strange problem with dell optiplex

[B&W]

Hi, my cousin's dell is playing up. Basically when I power it on, the cpu fan spins to an amazingly high speed and nothing gets outputted to the monitor. On the odd occasion it does post but within a couple of minutes it freezes.

I've tried a different stick of ram and have unconnected the optical drives.

Sometimes when you remove the ram it may post and emit beeps to indicate that there is no ram but often it doesn't post and the fan spins high.

Could this be a PSU problem?

 

[split]

Might be worth checking the PSU.

Is it Intel? (yes)
Sounds like it's not initializing the boot sequence.
The fan on some of them spins like mad when first turned on, and then settles after a few seconds.

 

[twistedfaith]

have you tried hard resetting the cmos? Unplug the computer from the mains and take the battery out - leave it for 10-15 mins and then put it all back together and try again...that has worked for me in the past!

 

[B&W]

Might be worth checking the PSU.

Is it Intel? (yes)
Sounds like it's not initializing the boot sequence.
The fan on some of them spins like mad when first turned on, and then settles after a few seconds.

Tried a different PSU m8, same problem.

 

[B&W]

have you tried hard resetting the cmos? Unplug the computer from the mains and take the battery out - leave it for 10-15 mins and then put it all back together and try again...that has worked for me in the past!

Yes ive done that before, it did boot up properly two times in a row but again proceeded to freeze in the bios.