asylum101

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So, this isn't exactly a new homebuilt machine, it's a heavily modified dell machine belonging to a family member. I've been helping them out to transplant the components into a larger case, then install additional ram, then a new graphics card, and finally a new PSU.

At first, it seemed like a simple task, but it seems to be growing in size and difficulty. While I have done all this before, this PC is giving odd problems. After transplanting it to a new case, we installed the RAM and the card, but the PC seems like it froze at the DELL BIOS screen. The screen says F12 for this, F2 for that, but keyboard strokes do nothing, and leaving the PC on doesn't allow it to go past this screen. We let it sit for around 15 minutes with no progress. I've tried moving the RAM around, using different RAM( the new kingston modules are odd to me, they're a 1/2 inch tall vs the old inch tall ones), I've tried resetting the CMOS, though I'm not sure I've done it correctly, my cousin doesn't have the manual to his PC, but I see a 3 pin thing with a 2 pin jumper, has to be CMOS reset. Tried using the old video card, but no luck with that either.

I'm kind of at a loss for this one, any suggestions?

Motherboard: m2n61-ax
RAM: 1 GB of hynix DDR2 5300(never heard of this company myself, it came with the PC.) and 2 GB of Kingston DDR2 5300.
PSU: 430W Thermaltake
Case: That ancient gray DELL case... this one

Note: Like I said, this is a "frankenstein" build, we took bits and pieces of the old pc, the wanted pc, and some new pieces to make this. The PC we retrieved the motherboard, RAM, CPU from was a Dell Inspiron, not sure which kind. It was quite thin and unusable for gaming really.
 

asylum101

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Yeah, I've gone through all those steps. Still no luck.

The battery however, I haven't tried. I guess I'll give that a shot right now.
 

asylum101

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Heh, it's not mine, trust me. I'm working on revamping my cousin's dell to be up to par with today's standards for PC gaming. I've had my share of prebuilt PC's, they're no fun at all.

So anyway. I removed the CMOS battery, let it sit out for 30 minutes actually because I was making some breakfast, and then put it back in and tried it... still no luck. Stuck on the big ol' DELL screen, keyboard strokes still do nothing. I am suspecting the motherboard is the culprit. Either my cousin unintentionally damaged it with an ESD, or DELL just flat out has horrible mobos/bios, which is a fact.
 
I would say " DELL just flat out has horrible mobos/bios, which is a fact. "

Get a new mobo and replace.... they are cheap and reliable.... Not like a Dell, trust me i have had my share of DELL issues..... Locked Bios, generic hardware, no upgrade path whatsoever, etc... Dell blows, unless you just use the pc for office use and upgrade the whole PC every 2 years or so....

By the way, what CPU do you have in that Dell ?
 

asylum101

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I'm not sure. I'll have to check with the cousin. It's definitely an AMD AthlonX2, though I'm not sure of it's speed or if it's brisbane or whatever.

I don't think replacing the mobo would be within our budget however. Spent most of the upgrade money on the PSU, RAM, and Graphics Card. IF I knew the CPU, yeah, it'd be easy to replace. Just need the socket number :/

Another note, maybe something to further prove the point: The front LED on the PC shines AMBER rather than the typical GREEN. According to other forums I've seen, this means a faulty PSU, which cannot be true, because 1) it's brand new 2)the same light lit with several other PSUs I have, and 3)the components all turn on, fans, hard drive, cd drives, etc.
 

asylum101

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Hm... I'll bookmark it for reference. If worse comes to worse, I'll have to go with that or something at Tiger down the street.
 
I know what you are feeling right now, trust me I fell for their pc's too back in the day...

One day I decided to take one completely apart w/o having any idea of what I was doing... This was back in 1996, then I started to look at other vendors, parts, prices, etc... Later to find out that I had spent more than 1,500$ on a pre-built pc that was made mostly of GENERIC hardware (excluding CPU and hard-Drive)...

From there on I started to build and encourage most peeps to stay away from pre-built systems unless they don't care about performance, upgradability, quality, etc....