Resurrecting old Dell XPS..Need Help & Advice

[OCX600RR]

Hey guys/gals,

Tonight I went through some stuff in my cellar and found my old Dell XPS (Gen.2) sitting down there. Just so you know, here's the story behind it.

Got it back in 2003, didn't know squat about computers. At the end of 2004 or early 2005 I started messing around with the hardware. The XPS had a very unique fanless heatsink cooling the cpu and I started messing with that. Well as newbie as I was I think I forgot to put the heatsink back on the CPU and powered the system on. Within a couple seconds I could smell something burning and realized wtf just happened. So I turned it off, opened the case. No physical damage to the CPU, but some sort of wire started melting and burning. I replaced it a few weeks later but the system would refuse to boot.

So lets jump forward 4 years.

I just brought it upstairs and figured wth...see if anything works. I sold the RAM on eBay a couple years ago because I thought the whole system was fried. RAM was OK. So now I just plopped in the Radeon 9800 and decided to plug the system in. To my amazement, the system turned on, but monitor was in standby mode. The northbridge got very warm but the CPU was cold to the touch. Keep in mind no RAM so I'm not sure if a system will refuse to boot to the BIOS screen without any RAM lol.

So I'm asking you guys, what do you think is fried? The mobo obviously turned on, but the CPU was cold to the touch even after 5 minutes of the system on. You think the CPU is fried? Again, no physical damage to the cpu nor does it look like anything fried around it.

[inCore]

You need at least one RAM stick to post. Hard to say before you try it with some memory. :)

[OCX600RR]

Alright found a 512MB DDR333 stick in another system and tried to turn the system on. The motherboard has a green light once power cable is plugged in. When I press the power button, the PSU and system fans spin up as well as the graphics card fan. Monitor stays in standby mode. The video card & northbridge get warm but CPU is cold to the touch.

Would this eliminate the Motherboard as being fried? Again, no physical damage to Cpu, but by staying cold to the touch would it probably be a dead cpu?

Just pulled the cpu and checked the specs...SL6WK which is a 3.0GHz P4 w/800MHz FSB. I could have sworn to death I had the 3.06GHz Northwood which has a 533Mhz bus speed. I can't remember if I tried to replace the cpu but could this be a reason why the computer doesn't post?

[inCore]

I looked up some similar post on the internet like yours and there could be several reasons for your problems. I personally had the same problem half a year ago or so after I shoved an LED light behind my motherboard whilst the PC was on. :p:

I RMAd the motherboard, only to find out that I had blown the RAM because I shoved the LED in right underneath the RAM and I apparently touched the connectors on the other side of the motherboard that were directly connected to the RAM.

Still, in you're case I'm assuming that your RAM works if you got it from another system. Another post on the internet described similar symptoms and he suspected a broken CPU. By him it turned out to be the motherboard.

Some people even suggested changing your power supply, so if you have one lying around I'd give that a go at first. Other than that, it's down to either your motherboard or your CPU. If you have a motherboard speaker that emits beep codes, that would be a good thing to have a look at, although I'm no expert with what each code means. Google is your friend in this case. These speakers are usually removable so if one of your builds has one, I'm sure you can take it out and test it on your XPS.

Hope I helped at all, if you have a friend with an old CPU, give him a ring. About you changing CPUs making a difference, I don't think it would. Although, with OEM motherboards used by companies such as Dell, one never knows. Have a look what motherboard you have (usually says on the motherboard itself, as I'm sure you know) and look it up on the manufacturers homepage and see what it's compatible with.

[OCX600RR]

Thanks again for your reply! I haven't tried a different PSU, I'll have to give that a go. I do have a speaker on the motherboard but it hasn't beeped once, even when there was no RAM or CPU installed. Other than that the motherboard seems to power up fine though.

The motherboard actually doesn't say what type it is, but I've googled around and it looks like I have this one - http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=MB4DELGH001&eq=&Tp=

[inCore]

I just looked up some more information for you and apparently the Post order of a motherboard is such that it checks the CPU first (I think it goes CPU - RAM - VGA). If there is something with the CPU, the motherboard or the PSU it won't beep, only for RAM and VGA troubles, and since the CPU is first in the cycle and there appears to be problems there, it won't beep.

The motherboard that you linked to should be compatible, as far as I know. Both CPUs that you mentioned are Northwood CPUs, both have hyperthreading, the 3.0 has a higher BUS speed and a lower multiplier than the 3.06 but they're otherwise the same.

Report back when you've tried with a different PSU. :up: