ok, i recieved this computer from a friend that said his computer just wouldn't turn on one day. he said it was probably the monitor so i took the cpu and the monitor to test it. the monitor works fine on my computer so i tried his computer on my monitor and it still wouldn't work.

let me backtrack a little, when you turn on the computer, you get no post beeps, i don't think you ever do with stupid dells. the display never comes on the monitor, ever. after it's powered on, all of the drives will light up at the start, just like a normal boot, no beeps, and both cd drives will open, and i get the green light on the motherboard. i've tested the video card and the hard drive, both of these work and a working video card won't work in the computer's agp slot.

the only thing i can think is the computer is really dirty and it seemed like the exhaust fan and the powers supply fan were struggling a little to turn, maybe the processor overheated? maybe something failed on the motherboard? how would i find out which of these is my problem?

this is a really dirty computer

I would recommend you follow the sticky post for "My PC won't start" (strip down to bare minimum, check RAM, etc). If that doesn't point you to the problem, here are some other ideas. Excessive dust/dirt build-up inside the computer could be the cause of the problem. If the fan on the processor heatsink isn't running or is running very slowly, I would check the processor first. The fastest way to determine if the processor is bad is to replace it or try it on another board. Excessive dust could have killed the power supply as well. When the dust works its way into the fans, they can stop spinning which will result in overheated components. If the fans are that bad, don't just clean them, replace them.

I have similar problem with a friend's DeLL computer. She told me it was damned to slow. I found out that it was really. I did registry cleaning which I have discovered it has never been done since it was bought over seven years ago. It has 512MB RAM . I advised upgrade to at least 1GB. I opened to check the time and replaced the RAM. Powered it , on but no display since then.
Many senior colleagues have either tried it or suggested what might be the problem to no avail. I had to buy Motherboard analyzer to test it. the result showed that there was not enough power supply to the CPU whereas the HDD, DVD or CD lights are showing and the DVD or Cd could eject.
Its a crazy machine really.
I think the best bet is to replace the entire board, though no longer produced.

My Dell Dimension 4500 does not work at all. All I get is the standby mother board light. The cpu fan seems like it's not getting any power; it simply don't turn on. I figure maybe swapping power supplies. Would a 400 watt power supply work for this computer? This power supply has the same dual power connection cable hookups; this is a dual wattage power supply (400 watts max).
There is a flat cable that connects to the front panel and to the mother board. On one end of this cable (the end that connects to the mother board) came apart. It can be replaced, but I was thinking perhaps this was the culprit that enabled the computer not to switch on from the beginning. This is the front panel switch connector (J60H1). I know the cpu is good; I've tried it on another computer. The original power supply is broken now I know, however. So I'm wondering if replacing the power supply with this 400 watt one and another flat cable would remedy the problem.
Tommy Hughes
Wilton, Cork, Ireland