Problems...

twistedfaith · 21 Jul 2008 at 17:07

I have a Dell Dimension 9100 that was given to me because its faulty. I've had a look at it and it seems to have a very odd problem - if I start up the computer it sticks on a black screen and beeps on 4 second intervals, I tried everything to get it to work and in the end I found that if I unplug the computer from the mains, re-seat the RAM (literally unplug the RAM and plug it back in again...in the same slots) it fires up just fine and works as if nothing is wrong. I have tested the RAM, Hard drive etc and nothing seems to be wrong with it. I even tried changing the RAM over for some I had lying around and the same problem occurs.

My gut feeling is that the motherboard is on its way out, I was just wondering if someone else has had a similar problem and managed to solve it or discover what is happening.

Btw - up to this point, the computer has been working fine for the last 2 years...so its not a hardware change!

Thanks in advance!

MMD · 21 Jul 2008 at 17:15

Knowing the bios and matching the 'beeps' with the POST code will give you an accurate assessment of the problem.

Sounds very much like a dying mobo though (video adapter most likely).

twistedfaith · 21 Jul 2008 at 17:25

I'll check the bios etc when I get home. The board doesn't have an onboard graphics adapter...or at least its not using one, theres a graphics card in the AGP slot heh.

MMD · 21 Jul 2008 at 17:54

Be interesting to see if the beeps are the same after booting without the card.

twistedfaith · 24 Jul 2008 at 09:37

Now that I've put this post up, the computer seems to have stopped beeping. I did some reading on the model that I have - it has a load of error lights on the front and I've found a site which tells me what they mean...so when I finally get it to go wrong again I will post my findings here!