Dell Dimwnsion 3100 Wont boot

[cantthinkof1]

Hi all,

I have a Dell Dimension 3100 service tag bnrq42j.

Its an Intel P4 2.8ghz machine with 512Mb DDR2 Ram. Today I stuck in 2x1Gb ram today and the pc would not boot.

No problem I thought, the ram is not compatible so I put in the old ram. PC still wont boot.

I can get to the bios and the bios is not reporting anything amiss. It sees the original ram as 2x256Mb and the new ram as 2x1Gb.
All 3 hdds + DVD rom seen by bios aswell.
However once the bios finishes.......nothing. No cursor, no bsod, nothing.

Dell diagnostic lights 123 are on and I hear 2 beeps. According to the dell site 123 means "Another Error" has occured.

What I have tried so far:

• Switched back to original ram
• Tried individual sticks in each of the 2 dimm's
• Disconnected each and all drives
• Removed pci usb card
• Reset bios to factory default
• Tried booting from cd rom

This was working perfectly untill I changed the ram

Any ideas anyone

[CWH]

You haven't disturbed another connection while working inside your PC?
Also, the beeps; Dells usually beep in groups - one beep,two beeps, then one beep for example.
They are shown here. (Bottom of the page).
If you don't already have it, download and run the Diagnostics CD, this might give you some other info.

[cantthinkof1]

I must have done something. I can't believe I borked it just taking out the ram.

I have dowloaded the dell diagnostics but if its a bootable cd it creats I am goosed as I cant get beyond POST

[GoNz0]

double check the hard drive connections and unplug the other drives while you troubleshoot it

[vti_786]

try this:

unplug everything (mains psu, any usb items like mouse).

take the battery out

then press the power on button on the laptop and keep hold of it for 30 seconds.

then plug the mains psu in and try the laptop now, still no battery in.

this gets rid of static charge apparantly

[cantthinkof1]

I fixed it.

I had the pc connected to a 37" LCD TV. After the Dell Logo/Bios finished the screen goes blank. It was not showing me that the MBR was missing hence no boot.

I connected the pc to a proper monitor and I saw the error.

Now how the MBR got deleted/corrupted is a mystery. But I ran the windows disk and fixed it. All is well in the world.

Thanks to CWH, GONZO & VTI 786 for taking the time to reply

[CWH]

It's good to hear how things get fixed!