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hi all,
I have a dell dimension 4600.worked last night fine tried to turn it on today and nothing.no power on at all tried everything as i am pretty comp savvy.opened the hood and only a cr8 /led was lit on motherboard.I don't think it is the kama sutra virus as I don't open fwd emails or attachments.It may be the power supply i'm hoping,as there was absolutley nothing happening, no HD errors nothing.Anyone have a clue? I'm using the comp i built(should have just kept using it)right now.any suggestions.no beeps nothing!!I would think I would get some kinda hard drive error if the PS was't bad.
so far this year my TV went 1/31/05 ,my jointer motor burned up last night and now my PC today . bought a new jointer today and went to register the warranty and nothing.any help would be great I am running out of funds.
thanks
Tim
oh the steelers won as I am from PA. but that doesn't get me any bonus money
PSS I lost everything if I can't fix it ,pics,password to online bills everything....AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH TimDet38753.9446990741

Tim, I don't think a virus is your problem. Is the power supply running (fan blowing out the back)? I have had to replace a power supply on occasion without any warning and it is really inexpensive. It might be worth a try just to save your data. Hope this helps.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I hope everything turns out ok for you Tim, i wish i knew how to fix your comp problems.

Serge

i was thinking the PS just trying to spend the least amount of cash,I'm praying it is the PS as all of my guit pics are on the HD.My stupidity stopped me from backing up online I know better but nevr had any problems before as I am a very cautious user. I have anti virus Software and anti spyware software and do regular scans.I want to cry right now!!!dang I am stubborn.by inexpensive I'm thinking $100 or so i hope.
I appreciate the replies.It's only 2 yrs old.I have to dig out the warranty info, but I think it has passed.

Tim
Dan no power supply fan is dead nadda zero no power at all when I push the power button.TimDet38753.9988310185

Tim

It might be as simple as the switch. Try checking your manual and jumping the set of pins(on the motherboard) for the power switch if it comes on then is the switch if not then it probably is the PS

Hope that helps be careful if you replace the power supply as older dells used a specialy wired PS if a 4600 is new (cant remember all the model #s) you can use any sufficent PS you can get one as cheap as $20 on sale at compUSA what you can also do if you cant or dont want to do that but want to save your data pull the hard drive and put it on the chain of your back up computer and fire it up and you should be able to retrive your stuff.

Zac

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Zac

Anchorage Alaska

Finshed my 1st! See #1 here

yes zac that is a thought I had as well,I think i'll try to put the HD in my older comp and hope it sees the HD an copy the data to a CD and transfer that way, but it pisses me off that it is only 2 yrs old @1,200$,I just want to get my data,I could care less about the computer.

Swapping out drives should be fine. By bet's the PSU; right now, I'm on the verge of replacing the motherboard (I can't quite bear to replace the entire guts of this machine, but the SATA controller for the two data drives is clearly dying, as it occasionally just drops the drives, quits working, etc. Other drives? Fine)

Bah, computer hardware. Fickle stuff, no matter what OS you're running.

Tim,
my thought too was to remove the drive and put it in your working
computer. Just remember to change the jumper on the pins to "slave"
mode instead of "master." Otherwise your computer might have trouble
deciding which drive to boot from.
Craig

Tim, Power supplies are cheap and go out often, and if the sequence of events occurred as you described, then your data is not at risk. Just get a new power supply and DON'T skimp. It is SO worth it to have a nice, powerful (400 watt) quiet power supply. Do not, however, mess around with it anymore as you may get some intermittent power which is not good - just replace it now.

Bad thing is that Dell may require some special Dell power supply but that isn't likely. Also if you're not so computer savvy switching out a power supply is bone head easy meaning (not that you're a bone head) that it shouldn't cost much for labor.

Hope that helps.

larry

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Thank You and Best To All

Yup. computers are fickle beasts. But I look at it this way, helps keep me it in perspective when one of these things betrays me by crashing or otherwise not doing what I expect it to NOW:

4,000,000,000 CPU clock cycles EVERY SECOND
300,000,000 bytes hard drive data transferred EVERY SECOND (SATA protocol spec)

for way under $1,000.

Makes them look pretty reliable doesn't it?

Oh back to the thread - Tim, PS is my first guess. If it is, your data is probably OK. Sounds like you might have spikes in your AC power delivery, with all the electric stuff that's been dying on you. Happened here a few years ago, cost us a lot in our computer lab. It was the power company changing power delivery around the grid on weekends. Come Monday, we'd have one or two dead PSs.
burbank38754.6001736111

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Tim,

I don't know if this applies to your situation or not, but the same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago and it was a bad APC I was hooked up to. Once I plugged my computer into a regular outlet, it booted up fine. If you are using an APC you might check that.

i appereciate all of the responses.I talked to the tech guy at work today and yes the whole IT department says it's the PS.Now I have to figure out if I can go to a local comp store and buy one off the shelf or if I have to buy a dell PS.At least the comp I built is still running strong after 6 yrs..
thank you guys for the help. I am a bit more relaxed about it today.Burbank I'm sure it is all coincedental as I have every thing protected with hi joules surge protectors.everything that has died is well past it's life expectancy.
thanks guys
Tim

update
put a new power supply in my Dell 4600 tonight everything seems OK.Thanks to everyone for the guidance.
wow what a relief.got it for $39.00 480 watts FREE shipping from pc911.com

Tim