Dell PC refuses to Turn ON

[Sagar_20]

Well. I've had this problem many times before But now its happening more frequently. May be its a power Button problem. I don't know. So, when i press the Power Button, Nothing happens. If i press it hard, it would work sometimes or it just wont. The same happened just now. I tried 4-5 times but succeeded only once. A few days ago, this tricked me into thinking that some component had gone bad and Only after doing the Discharge Trick i.e unplugging the Power Cord and Holding down the Power Key for 30 seconds i was able to get it back to life. May be i didn't Turn it ON right at first? Any idea what's wrong with the Computer? Please tell me what to do.

 

[smorizio]

if the pc a few years old can be a weak cmos battery or bad power supply or bad caps on the mb. start with cmos battery it cheap and quick. google the dell model number and system board recall/caps or class action see if there no recalls on it.

 

[greentent]

So it could be a multitude of things. I'll try to help though.
Just some clarification, when you "Discharge" by holding down the power button without power, it does discharge the capacitors, but you can press the power button 4-5 times and it solves that the same way. An easy way to tell if it is discharged is, if you look at the cpu fan and the power is removed, if there is power left in the system you can see the fan try and spin when you press the power button. Once there is no movement then it is purged.

The first thing I would check is the connections.
1) check the connection from the power button to the headers on the motherboard. They can become loose over time through movement. This is sometimes the cause.

2) Make sure your ram is seated correctly and hasnt become loose. (remember to try to power on and cycle after every change to trial)

3) If you have multiple sticks of ram, try removing one to see if you have a bad stick (Ive had bad ram and it will cause problems like youre having)

4) Try removing graphics card/reseating it.

5) If you have a spare power supply, try a different one in case that is the issue.

If none of these help then it could be a trace in the motherboard or chipset that went bad on the motherboard.

ps sometimes depending on the motherboard there is a button on it itself that you can use to power on and post to see if it is in fact the power button that is faulty.

 

[Sagar_20]

if the pc a few years old can be a weak cmos battery or bad power supply or bad caps on the mb. start with cmos battery it cheap and quick. google the dell model number and system board recall/caps or class action see if there no recalls on it.

The CMOS battery of this computer had actually died a year ago after working 5 years non stop. Surprisingly, that happened while i was trouble shooting the PC for No Signal on Monitor Problem. I got to know this from 5 beeps that my Dell Computer was making. Therefore i had to replace it with a New Panasonic CR 2032 battery. So no issue with the battery at least. The problem could be perhaps Bad caps as i've hit some components while inserting a GPU in my SFF Computer. I've accidentally broke one of the RAM Locks also, (on Slot #2), but its working fine. Thanks

 

[william p]

Bad caps can often be spotted visually. The capacitors that have plastic labels on the sides will also have notches scribed into the top end that look like a "K". if you see staining in those notches then the capacitor is swelling up inside and the notches are releasing the pressure. Staining underneath means the same thing. A TV repair tech can replace them for you.

 

[Sagar_20]

So it could be a multitude of things. I'll try to help though.
Just some clarification, when you "Discharge" by holding down the power button without power, it does discharge the capacitors, but you can press the power button 4-5 times and it solves that the same way. An easy way to tell if it is discharged is, if you look at the cpu fan and the power is removed, if there is power left in the system you can see the fan try and spin when you press the power button. Once there is no movement then it is purged.

The first thing I would check is the connections.
1) check the connection from the power button to the headers on the motherboard. They can become loose over time through movement. This is sometimes the cause.

2) Make sure your ram is seated correctly and hasnt become loose. (remember to try to power on and cycle after every change to trial)

3) If you have multiple sticks of ram, try removing one to see if you have a bad stick (Ive had bad ram and it will cause problems like youre having)

4) Try removing graphics card/reseating it.

5) If you have a spare power supply, try a different one in case that is the issue.

If none of these help then it could be a trace in the motherboard or chipset that went bad on the motherboard.

ps sometimes depending on the motherboard there is a button on it itself that you can use to power on and post to see if it is in fact the power button that is faulty.

I'm petty much sure that the RAM, GPU and CMOS Battery are seated perfectly. I've reset them multiple times when i had No signal on Monitor a few months back. Once, I had accidentally broken one of the RAM locks, but its works all right. RAM fits snug, however i don't hear the Click sound from the Second end. Although i've reset the RAM several times in past but no idea what went wrong that time. It just happened. Besides that, I've got a 250W OEM PSU but then i'm using a 25W GT 730, so i don't think i am even near to approaching to the Power Limit. Perhaps there are some bad components on my motherboard? Well, today the computer started in One GO.