Computer dropped, begins startup then power shuts down

[skibumvt]

Hi

When my friend was transporting her computer, she dropped it. The left side of the case and the front panel jarred loose.

Everything looks okay inside, BUT...upon boot-up, the 'puter' beeps three times, the fan starts up as does the hard drive, seems to go thru their routine for a bit, THEN four angry beeps and the 'puter' shuts down.

The monitor remains black throughout. The light on the mobo is amber throughout.

Since the power shuts itself off, could that be the problem or is it something more ominous? If it is how do I fix it...or do we bite bullet and get a technician.

The 'puter' is a Dell XP5 T500, circa 1999 -2000!

Thanks

['Stein]

Moved to dead computers forum ;)

[JANINE]

it sounds as though when she dropped it she may have knocked some things loose or damaged some components which unfortnately could also include the motherbaord.

If you dont feel particularly competant in this kind of thing yourself then please get an engineer to do it for you. theres no point in taking risks.

if on the other hand you do feel competant check on the following items:
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING THOUGH PLEASE GROUND YOURSELF. STATIC ENERGY IS BAD NEWS FOR PC COMPONENTS.

1. power and data cable connections from your motherboard to devices such as the hard disk drive and floppy disk drive etc.

2. Memory is seated properly in its slots. memory is probably one of the easiest things that can work loose from a motherboard.

3. Video/Graphics card. Ensure that this is seated properly in it rightful slot. If this works loose then no end of problems can occur especially your problem with the blank screen. Also check that any power cables etc are secured ok to the card and to the board.

4. check also for other damage to the motherboard such as cracks (you might not be able to see these) and connectors having worked themselves loose.

let me know if this helps;)

[JANINE]

Read these user manuals that i found for the dell XPS systems. if i discover anything else i'll tell you

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insxps/

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insXPSG2/en/index.htm

[skibumvt]

Hi Janine

Thnx for the suggestions. I can probably do the checking when I get time. I took her hd out and put it in my computer -- it works fine, so that's not the problem.

Do you know what the 4 beeps are telling me just before it shuts down?

It seems to start the boot process normally -- fan is going, hd is going etc. then the beeps and shutdown. It gets to a point...in the mobo(?) and won't go any further...that's all I can figure. Then again, what do I know!!

I'll keep working on it...tho, will find her another temporary 'puter' to use. Too bad ... it was right in the middle of a big project ...at least we got the data out.

Thnx again.

SKibumvt

it sounds as though when she dropped it she may have knocked some things loose or damaged some components which unfortnately could also include the motherbaord.

If you dont feel particularly competant in this kind of thing yourself then please get an engineer to do it for you. theres no point in taking risks.

if on the other hand you do feel competant check on the following items:
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING THOUGH PLEASE GROUND YOURSELF. STATIC ENERGY IS BAD NEWS FOR PC COMPONENTS.

1. power and data cable connections from your motherboard to devices such as the hard disk drive and floppy disk drive etc.

2. Memory is seated properly in its slots. memory is probably one of the easiest things that can work loose from a motherboard.

3. Video/Graphics card. Ensure that this is seated properly in it rightful slot. If this works loose then no end of problems can occur especially your problem with the blank screen. Also check that any power cables etc are secured ok to the card and to the board.

4. check also for other damage to the motherboard such as cracks (you might not be able to see these) and connectors having worked themselves loose.

let me know if this helps;)

[JANINE]

I dont know what your BIOS is on that particular machine but this is what i've managed to track down on the basis of the info you have given me.

AMI BIOS - THE SYSTEM CLOCK/TIMER IC HAS FAILED OR THERE IS A MEMORY ERROR IN THE 1ST BANK OF MEMORY

AWARD BIOS - 1 LONG 3 SHORT BEEPS - NO VIDEO CARD OR BAD VIDEO RAM.

DELL - NOW THERES LOADS

1-2 NO VIDEO CARD DETECTED
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM CHECKSUM ERROR
1-3-1-1 DRAM REFRESH ERROR
1-3-1-3 KEYBOARD CONTROLLER ERROR
1-3-3-1 MEMORY DEFECTIVE OR NOT PRESENT
1-3-4-1 RAM FAILIURE ON LINE
1-3-4-3 RAM FAILIURE ON DATA BITS XXX OF LOW BYTE ON MEMORY BUS
1-4-1-1 RAM FAILIURE ON DATA BITS XXX OF HIGH BYTE ON MEMORY BUS.

Hope this helps

tis good you salvaged the data anyway.

[escabar1223]

Just put a new hdd in my computer and it gave me 3 long beeps and shut down! Making me very angry, tried to put old hd back but nothing seems to work... everytime I hear those beeps I want to stab my computer in the motherboard and light it on fire. It's supposed to be a keyboard problem, but i've tried everything with my keyboard port. Any ideas, besides counseling

[rmrd]

Usually not the likely culprit, but I've seen it before -- make sure that the processor is seated correctly after the drop.