the 1st page that displays the hardware info. and options to hit Del for BIOS setup.
The CD-ROM does initialize or attempt to read the disk, but only for a few seconds. Then I have only indicator lights for everything (except floppy).
No monitor display because the indicator light on monitor is blinking due to Power Save Mode, which is supposed to cease once there is activity with keyboard or mouse but doesn't!

 

No problem. Further to Pete's post with detailed instructions, lets try zoning in on the most common elements first.

Yank the memory and the video card and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser (wiping down not across the contacts). Then reseat these. Disconnect and reconnect all molex connectors and ribbon cables (IDE and Floppy). Disconnect main power plug (20 pin) from the mobo and then look for CMOS Jumper. Remove from pins 1&2 and rejumper pins 2&3 for 10 seconds then rejumper back to pins 1&2. Reconnect main power to mobo. Remove any/all PCI cards except video if applicable and, if it's old enough, remove any/all ISA cards. I'd also recommend replacing the floppy cable even if its only a temporary substitute.

Now, try booting while tapping the delete key immediately and repetitively. If you get into BIOS setup refer back to my earlier post for settings and then F10 your way out. I'll stop at this point until you advise re:results.

 

Before I begin - Am I able to clean the contacts (w/ eraser) on any and all types cards, especially the RAM?

 

Yes.

And, I'm inclined to agree with Pete's assessment but let's run through a few things before sticking a fork in it.

 

You guys rock! I now have the 1st screen (Del 2 get into BIOS)! Thank You