Dell Dimension 4300 No Boot

[napa]

I don't have one, but I may be able to borrow one. This may take a day or two while I exercise my scrounging skills.

[Mobo]

We will be here..

[napa]

OK. I actually went about the video card thing in a round-about manner. I put my card in a computer with a known defective card. The other computer worked fine then. I'm guessing its not the video card?

[Mobo]

Ok so you removed all pci cards and the video card and memory sticks are good.


Its gotta be a hardware issue since you said you replaced the motherboard. Unplug the cdrom, dvd rom and floppy drives. Try it..If still nothing then im afraid the only part left is the processor.

[napa]

I'm back. I've had an event that throws another wrinkle into my mystery. As a last gasp effort I disconnected most of the plug-in connectors and cleaned them with a cleaning spray. Put everything back together, and it still didn't boot. In a fit of frustration I gave the power supply a smack on the side. Immediately there was a change in pitch from the power box and the boot sequence picked up where it had left off! I can now get into "set up" or "start up". However, now it won't go past this point. I reset the parameters in "set up" with no success. I tried booting off a CD with no success.

Now every-time I get to the "set up"/"start up" screen the computer resets and starts going through the startup sequence again. When I checked the event log found a string of entries that said "CPU0 Temperature" "Out of Range."

Would a bad power supply cause this problem? Thoughts/suggestions?

BTW: Both fans are operating.

[Mobo]

Did you put thermal paste on the processor ?

If not then look at this http://www.cyberanswers.org/forum/videos.php

[napa]

No. I left the manufacturer's thermal pad on.

[napa]

OK. This darn thing has now become a challenge. To date I have replaced or substituted: Power supply, memory stick, video card, mother board, CPU, and monitor. I have removed the mother board and put it on the bench to to rule out any shorts. Nothing helped. I now have a computer that will not even post. There is power to the MB judging by the little green light. When I press the the start button there is a faint click (from the MB?), the fans fire up and the HD winds up. But there is no post and nothing on the screen.

Thoughts? I hate being bested by an inanimate object.

[Mobo]

So we cannot rule out the processor yet...

[napa]

The 2nd MB I bought already had a processor installed. I guess it is possible I have 2 bad processors...