Dell Dimension 8400 wont boot up

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Interestingly, I have been trying to communicate with Dell about this situation. The first problem I suspect is that the Dell representative doesn't understand my English, since I barely understand his/hers.

In my first email, I included the requisite Express number and explained my problem(s). Almost immediately, I received a response (in semi-telligible English) that my system was no longer in warranty and that they would not be able to help me. I replied to that email and stated that I would be happy if they could just point me in the direction or any solutions, even ones I could do on my own. Dell's reply was virtually identical to the first one, "Sorry, you no longer count. We can't be bothered with you if you're not buying newer products from Dell." OK, it wasn't worded quite like that, but it was definitely the sentiment. So, I tried one more reply. I said, "Forget about my specific computer - this is obviously an across-the-board problem with the Dell Dimension 8400 computer. Did Dell ever see fit to address the problem and, if so, where can I find that information." I included a few links to forums such as this one and sent it on its way.

Dell's reply? "I regret for the inconvenience caused to you..." and other interesting grammatical gymnastics, all saying the same thing as before, "ah heck off, mate. If you're not willing to give us more money, we're really not interested in helping you." The funny thing is that I have four Dell computers, this being the oldest. And in my business, I used to recommend Dells because I found them generally reliable and the customer service quick and fair. I guess that's over with.

I wish everyone who owns one of these POS the best of luck and I hope that some state-side Dell representative eventually stumbles across this corporate pot-hole. I doubt they would do anything about it, either, but they might get around to doing something about restoring the style of service they had in days of yore.
 
UPDATE!!! Yesterday was a GOOD day (as I've often heard in Hospice). The 8400 booted on only the eighth or ninth try, after the requisite flailings and flagellations. Ran all day and deep into the night, doing my biddings, handling my Skypings and recording my televisions shows. But, like the fool I obviously am for owning the thing, I shut it off when I retired for the evening. Oops.

Today, when I tried to boot the unit, I did all the things called for in my ritual - turn on the monitor, plug the cord in to the power supply, count "one-mississippi, two-mississippi,...twentyseven-mississippi" and just between that last "mississ" and "ippi", gently depress the start button with the index finger of my left hand. Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it don't. This was a 'don't' day. So, I endeavored to discover a new method - and 'Viola!' (yeah, I know it's supposed to be 'voila') it eventually booted. Here's what I did.

The PC lays on its side, anyhow, since much of the normal boot process requires me to fiddle with things inside. But I made sure that I had the clam-shell completely opened to it's locked-and-upright position (90 degrees or thereabouts) so I would have adequate room to work. Next, I rotated it on the bench so that the open and upright side was on my left (this would be opposite of what I would recommend for a left-handed person). Next, making sure that all loose items on the bench were safely corralled or removed, I applied several rapid hammer-like blows with the side of my fist on the flat exposed side of the power supply. Note: When using this technique, avoid apply any part of your hand to the nasty spiky things on top of the heat sink, or the sharp edge of the computer case. Improper use of this method could result in injury, death, voided warranty or hair loss. Other side effects may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, loss of hair, craving for Hostess Twinkies and Global Warming.

Next, I plugged the power cord back in to the power supply, punched the button several times in a erratic but pleasing rhythm and, surprise of surprises, nothing happened. I went and had a drink of water and came back.

Punched the power button one more time, and she booted like a champ. Guess it was time.

One modification I will be making whenever I use this new technique in the future - I have taken a bubble-pack shipping envelope, folded it in half and laid it next to the computer. It'll come in handy for padding the top of the power supply next time so I don't bruise my hand.

And before any of you bleeding-heart geeks out there start clamoring and crying "Computer Abuse," just keep in mind some of my alternatives - I live in a second-floor condo and have balcony access to both a cement sidewalk below AND a deep canal. With a bit of effort and a bit of luck, I coulda got both of'em with the proper amount of English.
 
First of all, I would like to thank all the posters on this thread. Reading thru the posts I was able to repair my computer on my own without having to shell out $$$ to a repair shop. Here is my story.

I have a Dell 8400 that is five years old and until recently have had no hardware problems. I came home from work a few weeks ago and found the power light flashing amber with no fan sounds or output to the monitor. The diagnostic lights were off and there were no beep codes were present. The only sound I heard when I pressed the power button was a single click from the power supply. The only positive sign was that I had a green light on the motherboard so I knew that at least some power was getting to the computer.

I first consulted the Dell manual which stated that a flashing amber light indicated "the computer is receiving electrical power, but an internal power problem might exist". Not much help there. I then went online to research the problem and found this thread among others. After some reading, I became somewhat discouraged since it appeared that there might be several dozen causes for the problem ranging from bad capacitors to a shorted USB port. I visually examined the all the components inside the case and did not see anything obviously wrong.

After some reading, I did find a thread which suggested removing/disconnecting all the components from the motherboard and then reinstalling the components one at a time to see which one might be faulty. I proceed to pull the memory modules, disconnect the power to the drives, and remove all the cards from the expansion slots leaving only the motherboard and processor plugged in to the PSU. This is when I noticed that the fan on the video card (Nvidia GeForce 6800) was crooked and was rubbing against the heatsink shroud when I turned it by hand.

I crossed my fingers and pressed the power button.....Success!! The PSU and processor fans turn on and I get a series of beeps. The diagnostic lights are working and show no memory modules are detected which is correct. Now we are making progress! I then proceed then to reconnect the different components one at a time leaving the video card for last since I now suspect it might be the culprit due to the bad cooling fan. I get around to inserting the video card and.....flashing amber. It is definitely the video card.

My next step is to buy a new video card. I decide on an EVGA Nvidia 9500GT since I am limited to my stock 350W power supply and it was on sale with a rebate. I install the new card in the computer and the computer turns on normally with video output to the monitor. After some resetting of bios settings and downloading updated drivers for the new video card, the computer is back up and running with no problems so far.

I hope this helps others with the same problem I had.
 



I suggest replacing the battery if you have not already done so.
 


Well aren't you going to share with us the magical voodoo rhythm that worked?
 
Epic. This thread is epic. Sadly so, though, and mine just went over to the dark side today too. SleeplessInTheSaddle, Godspeed, good sir. I'm going to hit up Dell and see what I can see. I think the solution to this problem is for them to supply new computers. I'll report back soon. Be good, all.
 
First of all, I want to apologise for my bad knowledge of the english/american langue... I'm from Holland... :) I too have the same problem, fan blowing like hell and no booting. But... I have found the solution which works fine for me! Turn on the 8400, leave it on, leave the room for a nice cup of coffee (and in my case a cigarette, sorry). Leave the Dell blowing for approx. half an hour, turn it off and on again and voilá, it will start up again! :bounce: Definitely a cooling problem! I only never could figure out what caused it, sorry... Mb. "freezing spray" will speed up solving this problem too but I haven't used it myself (yet) Btw, besides this problem, I'm really impressed by this old Dell, it's still quit a powerful machine which did his duty very well for about 6 years already.
 
Just thought I should share this to save $ for someone with a similar situation. I have my Dell 8400 for about 4 years now. Recently, I had the same problem as everyone - steday amber light and very loud fan on power up. Usually, it took many atempt to get it going. But, when it did oes, everything seemed fine.
After reading through the post, I was thinking it could be any one of those possibilities others mentioned. However, when I opened my computer, everything seemed to be fine except dust. I saw no distorted part or burned connectors. After removing as much dust as I can, it start up normally twice then it went back to that same problem again.

As a last ditch effort before buying psu, cpu or mother board, I decided to look at the fan in the power supply unit ( where the noice comes from). After unmounting the psu, I saw a thick layer of dust collected on the fan blades. So I used damp cotton swabs with minor detergent to get rid all those gabage. That seemed to solve the problem. I no longer have that amber light the jet taking off fan for several days now..
I am sure this will not help everyone, but it might help for some . Jas


 


I'm with Dougger 100% on this one. http://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/smilies/bounce.gif

That Dougger criticism itself is part of the problem. You start with the simplest cheapest plausible solutions and exhaust ALL of them before you go to the radical step of replacing CPU's and MOB's. We will never know how many people may have replace entire CPU's and MOB's needlessly. Many of these posts described a slew of detailed trouble-shooting strategies before they replaced their CPU's and MOB's. And most of them never indicated that they had checked the battery or the memory connex.

My first thought when my 8200 went from amber to nothing, was that the battery somehow got run down -- because the problem surfaced after I had unplugged the power supply for several hours during a lightening storm.

Always - Always - Always - Always - START with the simplest & cheapest conceivable solutions first when troubleshooting -- and make sure you have exhausted ALL OF THEM before moving on to more radical solutions. That is all Dougger was saying. And he's absolutely right. http://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/smilies/hello.gif
 


This problem is not only your dimension 8400 but other dell PC's, the only way to solve this issue is a new motherboard 🙁 This has worked for us sorry
 
I HAVE A SOLUTION---I have escaped from the Dimension 8400 Dell Hell Computer!!!.. which right now I am messaging you from!!! YES IT IS NOW RUNNING....How did I do it?....read on...and bask in the glory of logical deduction.
This reply has to do with the now infamous amber solid light, cpu cooler fan "jet engine" effect, puffy capacitors, and replies to other things mentioned like the p2 connector......well well well I do believe I have your answers for you...I have read this entire thread and have gained some knowledge that I put to good use....In short: Someone mentioned pressing down on the heatsink while pressing the power button and said it made the computer come back to life. Bingo! at least for me. My motherboard (I have 2) showed bulging capacitors which btw around the cpu are very very hard to replace without damaging the board...so I picked the Mobo that I wasn't using cause it had less bulging caps at the top around the cpu heatsink. However when I was done and reassembled....you guessed it...solid amber light and racing cpu cooling fan. So as mentioned earlier I gently now, gently, pressed the heatsink tilting it slightly first toward the front of the case a little bit and pressed the power button...no result...I then shut the puter off.....This time I tilted it toward the rear.. then, holding it there I pressed the power button...bingo all green lights...no amber! Computer now booted into windows and has run fine now....NOTE: I did not have to tilt the heatsink too far as this would cause other problems like breakage or improper interface with the cpu (big gap if leaned too far)........ta daaaa.. So why is this? Why is it it seems I am the only one to realize the following?....I just took other ppl's observations to the only logical conclusion. So people you don't have to scratch your heads any longer.
BTW I i am a computer technician and this was my personal computer that I desperately wanted to save cause I ain't exactly rich and I wanted to save my data even though I did some backup. One solution:...In my case you see as mentioned earlier by me and other people which somehow got by you all is that the problem is basically HEAT... heat has warped the plastic around the cpu socket to such a degree that even if you reseat the processor a hundred times it just ain't good enough because this is a press contact scheme and because the plastic warped we have improper connections to the cpu. Therefore basically the machine thinks there is no cpu...which i confirmed by removing the cpu and turning the machine on and got the same exact symtoms of solid amber light black screen none of 4 lights in rear lighting at all and jet engine fan spin.... When I tilted the heatsink while it was in place (only tilt it to rear or front) only THEN did the machine boot properly (in my case tilted to the rear).
Is there a fix for this?....Well what I did was: Tied a wire thru a shared hole at the rear where one side of the rear cpu cooling fan housing is fastened, looping around the top of the tubes at the top of the heatsink top keeping tension to hold the heatsink slightly askew to the rear and tied the wire keeping tension to another hole at the rear on the other side of the fastened fan housing....Sounds crazy...well, unfortunately you cannot unwarp plastic so I dont know what else to do...Any exact replacement Mobo is going to do the same thing eventually So there you have it...So far so good and i remind you I am typing with my dell dimension 8400 at this moment. We shall see if this holds in the future....If it does My "SOLUTION"..is a great workaround.
Now remember other problems can and do exist...but as alot has mentioned they did not have bulging caps, power supply was good, p2 connector did not burn memory was ok etc. and still had the amber light...Logic dictates if you remove the processor and look at the socket you will see what i am talking about. Look especially at the plastic ridge that somewhat surrounds the contact pins fastened permanately to the Mobo. It's ever so slight, but enough to cause an intermittent connection to the cpu which of course will give you freezes and blue screens amber lights, no lights in rear etc. Kudos to the fellow who mentioned pressing down on the heatsink....And No! it's not because of gaps between the big heatsink and the processor metal heatsink ..AS far as replacing batteries and other voodoo..remember that these ppl are flexing the MOBO slightly as they do these other things which temporarily causes the processor to be connected properly...BTW my battery was fine all the while...Hope this helps all of you...Unfortunately I found this was the only way to stop the amber light and avoid freezes in the middle of a windows session. Ciao
 
Here i am again to do one more message to clarify...
First: a rule of thumb...fasten the heat sink with the wire i talked about so that the tubes that stick up at the top of the heatsink are against the rear part of the holes in the fan plastic housing when the fan assembly is in place.
Number two: Mentioned earlier are lots of bulging caps which of course is bad and can wipe a motherboard out. These should be replaced. Be very careful: get someone who knows how to remove solder and stuck pins without ruining the Mobo if you do not know how to do this as a powerful soldering iron is required in certain areas
Number 3: Logic dictates that while we are futzing with the Mobo improper contact to the cpu can and does happen. It happened to me. look at the clues... quite a few ppl after doing many things came to the conclusion that either it was the heatsink, cpu, or motherboard..I suppose in some cases the Mobo does indeed go belly up....but you see, it's a combination of all three...Intel cpus usually do not burn out....certainly a heatsink can't burn out....and aaahhh yes the warped cpu socket is permanantly fastened to the Mobo, so technically the Mobo is at fault; so the solution looks to me while all other things are ok (or not depending on your personal case like stuck fans etc.) it's the combination of all three....the fastening of the cpu so the damn thing actually makes proper snug contact. Make sure you do not not rock (tilt) the heat sink too much or it will not make proper interface with the cpu triggering the fan to increase rpms as the processor will easily increase its heat as you run games or any applications for that matter that use moderate to heavy cpu usage.
Finally: Always check memory and videocard seating as well as other expansion card seating and possible defects in said cards (just remove the cards one by one) as this can trigger the same symtoms. Also I have seen on my computer that my dual channel memory was defective causing other symptoms like constant and intermittent bsod's and I had to replace it some time ago. Check the power supply 4 pin pentium connector as others have mentioned. Make sure all fans are working properly. If you see smoke for god's sake (and yours) disconnect the computer immediately and replace the power supply with a known good one. invariably a Mobo will not smoke unless you run a bad PSU or ignore the puffy capacitors.
Any questions? Please message me.

And now for my opinion: This is a poorly designed Dell...I am even inclined to call it a piece of very shitty design. It was made with cheap parts as well that are crucial to its well being. It is causing probably many thousands of ppl much grief and I am sure dell became aware of their design flaws of this machine: Especially the warping of lord knows what kind of plastic they were using and their extremely poor cooling solution...You cannot adjust the fanspeed in the bios and that is really rediculous...so to keep it cool you will have to install your own cooling solution. However it does run great when there are no problems with it lol. I was even able to get a liteon blueray disk player to play Avatar with an HDCP lcd monitor after of course having to update the cyberlink software that only worked properly in windows 7 for me. Would I ever buy a Dell computer?...I don't buy them, I build them so its hard to advise what ppl should do...I would say this...Always get an extended warrantly for at least 5 years with golden coverage with Dell. Did I buy the dell 8400?...nope, it was given to me. i decided to fix it up as my economic situtation has not been good since about february of this year when I got this computer which was then about 4 years old. Unfortunately I have had to deal with 4 problems with it....bad memory.....reseating of an upgrade video card....puffy capacitors and of course the amber quagmire. But I am up and running now and eventually soon i hope I will build an ultimate dream game machine. Good Luck all and I really hope all this has helped you out there in cyberspace!
 
Vaporize's solution WORKS!!! I've had my Dim. 8400 for 6 years and its had its share of problems, but today was the first time I ran into the jet engine speed fan, etc. that this post is about (I'm lucky I guess but I always just put it to sleep and do not turn it off ever so perhaps that helped). I like everyone else, I read through all of the posts (amazing this is still active since 2006) and decided to try vaporize's solution first and it worked like a charm! My computer has been warning me for weeks about replacing the secondary battery, so I'm pretty sure its dead, but I didn't replace it, I just did vaporize's solution and the computer turns on and boots into windows fine. My connectors are not fried and my capacitors look fine. Thank you so much vaporize for finally logically boiling down everyone's comments to find the root cause of the problem and fixing it. I'm an engineer so I really appreciate you breaking down and explaining the exact failure mechanism which leads to your solution as opposed to just saying, "I did this thing and magic happened and it worked." Way to go vaporize! Problem solved.
 

My pleasure and my computer is still doing fine...you see it's true what i surmised... um i assume you are talking about the cmos battery...very good idea to replace it...the watch type battery on the MOBO. otherwise you will lose the correct time and other phenomenon like not remembering your bios settings. you can check your battery with a voltmeter and it should read 3 volts...Glad i was able to share this info with someone so quickly.
 
I'm having the blinking amber light with no response what-so-ever problem. The only thing I get when trying the power button is a "click" that seems to be coming from what I think is the power source. I've read this entire thread and haveinspected all the connections and inspected the motherboard for any obvious bulging components or burnouts , but see nothing tell tale. I'm going to try Vaporize's solution next but was wondering if anyone had a decent schematic pointing out what the differnet components are; I'm not very experienced in pulling computers apart and don't want to start tearing out the wrong things! My Dell 8400 is 6 years old and has run pretty well up until now, I just don't have the cash to have it fixed by a repair shop or get a new one. I really want to save the info on the drive as well.
thanks for any help.
 


Very sorry but my solution does not apply when the machine has a BLINKING light; only when it is steady with the fan running at very high rpm.
forget schematics....you need a basic working knowledge of how a computer works.... but try this....see if you get the same result if you take out the processor. my machine would have a steady light if i do this. If there is no change then that will elmininate the processor being at fault. a blinking light indicates a defective part or improper seating of expansion cards. memory or an expansion card or perhaps the motherboard itself maybe defective....refer to diagnosis for blinking light ONLY, elsewhere in this thread or someplace else. remember my solution has to do with improper connection or connections to the CPU. If you look up at dell what a blinking amber light means its almost entirely differerent than the phenomenon I was talking about in my earlier comments . The tell tale symptom with steady amber is the racing loud cpu fan.....As far as looking for a solution to your problem if i can help (but I am not expert on this symtom): if you dont know what you are doing and dont want to try and figure it out for yourself...bring your computer to an expert. Otherwise you want to start with a barebones system (the least amount of cards or external devices plugged in): Firstly your power supply can be at fault and you should try another one you know is good; then as stated in other threads try removing one stick of memory....If doesnt work replace the other stick with the one you just removed...each time make sure the computer is OFF and then ground your self on the metal case and remove the power cord. Then when you make each change restart the system and see if the machine will boot...the memory is dual channel so there should be pairs of memory. The computer will however work with one stick only it computes more slowly. You can even have a bad video card....so you see you have to use a procedure of troubleshooting where you can eliminate one by one all possilbilites and by doing so you are left with the most logical conclusion as to what is at fault. Hope this helps...........As far as saving your data, from what i know you have a raid system just like mine where you cannot just get your data unless you fix your computer...The motherboard uses a raid controller that MUST be matched by any other motherboard which with this dell means you have to have basically the same model replacement to retrieve your data...that is IF and only IF the MOBO is defective....You may even have to consider one of the raid harddrives is at fault...This would mean i am afraid to say that your data would be lost if you have a striping raid configuration which my 8400 has. The computer will post without a harddrive; that is you should see writing on the screen if indeed one of the HD's once removed lets the system post. If there is no change unplugging the harrdrives then plug them back in EXACTLY as they were... Be patient, read up and good luck to you....respond to this post and ill try and keep up with your progress. Once again if you do not understand this then you should not attempt repairs yourself.



 
I have the same problem: super speed fan, steady amber light, no beeps, no nothing, very black screen, ad nauseum..Amen.
My Dimension 8400 was purchased Jan 2005..so it is 5.5 yrs old. From this epic thread, it seems that the working life of this machine is 3-6 years. Not very good, Dell.
Vaporize has posted a solution to this that I am willing to tackle, but I would love at least a picture or two to help with this fix. I am familiar with the inner-workings of computers and I am not afraid to try to do this(what else do we have to lose?), but a picture or two would definitely help in this case. If this is the boiled-down be all-end all solution to everyone's problem on this topic, I would think that a simple schematic or picture would be AWESOME especially for folks not that familiar in this type of computer fixing.
Vaporize, you are the man and I applaud your diagnosis. I think I speak for all of us on this thread when I say that when we all googled "Dell Dimension amber power light loud fan" or some other search string , we were not expecting such a similiar problem among owners!
Can you help us out with a picture or two or with further clarification?
freakboy
 
Sorry no pictures but its kinda obvious what to do... simply open the clamshell like case by pressing the two buttons at top and bottom which actually can be difficult to do as lots of times its a little stuck. But use your common sense and it will open.
First, it might be a good idea to remove the casefan assembly and heatsink to inspect the condition of the silver compound between the heatsink and cpu....If its dry then replace it with new silver compound. This will insure better heat transfer. Once its ALL ASSEMBLED AS YOUR FOUND IT.....AS explained above you will see at the top of the heat sink the protruding pipe ends of the heatsink sticking up out of the fan assembly plastic holes. gently grasp pipes and pull to rear of the plastic holes and holding it there, then turn on your computer. AT this point; hopefully your computer should now boot with green light. If not turn the computer off and pull the protruding pipes to the front..then turn it on again...If this does not work (it worked for me and others) then probably the socket plastic for the cpu is too warped and you are out of luck. For me the rear position is the fix and is, as explained earlier, to fasten a wire looping around the pipes to hold the heat sink in its new position. If the position is to the front of the hole then fastening it make prove to be difficult and i suggest only to use your imagination.
 
Final thought...remember this is a work around and not permanent so that you can save all your data and get ready for a NEW COMPUTER...Although this computer aint too shabby with 2gigs of ddr2 dual channel memory and processor multi threadying and sata raid I have had to upgrade the vid card to get latest games to run decent...I am now building a new computer that is a significant upgrade.
 
I too have a 2005 DELL 8400 Dimension PC. One day recently, it did not boot up. It also had the fan going at very high speed and nothing else happening. I am not an internal PC guy but I did open the chassis. I noticed that the fan on the Video Card was not turning and it was coated with dust. I thought that this (a failed Video Card) was the cause of the problem. I mentioned it to a friend about the video card fan not working; he indicated that it could be normal; as the temperature may have to get to a specific degree before the fan turns on.

I left the chassis with another person, with more PC internals knowledge, he removed the Video Card and the PC started to boot up. I looked around (in local stores) for a compatible video card; no luck. In the end, on the WEB I found this site, Red Planet Trading. They are located in Texas.

They carry the exact replacement Dell Video Card (a Dell NVidia GeForce 6800 GTO PCI-E 256MB Video Graphics Card). I ordered it the afternoon of 9/15/2010 and I received it in the afternoon USPS mail delivery on 9/17/2010. I immediately installed the card and presto the PC works as it did in the past.

Besides finding this great source for “old” parts, I did learn that is very important to periodically remove the chassis cover and remove the collection of dust etc.

Jersey Boy
 
I also have a 8400 machine, occasionally I had the high speed fan which scared the life outy of me, but after restarting the machine, all seemed well.

One occasion about a month ago it wouldnt turn on and noticed that if I put the computer into sleep it wouldnt come out of sleep just three flashing lights on the keyboard. A hard reset cured this so didnt pu the machine into sleep mode.

I have been away for a week and now the machine will not turn on at all, no amber lights no fans no nothing well apart from a little flicker of the power switch when power is connected. I do have the mobo light on but thats all.

I have tried the short on P14 and P15 and nothing happens so I think the PSU is at fault on this occasion. I going to get a cheap ATX 20 + 4 pin ATX Supply tomorrow to see if this fixes the fault.

I have tried everything suggested on this forum but the machine is still refusing the do anything at all.

Has anyone had this problem as I have noticed that others are getting either flashing amber lights or permanently lit power light. I dont have any of these problems.

Many thanks


Matt
 
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