[Jerold]

WinXP Pro SP3
Dell Precision Workstation 650
Dual Xeon Processor

System was running fine this morning when I shut it down before I left for work. Replace the video card the other day. System was running fine after the card upgrade.

Came home tonight and tried to boot, but nothing....

Took out the new card and put the old video card back in.
When the power button is pressed, everything seems to operate normally (fans start up, HDD spins, power light on the monitor...), but the screen stays black.

Went to the dell site to check onthe diagnostic light codes.
Power light is solid yellow and 3 of the 4 diagnostic lights are yellow.
The dell site says that the BIOS isn't executing. Kinda makes sense since I'm not getting ANYTHING on the screen. It also says to "Ensure that the microprocessor is seated correctly and restart the computer."

I did add the 2nd CPU about 2 months ago without a hitch and it's been been running fine until tonight.

I've never come across this. What do I need to do?

 

[Jerold]

Came across an article regarding the Dell 530 and the BIOS corrupted and resetting it.
Might as well give it a try... I found the system board diagram for the 650, so I've located teh RTCRST jumper pin that is used to reset the BIOS.

Anyone know why the BIOS would get corrupted (specifically based on the system info that I described in my initial post)?

 

[arin15]

you might have burned your motherboard while changing out the graphic card. and corrupted bios is not common, atleast i dont think so.

 

[Jerold]

I tried the Jumper pin reset that I posted in my 2nd post and it didn't work.

If the MB is fried, will it still power up the way it does? all the fans are working and the little light that says that AUX power is avail is ON.

Is it possible to recover the BIOS at this point or do I need a new MB?

The system is at least 7 years old, but other than this latest issue, the system ran fine.

I had to upgrade the video card cause we are running software that needed more video memory than the original 128MB card had.

 

[Riskyone101]

Welcome to TSF,

Ok first you should of not changed the graphic card while pc was not able to bootup
this is why your getting the black screen now.

1. Unplug the power cord to pc
2. remove video card and put the other one back that was in pc last
3. Boot into safemode F8 (tapping it when pc is first turned on)
4. Once at the desktop, remove video driver from add/remove program
Check the device manager and uninstall it there too if showing.
5. reboot pc in normal mode
6. once at desktop, reinstall the video card driver

However, if the screen is black and unable to bootup then:

what are you running:

video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
wattage

To get the power supply info - simply open up side panel of pc and look at the psu unit
itself to get the info from it.

 

[Jerold]

Welcome to TSF,

Ok first you should of not changed the graphic card while pc was not able to bootup
this is why your getting the black screen now.

1. Unplug the power cord to pc
2. remove video card and put the other one back that was in pc last
3. Boot into safemode F8 (tapping it when pc is first turned on)
4. Once at the desktop, remove video driver from add/remove program
Check the device manager and uninstall it there too if showing.
5. reboot pc in normal mode
6. once at desktop, reinstall the video card driver

However, if the screen is black and unable to bootup then:

what are you running:

video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
wattage

To get the power supply info - simply open up side panel of pc and look at the psu unit
itself to get the info from it.

video card
Nividia GeForce 6200 AGP
cpu
Dual 3.20GHz Xeon with VRM Module
(2nd CPU Installed 2months ago)

m/board
OEM - Dell Precision 650 Dual Xeon Motherboard 0F1262 [/SIZE][/SIZE]
ram
4GB (Specs unkown at this time)[/SIZE]
power supply
DELL OEM - Probably 460W (Specs unknow at this time -It's a self contained PSU that fits to the bottom of the case and not the box that you normally see)[/SIZE]
brand
wattage[/SIZE]

I'm at work now, so I can't get the details for most.
When I tried resetting the BIO and pulled the MB Battery, I noticed that the battery was a DL2032, I replaced it a while ago with what I had on hand. SHould it be a CR2032? I can't remember and don't have the original battery.

 

[Riskyone101]

The psu is the problem here.

Need a quality 550 watt psu here for what you are running.

examples here:
Antec
Corsair
Thermaltake

Heres an article on how to replace psu
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/362

Heres an article to read for information:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html

Note: you may want to go to a 750 watt psu, this will give you the room in case you want to upgrade your video card to a more powerfull one as to not have to rebuy a psu again.

 

[Jerold]

The psu is the problem here.

Need a quality 550 watt psu here for what you are running.

examples here:
Antec
Corsair
Thermaltek

Like I said, it's an older system and the PSU is a self contained unit that attaches to the bottom of the case and not the typical box type in the rear upper of the case.

I don't know if it's a 460W or higher. It is/was a pretty powerful machine and meant to be a server.

Would it still be a PSU problem even if the system ran fine for about 2 days before this happened?

I found a 650W PSU for this machine on ebay and a replacement MB as well.

I'd like to exhaust any options to diagnose the issue now before I buy any replacements, but I need to get this back up and running as it is one of my work PC's.

 

[Riskyone101]

yes it still can be a psu problem.

what is the brand name of the psu that you found on ebay?

 

[Jerold]

It's a DELL. I've never really seen these types before where it isn't just a box.
I emailed them to see if they have anything bigger - maybe 750W.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Dell-650-Pr...ryZ44949QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

What should I make of the diagnostic lights - Solid Yellow on the power button and ABC are yellow on teh diagnostic light panel. The manual says that this is the BIOS not executing and/or something on the MB (microprocessor) not seating properly.

I've never had a problem with the CPU after I installed the 2nd one.

If I end up getting a PSU, should I replace the MB as well? I found sites about replacing the BIOS Chip, but I don't want to be messing with BIOS chips. I'd rather go about swapping the MB.

 

[Jerold]

One thing that I figure I'll add...

The original video card was an ATI FireGL (something like that), 128MB Memory, AGP.
It had a little wire connected to it from the power supply (a 4-pin gizmo). I guessed that it was for the little fan on the card.

The new one is an Nvidia GeForce 6200 512MB AGP. It doesn't have a fan, but a heat sink and also isn't connected to the PSU with that little cord, although it does have a 2-pin connector on it that I didn't use. I thought that it was for a fan if I want to replace the heat sink with a fan.

 

[Riskyone101]

Before installing the Nvidia did you make sure that all ATI driver
and software was removed from pc?

This would cause a conflict also here, but you still need a 550 watt psu min.
since you added a cpu and the video card to the pc.

Note: On this paticular video card the heatsink is fine for cooling
but if you want to or if you do alot of gaming then install a fan
just below card, it will improve the life of the video card.

 

[Jerold]

No - I didn't remove the drivers for the old card. Didn't know I had to.
I just replaced it and booted up and installed the new drivers from the CD.

The question now can I somehow get the system up even if I can't get a stronger PSU?

How about this workaround...??

I use ACRONIS True Image to backup my system and I have a current one with the old card installed on the system.

Can I take the HDD or any HDD and restore that disk image to a HDD using my work PC?
I can just restore it like it was a 2nd HDD.

Then, with the old card in the PC, reinstall the HDD with the old system image on it and boot from there. The PC should think that the PC is in the same state it was when the image was created (old card and all).

Does this sound viable?

Any word on the battery question - DL2032 vs CR2032 for the MB?

 

[Riskyone101]

Did you read this article?

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html

Remove everything plugged into motherboard cd roms, harddrive, remove any extra
add in pci cards, use 1 stick of ram in first slot, remove 1 cpu also.
Turn on pc, what happens now?

Another idea here: Use linux or knoppix to boot from and remove the drivers for the video, all of them.

I apologize on the battery question, I missed that, ty for bringing that up.
Use: CR2032

 

[Jerold]

Just read the article...

I'll have to try your instructions when I get home.

Will post results.

Thanks.

Is there any chance that my image restore option might work with the old card in the system after the restore?

OK -

Before I left the office, I took an old 500GB HDD and restored the system image from about 1.5months ago.

Got home and installed the HDDs into the PC along with the old video card. Checked that everything is seated properly and also bought a new CR2032 battery for the MB on the way home. It's a radio shack (renata) model - don't know if this makes a difference or not.

Pressed the power button and the system booted up.

During POST, I got this message:

ALERT! System battery voltage is low
F1 to continue, F2 to enter Setup.

Not sure why this message came up with a new battery installed. Maybe I'll pick up a duracell or something?

Entered Setup and corrected the system Date and Time, then exited.
Booted into WinXP fine.

Updated the NOD32 and rebooted again. Went back into Setup to browse the memory info page and when it got to the AGP line, I was able to toggle the memory. It was set to 128MB, but it goes up to 256MB. Does this mean that the MB can only take up to 256MB of video memory or that the installed memory card can be toggled to operate at different memory settings?

If 256MB is the max, then that must be why the GeForce with 512MB stopped the PC in it's tracks. Do you agree?

I'm running this new program that is Video memory intensive and that is why the card upgrade. Can you verify for me that my MB can only take up to 256MB? If so, I'll upgrade to that so I can at least work a little more efficiently.

I keep a running log of what I doto the system as I install/uninstall/config stuff, so I just need to go thru the list and update accordingly.
I'm tempted to try the original HDD just to see what would happen, but I don't want to push my luck. I'll have to create another Image Backup when all is up to date, then restore that back onto the other HDD.
This one that's in there now is a Maxtor 500GB @ 5400rpm. The other one is a Seagate 500GB @7200rpm - both SATA. Although the 5400rpm HDD might run a tad bit cooler.

 

[Riskyone101]

ALERT! System battery voltage is low
F1 to continue, F2 to enter Setup.

This is normal after installing a new battery. The battery is fine also.

Yes the board can support up to 256MB video memory

If you want a more powerful pc then I would suggest building one.
Not saying annything wrong with this pc though.

If your interested in what games can be played on your system,
you can go here:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

 

[Jerold]

Thanks for the help.

I was trying to figure out why it would boot up with the old system image restored to the other HDD like I did...

Could it have been the battery?
I'm not seeing that the contents of the HDD would affect the PC's POST. i figure it would at least get past the POST and maybe into windows and then the graphics card would'nt let the video display properly and then cause the problems.

Or does the incompatiblity of the 512 card and the MB cause the problem from the start? It ran for 2 days before it went....

I considering picking up a 256MB GeForce. Should I go into SETUP and manually change the video information to 256MB before I install or is that something that happens automatically when ir sees the card?

I would like to build my own custom PC eventually. I can probably hold onto the 512 card, but I'm sure my eventual spec will need a much better card.
This PC is my old work PC that I took home to work on after I upgraded to a Gaming dekstop at work to run our CAD/rendering software. Even with a dual 512MB card, this program runs sluggish and crashes the system.

 

[Riskyone101]

before installing the video card, make sure you uninstall any previous video drivers
put video card in and enter the bios F2 (tapping it) as pc turns on to bootup
change the setting for the video card to 256MB.
At the desktop, install the driver for the video card
reboot pc.

Go here for the video driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

 

[Jerold]

Hey, Riskyone101.

I stopped by a local PC shop and picked up another EVGA GeForce card but in 256MB.

Did what you told me - uninstalled all ATI FireGL related software/drivers, then installed the new card abd booted into SETUP to set it to 256MB (it turned out to be a MANUAL setting on the memory config page in setup). booted into windows and tried to install the drivers. Wouldn't let me at first and rebooted a few times. Then I went back into setup and noticed that it said the no optical drives are installed.

Cracked the case open and reseated all cords to the CD-Roms and just in case, removed the MB battery and reinstalled.

PC booted up as soon as I put the plug back into the case - didn't have to press the power button...??
SETUP indicated the CD drives were back online and booted into WinXP - installed the drivers - congif'd the display and rebooted for good luck.

Went back into SETUP and had to reset the clock/date and I noticed that once I hit esc to get out of the sub-screen, it automatically exits setup and starts the boot process.

Is there a setting that I may have toggled OFF to ask me to "SAVE then exit Setup of Discard changes" like it used to? I booted into Setup a few times with the same results.

Everything seems to running fine, but strange why that happens now.

____

On another note:

you mentioned that I may want to consider building a custom system and I spoke to one of the salesman in the shop tonight about my recent issues. I asked what it would cost to build a PC that is on the higher end and specifically gaming as that setup works well with my work software. I mentioned $4000 and he said with that budget that I could go ALL high end on all components. He said that his PC is around $3k, liquid cooled with all the bells and whistles already. He agreed that DELL just over charges for their machines now since my XPS710 that I got at work a few years ago was $5k+.

Although, I really like the DELL XPS 700 series cases and they are fairly readily available on ebay. Can that case be used for the case for a custom build? Salesguy said that Dell might make them proprietary or BTX and he only carried ATX. I thought BTX was the latest greatest MB route to go (read about them awhile ago).

These cases:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-XPS-710-H2...2|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

He said that I could go with the new i7 processors, SLI video, even up to 24GB RAM (but 6-8 is more realistic). HDD's and all the other types of components are relatively cheap. i figure that the CPU, GPU, RAM and PSU, oh and the cool looking case are the most expensive and most important factors.

anyway, lets see how this 256MB card runs....

 

[Riskyone101]

Well glad to hear to you have things sorted out.

Let me refer you to here for specific information on building a gaming pc:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f255/

please mark thread solved under thread tools tab near top of this page, ty.
unless there is anything else that I can help you with?

Note: I could build an awesome gaming pc for less than 2000.00
All bran new parts. (newegg.com & geeks.com & tigerdirect.com)