Dell Inspiron 530 Will Not Power On.

[hhallett]

A friend of my Wife asked me to check out her computer as it had stopped working. After she described what occurred just before the failure, I believe she had a power loss. Her telephone, printer and cable MODEM recovered after a few moments, but the computer did not. She has a Inspiron 530 desktop. It does not power on. After pressing the start button the green light on the power supply goes on, the power indicator in the start button lights amber, as does a yellow light on one corner of the motherboard. All of the cooling fans spin, the DVD drive will tray out/in when I press the button and I can feel the platters in the hard drive spinning. But that's all. I get nothing that indicates that the computer is even running its POST. No beeps, nothing on the monitor showing the BIOS has started, nothing.

I disconnected the hard drive - no difference.

I disconnected the DVD drive - no difference.

I disconnected both drives at the same time - no difference.

I removed the RAM sticks - no difference.

I had a look at the front USB ports and the rear cable connectors but found no bent pins or anything else that looked untoward. (The whole unit has been kept pretty clean and is in a place where the sockets and connectors wouldn't easily be damaged.)

I disconnected everything connected to the mobo (a FoxConn G33M02) except the p/s (of course), the CPU and the video cable - no difference.

I strongly suspect that the mobo has failed.

Is there anything else I should do before purchasing a replacement mobo? Or, should I consider purchasing a replacement p/s along with a mobo, just in case?

Regards,
Harry
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson

 

[xwb]

Don't know if you are in a place where there are fuses in the plugs. That might be worth checking if there is one.

 

[rclarke250]

If you suspect the power supply, and don't have access to a costly load tester, Swap in a power supply from another PC, it may not fit the dell, and you may have to get creative with it's placement, possibly even pulling the board out of the case and setting everything on a card board box to see if it will post. If not, it's the board.

 

[goombawaho]

I strongly suspect that the mobo has failed.

Power failure + no beeps when all memory is removed = just about certain you are correct.

The only other thing you could do would be to attach a power supply borrowed from somewhere. I would NOT buy a power supply, just a mobo. And honestly, I don't know that it's worth replacing a mobo on an older PC like an Inspiron 530.

 

[hhallett]

Thanks all. No, I don't have a compatible P/S to try it with and the owner does not want a new PC if she can avoid having to buy one. So, I'm mobo shopping.

Regards,
Harry
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson

 

[goombawaho]

As I said, probably a bad financial decision, but.................

These guys often times have OEM mobo. Right one??

http://www.ascendtech.us/dell-g679r-inspiron-530-motherboard_i_mbdelg679rin530.aspx

 

[BadBigBen]

Don't know if this is still valid for the problem, meaning OP may have it already fixed, but most PSU's out there today have a circuitry that prevents power to components when it detects a loss of power.

To reset the PSU, all you need to do is to remove the power cable and hold the PWR ON button for a prolonged time, usually 10 or more seconds.

Ben
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