my dell xps hads start up problems please help me

[lukejohnstone]

i have a dell xps 720 and on start up i get the dell logo and thats it screen go's black and the fans start blowing like mad.

 

[patrickthepink]

What colour is the light on the power button?

 

[lukejohnstone]

Hi thanks for reply
The screen light is green then yellow like its on stand by

 

[lukejohnstone]

What colour is the light on the power button?

Green then go's to yellow

 

[patrickthepink]

Yellow is not good...

You might want to take the heatsink off the processor and make sure that you have enough thermal paste spread over the CPU. Also, when putting the heat sink back on again make sure you tighten up the screws as much as you can.

While you have the CPU heatsink off, you may as well just simply re seat the processor - as this has been known to do wonders.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[lukejohnstone]

Yellow is not good...

You might want to take the heatsink off the processor and make sure that you have enough thermal paste spread over the CPU. Also, when putting the heat sink back on again make sure you tighten up the screws as much as you can.

While you have the CPU heatsink off, you may as well just simply re seat the processor - as this has been known to do wonders.

Let me know how you get on.

I have done what you asked me to do and it looks like i could need more paste it looks spread out and patches of space where there is no paste and looks a mess after puting everything back i now know longer get the Dell logo on start up now.

 

[patrickthepink]

OK so are you just getting the yellow light on the power button now?

You might wanna open it back up again and have a look at the capacitors on the main board, as another cause of the yellow light on the power button can be due to leaky/bulging capacitors.
Make sure the Processor is seated correctly.

 

[lukejohnstone]

OK so are you just getting the yellow light on the power button now?

You might wanna open it back up again and have a look at the capacitors on the main board, as another cause of the yellow light on the power button can be due to leaky/bulging capacitors.
Make sure the Processor is seated correctly.

Ok i will try this tomorrow and see if it helps and let you know mate. Thanks for your help

Yes I am still getting the yellow light on my screen

 

[patrickthepink]

No problem I work with a lot of Dell machines so I am used to troubleshooting them

I think we may have crossed some wires here by accident - when I said the power button, I meant on the base unit - not the screen! lol

Make sure the CPU socket is nice and clean (no dust and bits in there) and the little gold connectors on the bottom of the CPU have no smudges on. You can use a clean cloth to wipe the underneath of the CPU, as sometimes after handling it you can accidentally get thermal paste on the connectors. It's the CPU SOCKET you have to be delicate with, as there are tiny pins that connect to all of the points on the CPU itself.

If you are happy with this and have tightened up the heatsink as much as you possibly can, here are some more things to try if you are still having issues -

-Re-seat all of your memory modules, or try just one module at a time. You may be able to isolate a faulty one.
-Take out your GPU and try running with just the onboard graphics port.
-Remove your CMOS battery for 30 seconds
-See if you can locate a "Service Mode" jumper setting on the mothboard somewhere. (Not sure if the 720s actually have one but worth looking)
-Remove any other add-on cards you have installed. (Wifi cards, NICs etc...)

Good luck