THE FAN IS IN 2 PIECES. I think it's broken. I'm not sure rick... can I see what happens if I do the same to your head?<br><br> My experience with dell is they ship moderately better parts than there equivalent competitors such as HP and Emachines. I would buy a dell before I bought either of those.
<br><br>But your right you get what you pay for. people buy dell because they're cheap. If you want to build a computer from expensive parts... do so. Unfortunately dells don't like to boot if there cpu fans aren't hooked up, even though this model is using a heat sink with there damn shroud fans. so it doesn't really matter.
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/11/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Richard Houser</b> <<a href="mailto:rick@divinesymphony.net">rick@divinesymphony.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
When a power supply first fails, the machine typically WILL boot, but<br>will be out of spec and slowly damage the rest of the machine as it's<br>condition worsens. Typically, a low end ($10-20) power supply tester<br>
will flag the really bad stuff before it starts damaging the rest of the<br>hardware. Out of 6 failed ATX supplies I still have around, 4 did POST<br>and show video on some boards but had very unstable power levels below
<br>the rated specifications.<br><br>Testing the power supply takes about 60 seconds after either moving the<br>case or the power supply to the tester and doesn't really carry a risk.<br> Pretending that it can't have a problem because the machine still
<br>boots has a very real risk to it. The type of test you are referring to<br>is useless for this type of determination. The test is useful if you<br>are unable to get the machine to power on but otherwise tells you<br>
nothing about the health of the power supply.<br><br>Often, an unstable power supply will get passed up by an inexperienced<br>technician. When you see a system that blows 4 motherboards, or two<br>motherboards and a hard disk, it's a very likely bet (>85%) that the
<br>power supplied in that system is not clean and is actually causing the<br>damage. If you look at the higher end motherboards, you will notice an<br>excess of large capacitors when compared to the cheaper boards that Dell
<br>uses. That buys those boards a little more leeway when dealing with bad<br>power, but eventually even that will cause a problem.<br><br>Fans typically don't just die either. They are relatively simple bits<br>of electronics and just wear out over time. If you have a fan die on
<br>you, chances are that it wasn't working smoothly for a long time and was<br>just neglected. If the fan is connected via the motherboard, you are<br>back to the possibility of a component feeding that power having failed
<br>(potentially due to damage from unstable power again).<br><br>Caleb Cushing wrote:<br>> being an ex dell warranty from what she's told me so far it isn't the<br>> power supply. but I have to look further. but generally you don't get
<br>> anything onscreen if the powersupply is dead. It's either the fan or the<br>> mobo. I'm hoping fan. I've seen those die on the job. it worked when I<br>> turned it of and wasn't working when I turned it back on.
<br>><br>> On 5/10/07, *Richard Houser* <<a href="mailto:rick@divinesymphony.net">rick@divinesymphony.net</a><br>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:rick@divinesymphony.net">rick@divinesymphony.net</a>>> wrote:
<br>><br>> Dell is known for putting a lot of junk components into it's systems.<br>> Usually, the motherboard and cases are highly proprietary and not worth<br>> buying replacement parts for. However, before you get to that point,
<br>> there is probably a lot of other stuff in that case worth salvaging even<br>> if the motherboard is trashed. At a minimum, you are probably talking a<br>> CPU + heatsink combo, a P4 processor, a little bit of low-end RAM, an
<br>> optical drive (probably a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo or a DVD writer), and a<br>> hard disk.<br>><br>> Could you bring the power supply tonight? (if you can't remove it<br>> yourself, just bring the whole tower). I've got a low-cost power
<br>> supply<br>> tester we can plug into your machine to test the levels and flag any<br>> obvious problems with it. Overall, failed power supplies are probably<br>> the single most common failure I've seen on low-end systems, and they
<br>> can cause damage to other electronics in the case.<br>><br>> After you've tested the power supply, your second task needs to be<br>> taking the cover off the case and powering it on where you can see the
<br>> CPU fan. If it's spinning quickly and evenly, and the heatsink is<br>> firmly attached to the board, you aren't going to be in any major risk<br>> of damaging other components. From there, you need to run a memory
<br>> tester like memtest86 overnight, then try to install an OS on it. You<br>> can download memtest ISO images from the Internet, but some Linux<br>> distros like Mandriva 2006.0 (in 2007, memtest didn't work for me)
<br>> contain a copy of memtest86 off the initial cd/dvd boot menu.<br>><br>><br>><br>><br>> Julie Code wrote:<br>> > Hi guys,<br>> > Today when I went to take the trash out, there was a computer
<br>> > sitting in the dumpster. A dell Demension desktop P4 4500. I just<br>> > plugged it in and the fans are moving and it beeps when i turn it<br>> on and<br>> > says processor fan not detected. I think it may say something
<br>> about a<br>> > mboard too but not sure. I was wondering if anyone had a working<br>> > motherboard that they'd be willing to sell me that i could put<br>> into this<br>> > machine. I know the LCD monitor works that they threw away because I
<br>> > just plugged it into my other computer. I talked to Caleb on the<br>> IM and<br>> > that is what he thinks is wrong with it. I wonder if it was<br>> someone who<br>> > didnt know a whole lot about computers and got mad and just threw
<br>> it in<br>> > the dumpster when it mayt be an easy fix?? Well, thanks for any<br>> of your<br>> > input you may have.<br>> ><br>> > Julie<br>> ><br>
> ><br>> > _______________________________________________<br>> > linux-user mailing list<br>> > <a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">
linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a>><br>> > <a href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user">http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a><br>><br>> _______________________________________________
<br>> linux-user mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a>><br>> <a href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user">
http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a><br>><br>><br>><br>><br>> --<br>> Caleb Cushing<br><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Caleb Cushing