Alright, before I swing my computer in, I figured I'd see if anyone here knows what happened. The Dell is a couple years old, but otherwise has worked fine, other than freezing up if I leave it running. Seemed like over the past month or so, I'd come home from work, notice that it wasn't running properly (about every other day), so I'd manually shut it down, wait a few seconds, and boot it back up. Then this weekend, when I tried to boot it back up, instead of the two lights above the power button turning green, they both flashed yellow. So after a couple tries, I unplugged the whole thing for a couple minutes, and then plugged it back in and went to boot. This time? Nothing. No green lights, no yellow lights. Nothing. It's not responding at all. Anyone have an idea of what happened, and how it might be rectified? It's still not responding. TIA.
i don't have a solution, but if it's a laptop, first thing i'd try just to eliminate it since it's fast/easy is to get a friends power cord (both the part to the wall and the part to the computer) and test that.. and then i'd find someone with the same model and check the battery. If it's not a laptop, different story of course edit: it doesn't sound like those are the problems..just that they're easy to test
Do you have a system disk, crash recovery disk, or emergency startup disk that you can boot from? If you can boot from a different startup disk that contains disk utilities, you might at least be able to tell if it's a hard drive issue, large or small.
I might, but as I said, it's not responding at all, as in it's acting like it is unplugged when I hit the power button. Oh, and it's a Desktop tower.
if it's a desktop and it's really not responding at all--i.e. you hit the power button and hear NOTHING--i'd think it has to be some sort of power supply issue, right? It also could be an overheating issue...but if you've waited for a few hours and still get the same non-response, then that's probably not it (at least not anymore)
yeah, i'd wait a while and then see if you can get any response. If so, then i'd call it overheating and make it either an issue with a fan or maybe corroding of thermal paste or whatever is used in your system..
Nah, I've already left it off for a couple of days. Still absolutely no response. I might toggle with the power when I get home and see if that does anything.
It could be loose memory even though that's uncommon with a desktop. One or more of the memory could also be bad.
may just need a new power supply.. maybe the "not running properly" previously was showing signs of overheating.. possibly at least
If you can hear the fan running, but the screen and everything else remains blank it usually is the power supply problem.
As others have already mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a power supply failure. It's hard to think of any other reason why it won't even turn on, assuming the outlet from your wall is fine.
rather than starting a new thread (was hoping you were asking the same question), i'll just ask here too: my dell laptop is getting the "AC Power adapter type cannot be determined" warning, and won't charge. any suggestions?
what i wrote in 2nd post.. find someone with a dell and use their AC adapter (make sure it's the same type). If that works, then try combos switching out the 2 cords (see if it's the part that goes to the wall or, more likely, the part with the brick). If it's not an issue there, find someone with the same model and use their battery and test..
I got a Dell Dimension 4600 and I have the same issue. I have a really weird temporary fix for mine. I used a hair dryer and heat up the power supply for a around 8 mins. The desktop will start flashing and then I'll be able to click the power button and the desktop will run. I'm serious, I'm not joking here. I think most likely it's the power supply. I'll need to get parts for that and my fan is making lots of noise too.
I'm in need of a new battery for my dell laptop as well. Any suggestions on places to purchase them? Any deals?
Which dell model is it? It sounds like you have a bad motherboard. Maybe that pesky leaking capacitor issue that has struck every manufacturer.
most likely a power supply or motherboard issue. open the case and check to see if the light is on. if there is no light, it's the p/s. if there is a light, it's the mb.
