Bad mother board or power supply?

System: Dell Inspirion 2205 (All-in-one)
4GB mem, Win 7, 500gb hard drive

I have a short version and long version in case someone needs more details.

Short Version:

The system will not boot so I am trying to isolate the problem to either the mother board or power supply. (I replaced the battery on the mother board to rule the battery out). So my question is if I remove both 2gb memory modules and boot the system, shouldn't I hear at least one beep? I did just that and the system does not beep at all. I also tried booting with one mem module in Bank 0 and still no beep. And of course I swapped the modules around etc and tried various combinations. Bottom line is that it does not beep.

So is it safe to assume that the mother board is bad?

Longer version:

Normal boot up was that I push the power button and after a second or two the power button light would go from orange to white and the system would boot up.

Then the other day, no lights came on at all when pushing the power button and the system wouldn't boot. So I replaced the battery on the mother board.

Now, when pushing the power button, I can hear the fan going and the hard drive start to spin up. After mabye 2 or 3 secs the drive stops spinning and the light remains a steady orange but the system won't boot.

That is when I removed all of the memory modules etc as I stated above in the short version.

I don't have a spare power supply/adapter to test and don't really want to buy one if the problem is definitely the mother board. Yeah, I could buy one, test it and return it, but that just isn't the right thing to do

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Zeek

 

One beeps indicates a "successful" POST (power-on self test). You would have to have at least one stick of RAM to complete POST.

Do you used to hear beeps? Note that many systems today don't have internal system speakers.

Because everything depends on good power, you really need to swap in another PSU to make sure that is not the problem. Perhaps you can borrow one from a trusted friend. Or take your PSU to a shop for testing. Most charge only a nominal fee, or will do it for free.

Lights, drive motors and fans spinning only suggest partial power. The PSU must output +12VDC, +5VDC and +3.3VDC.

Swapping PSU is much easier than motherboards. And finding a replacement board is not always that easy and can affect your Windows license if you do not find an exact replacement.

Note this could also be your CPU.

 

Did you pull *everything* off the board - drives, expansion cards, usb headers..leave only the CPU & case wires.

You can do a simple power supply test, read here
http://www.howtogeek.com/172933/how-can-i-test-my-computers-power-supply/

 

Thanks Digerati -- Good point about the inernal speakers. The system isn't mine so I don't know if it used to beep or not. This system doesn't have an internal power supply that I could see, just an external. And I did try one stick Ram.

Thanks foogoo -- I didn't pull everything off the board. Why would I want to? Thanks for that link. Its a good one!!

The owner of this pc doesn't want to spend any money on it. In our area, it costs anywhere from $50 - $75 just to bring your pc through the door. Heck, they almost make as much as the plumbers in our area)

 

Because you are troubleshooting the computer. I had a co-worker bring a dead PC he took to Staples Easy Tech. No POST, nothing, I pulled all the expansion cards and the system Post'd, had a bad NIC.
Troubleshooting something that has many parts you need to isolate the parts.

Another example, my friend had a system that would not POST, found out it was the case's USB port was shorted, the owner must of forced the USB device in the wrong way and broke / bent the pins creating a short.

Troubleshooting 101 - start with the basics.

 

Wow foogoo. I would never had thought a bad nic or USB would stop a pc from booting. That's real good to know.

Thanks!!

Zeek