Help with my Dimension 8400

gatorsno1 · 02-19-2009, 03:28 AM

Please advise. I have a Dell Dimension 8400 and not too long ago I turned it on and the screen was black, but the fans started ramping up to very high speeds. I had to power off. I found that if I wiggled the heatsink a little and powered back on it worked just fine. After weeks of doing this, I started to get a few popups on IE and tried to install Malwarebytes to get rid of it. When installing it froze to the point where I had to reboot by holding the power button in. Now I can only boot up in safe mode. When I try to boot up normally, XP will start to load and then freeze around the time my AV software is loading. I have NOD32. Is it hardware or software, or could it be my registry. I am a complete NOOB and could really use some help.

Also, i've read of people having the fan/black screen problem and it being a heatsink, processor, or motherboard. Since I would have to buy the stock mb (100 or so) how do I tell which component it is. If it is the mb, I'd rather just try to build my own system.

Thanks

gatorsno1 · 03-02-2009, 11:57 PM

Anyone?

Mcninjaguy · 03-03-2009, 12:26 AM

redo thermal paste on the heasink and make sure its firmly attached

your computer isn't booting because of a failsafe in the CPU to prevent it from melting

thermal paste
Arctic Silver 5
$7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

make sure the Heatsink is on there firmly
only need to apply a rice kernel size of paste on the CPU and spread so its a very fine layer

gatorsno1 · 03-04-2009, 01:21 AM

Thanks,

I did that and the fan problem seems to have gone away, but Windows still freezes after startup, but not in safe mode. Any idea as to what could cause this?

Mcninjaguy · 03-04-2009, 01:22 AM

what kind of freeze?

BSOD? just locks up?

gatorsno1 · 03-04-2009, 10:40 PM

Just locks up. I can see all of my desktop icons and can click around for less than a minute probably, then I cannot click on anything. I uninstalled my AV software to see if that was hanging things up, but no luck.

Mcninjaguy · 03-04-2009, 10:44 PM

have you tried a system restore?

mkshekarg · 03-04-2009, 10:49 PM

Run extended diagnostics on the computer to see what is causing this problem
Follow the steps below
Boot to f12(one time boot menu)-Select Boot to utility partition- Select Test system- Run extended test( Which would take about 4-5 hrs.

gatorsno1 · 03-05-2009, 09:37 PM

Will try the diagnostics and then restore and let you know, Thanks for the suggestions so far.

gatorsno1 · 03-06-2009, 09:09 PM

Now the fan noise and black screen are back and when they aren't, I get beeps 1-3-2, meaning a memory problem. I have reseated the sticks one at a time and it continues to do it. Could the problem be the PSU since all of the symptoms deal with a variety of components?

Mcninjaguy · 03-07-2009, 01:00 AM

make sure your CPU heatsink is securely connected

02-19-2009, 03:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Help with my Dimension 8400 Please advise. I have a Dell Dimension 8400 and not too long ago I turned it on and the screen was black, but the fans started ramping up to very high speeds. I had to power off. I found that if I wiggled the heatsink a little and powered back on it worked just fine. After weeks of doing this, I started to get a few popups on IE and tried to install Malwarebytes to get rid of it. When installing it froze to the point where I had to reboot by holding the power button in. Now I can only boot up in safe mode. When I try to boot up normally, XP will start to load and then freeze around the time my AV software is loading. I have NOD32. Is it hardware or software, or could it be my registry. I am a complete NOOB and could really use some help. Also, i've read of people having the fan/black screen problem and it being a heatsink, processor, or motherboard. Since I would have to buy the stock mb (100 or so) how do I tell which component it is. If it is the mb, I'd rather just try to build my own system. Thanks

03-02-2009, 11:57 PM	#2 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Anyone?

03-03-2009, 12:26 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 redo thermal paste on the heasink and make sure its firmly attached your computer isn't booting because of a failsafe in the CPU to prevent it from melting thermal paste Arctic Silver 5 $7 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007 make sure the Heatsink is on there firmly only need to apply a rice kernel size of paste on the CPU and spread so its a very fine layer

03-04-2009, 01:21 AM	#4 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Thanks, I did that and the fan problem seems to have gone away, but Windows still freezes after startup, but not in safe mode. Any idea as to what could cause this?

03-04-2009, 01:22 AM	#5 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 what kind of freeze? BSOD? just locks up?

03-04-2009, 10:40 PM	#6 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Just locks up. I can see all of my desktop icons and can click around for less than a minute probably, then I cannot click on anything. I uninstalled my AV software to see if that was hanging things up, but no luck.

03-04-2009, 10:44 PM	#7 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 have you tried a system restore?

03-04-2009, 10:49 PM	#8 (permalink)
mkshekarg Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2 OS: xp-Professional	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Run extended diagnostics on the computer to see what is causing this problem Follow the steps below Boot to f12(one time boot menu)-Select Boot to utility partition- Select Test system- Run extended test( Which would take about 4-5 hrs.

03-05-2009, 09:37 PM	#9 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Will try the diagnostics and then restore and let you know, Thanks for the suggestions so far.

03-06-2009, 09:09 PM	#10 (permalink)
gatorsno1 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp3	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 Now the fan noise and black screen are back and when they aren't, I get beeps 1-3-2, meaning a memory problem. I have reseated the sticks one at a time and it continues to do it. Could the problem be the PSU since all of the symptoms deal with a variety of components?

03-07-2009, 01:00 AM	#11 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Temporarily Banned Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,422 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Help with my Dimension 8400 make sure your CPU heatsink is securely connected