Need to solve a puzzle. [Archive]

Crazybob

07-28-12, 03:18 PM

have an older Dell server box. Running Win 7. Box had completely white screen. Rebooted, came up fine and then after 5 minutes went back to white screen. Thought 4870 video card went bad. Pulled card, cleaned dust bunnies and re-installed. Nothing comes up on screen at all, not even bios. Checked PSU, checks out. Checked connections, fine. Put card in another machine. Checks out fine. Checked KVM switch. Fine. Put older PCI card in, no joy. Monitor fine. Lights on board light, fans buzz. Hd running, CD-ROM running. Tested power to board and card, fine. Board has onboard speaker, no beeps? Even though it's an older box, can't leave a puzzle alone. Any clues to this riddle? I'm guessing the board, but not sure.:(

trigggl

07-28-12, 05:04 PM

have an older Dell server box. Running Win 7. Box had completely white screen. Rebooted, came up fine and then after 5 minutes went back to white screen. Thought 4870 video card went bad. Pulled card, cleaned dust bunnies and re-installed. Nothing comes up on screen at all, not even bios. Checked PSU, checks out. Checked connections, fine. Put card in another machine. Checks out fine. Checked KVM switch. Fine. Put older PCI card in, no joy. Monitor fine. Lights on board light, fans buzz. Hd running, CD-ROM running. Tested power to board and card, fine. Board has onboard speaker, no beeps? Even though it's an older box, can't leave a puzzle alone. Any clues to this riddle? I'm guessing the board, but not sure.:(

This didn't have the memory from me did it? Nevertheless, I would be suspicious of the memory.

Crazybob

07-28-12, 05:48 PM

Nope, not the memory from you.:D If the memory was bad, wouldn't I get a beep code? I checked Dell's beep code list and they don't list anything for no beep.

trigggl

07-28-12, 10:38 PM

Nope, not the memory from you.:D If the memory was bad, wouldn't I get a beep code? I checked Dell's beep code list and they don't list anything for no beep.

One way to diagnose a problem is to reduce it to its simplest configuration and then work your way up. Have you tried booting it without a video card?

Have you tried starting it up without the hard drive connected? I've had a hard drive keep a system from booting before. It didn't matter that it wasn't the one that it was booting from.

Pull everything from it except the minimum required to boot.

Fire$torm

07-29-12, 04:46 PM

One way to diagnose a problem is to reduce it to its simplest configuration and then work your way up. Have you tried booting it without a video card?

Have you tried starting it up without the hard drive connected? I've had a hard drive keep a system from booting before. It didn't matter that it wasn't the one that it was booting from.

Pull everything from it except the minimum required to boot.

+++1

Crazybob

07-30-12, 06:49 AM

One way to diagnose a problem is to reduce it to its simplest configuration and then work your way up. Have you tried booting it without a video card?

Have you tried starting it up without the hard drive connected? I've had a hard drive keep a system from booting before. It didn't matter that it wasn't the one that it was booting from.

Pull everything from it except the minimum required to boot.

Well you were right, kinda. Once I started screwing around with the memory, the box would beep away. 4 slots with 2 512MB chips in 1 and 2 and 2 256MB chips in 3 and 4. Kept trying them 1 at a time, 2 at a time with no luck. Tried new sticks with the same result. The I figured it out. Slot 1 was fried. If I put RAM in 3 and 4, boots up just fine. So now it's back crunch'n with less memory, but still crunch'n. Thanks for the help.:)

trigggl

07-30-12, 02:07 PM

Well you were right, kinda. Once I started screwing around with the memory, the box would beep away. 4 slots with 2 512MB chips in 1 and 2 and 2 256MB chips in 3 and 4. Kept trying them 1 at a time, 2 at a time with no luck. Tried new sticks with the same result. The I figured it out. Slot 1 was fried. If I put RAM in 3 and 4, boots up just fine. So now it's back crunch'n with less memory, but still crunch'n. Thanks for the help.:)

I have a board with the same problem. Can't use the first slot.