Dell won't start after thrunderstorms.

[Jonoman1]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum so would really appreciate any help.

My Dell imension 4550 would'nt start this morning following severe thunderstorms over the weekend.

Both CD & DVD units have power lights which are permanently flashing. . The green on switch light is solid. On he back of the box there are 4 diagnostic lights which should all be solid green. 'A' is blinking amber/green and 'B' is solid amber. The other two are Ok at solid green.

I'm worried that the storms may have caused a power surge and shot the mother board.

Any help out there would be appreciated.

Thanks....

[sittas87]

hi and welcome
id check the following perharps in another machine to see if its working
PSU
!RAM!

[Jonoman1]

Thanks Sittas 87 but what exactly is the PSU and where do I find it?

[sittas87]

Power Supply Unit(PSU) aka Power Supply.If you can get a power supply to borrow for testing you will be able to see if the problem is with the power supply or not.Also do check your RAM,theres a good chance its your RAM if it aint your PSU.
??

[fainsleep]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum so would really appreciate any help.

My Dell imension 4550 would'nt start this morning following severe thunderstorms over the weekend.

Both CD & DVD units have power lights which are permanently flashing. . The green on switch light is solid. On he back of the box there are 4 diagnostic lights which should all be solid green. 'A' is blinking amber/green and 'B' is solid amber. The other two are Ok at solid green.

I'm worried that the storms may have caused a power surge and shot the mother board.

Any help out there would be appreciated.

Thanks....

Try this page. It has the diagnostic light and beep codes for a dell dimension 4550. I didn't see a code for a blinking A and a Yellow B, but with both being yellow/amber then it would be your memory modules as sittas87 suggested. You will need to find out the system clock or FSB of your particular computer to find out which type of ram you need if that is the problem.

DDR SDRAM (Architecture)
DDR 333 (non-ECC) only on computers with a 533-MHz system clock speed
or
DDR 266 (non-ECC) on computers with either a 400- or a 533-MHz system clock speed

This will work on either, as it is pc2100(ddr 266), but I would recommend getting this if you can, at pc2700(ddr 333) This is assuming that you want 1G of ram (2x 512) which is the max your dell can handle. You can browse the site yourself, just remember your requirements are
1) DDR SDRAM (184 pin)
2) FSB 533 -> DDR 333
FSB 400 -> DDR 266 (this one if your not sure)

Hope this is the problem, but if not take a more in-depth look at that troubleshooting guide from dell I mentioned at first.