Jut now, the old Dell XT machine my wife has been using has developed a problem. She shut down to reboot. Now it comes up only "Entering Power save." and does not boot.

Is this one of those unplug for a minute type issues?

Any ideas, help, etc?

TIA

Have you checked to see if the lithium coin type battery that powers the bios boot memory needs replacement?

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Have you checked to see if the lithium coin type battery that powers the boot memory needs replacement?

Didn't know there was one. Where might it be found?

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Have you checked to see if the lithium coin type battery that powers the boot memory needs replacement?

Didn't know there was one. Where might it be found?

It'll be a coin type battery visible on your motherboard where it can be accessed for a change. An example:

Has it lost the boot routine?

Entering power save mode is what the monitor says when it loses the video card signal.

This is actually normal upon shutdown. Computer shuts down, monitor stays on for a few seconds, monitor detects the video signal is off, and then the monitor goes into power save and awaits for the next time the computer turns on again.

Is there an issue with the computer turning back on? What happens when you turn the computer on?

Edit: read your post more carefully.

Check the cables connecting monitor to computer. It's the monitor telling you that something is waking it up, but that it's not receiving a signal, and then going back into power save mode.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Entering power save mode is what the monitor says when it loses the video card signal.

This is actually normal upon shutdown. Computer shuts down, monitor stays on for a few seconds, monitor detects the video signal is off, and then the monitor goes into power save and awaits for the next time the computer turns on again.

Is there an issue with the computer turning back on? What happens when you turn the computer on?

Edit: read your post more carefully.

Check the cables connecting monitor to computer. It's the monitor telling you that something is waking it up, but that it's not receiving a signal, and then going back into power save mode.

It doesn’t get a signal to the monitor, but very briefly, but neither does it boot up.

I have cycled it through a few times, and even unplugged it, waited and plugged it bsck in to try again. It doesn't spin the drive to boot up.

An old CMOS battery typically will at least make it to an error screen, so we'll rule that out for now. You can, of course, take an old voltimeter to it to check to see if it's dead.

My guess is that it's either a bad power supply or the motherboard itself is shot. Either of those will present itself as a brief power up, then a rapid power off with no error screens. The "entering power save mode" screen is reported back from the monitor, so that doesn't count.

Bad memory and bad hard drives will still typically get you to the bios screen to report an error of some sort.

A power supply is easy enough to swap out, and pretty cheap--particularly if you can find one used at a swap meet, garage sale, out of another old computer, etc. The motherboard being shot makes it a total loss and you are better off finding a new computer.

If the monitor briefly wakes up, then quickly goes into power save, and you never see any messages on the screen: Sounds like something serious died. My first guess would be power supply. That's the most frequent culprit.

They're easily replaceable. Trouble is finding the right one. Dell does not make it easy.

(I see I crossed with Aeteocles.)

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

They're easily replaceable. Trouble is finding the right one. Dell does not make it easy.

(I see I crossed with Aeteocles.)

Power supplies are easy peasy. You don't need an OEM match--just something with enough wattage and enough wires coming out to plug in the mobo and hard drives...

You can just pull the old one out--it'll be labeled with the output wattage and you'll clearly see the types of connectors you'll need.

I’ve replaced power supplies before. Trouble is, the last 2 or 3 times, that didn’t fix the problem which was bad motherboard so they said at Geek Squad.

I’ve had PCs for not quite 40 years, built maybe a dozen in the early days, but the state of the art has passed me by now. I don’t recall motherboards goong bad until recently.

I may still have an unused ps around here to try.

More later.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

They're easily replaceable. Trouble is finding the right one. Dell does not make it easy.

(I see I crossed with Aeteocles.)

Power supplies are easy peasy. You don't need an OEM match...

I guess you never worked on Dells? I don't think I've ever seen one that used a standard AT, ATX or LPX PSU.

Then you go searching and find conflicting information on model compatibility, part numbers, etc.

That's one of the reasons I've switched to building my own. Got tired of dealing with Dell's screwy designs.

Hi Jim,

If you can manage to open the box and look inside while all the wires remain plugged in, please verify the fans behaviour. Better have a flashlight handy.

First you want to check that the CPU fan starts and picks up pace at boot. If it kicks in only to stop right away.... trouble.
You can also look at the PSU fan and see if it starts, doesn't or briefly tries.

Those fans can provide a hint if you have electricsl issues or not.
Simply don't believe drained battery will prevent hour machine fom booting. It should give you an error message and request you set up the bios manually or continue (usually pressing an Fkey).

While at it, check your mobo for bloated capacitors. If you were developping capacitors issues, normaly you would have experienced issues booting before. Delayed boot times.

Email me if you wish.

0-0

Thanks for those suggestions. I’ve not had the time or energy to open it up yet, but expect I will do so at some point today.

This is an old machine, albeit with a new large hard drive replaced within the last year or so. Thinking about these things, since it has either gone bad or is at risk of doing so any time, and as my wife uses iPhone and iPad, might it make sense to replace this XT machine with an Apple?

What would be an appropriate base system? She uses the desktop to keep our household accounts, write checks, print stuff, etc. We’re not gamers, power users by any means. Does that lessen the risks of viruses, etc?

I worry about moving her to W10, as I have had many frustrations and there is the old dog, new tricks phenomena.

Can it boot into the BIOS? Alt/12 or Alt/Delete or some such depending on the machine.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Thanks for those suggestions. I’ve not had the time or energy to open it up yet, but expect I will do so at some point today.

This is an old machine, albeit with a new large hard drive replaced within the last year or so. Thinking about these things, since it has either gone bad or is at risk of doing so any time, and as my wife uses iPhone and iPad, might it make sense to replace this XT machine with an Apple?

What would be an appropriate base system? She uses the desktop to keep our household accounts, write checks, print stuff, etc. We’re not gamers, power users by any means. Does that lessen the risks of viruses, etc?

I worry about moving her to W10, as I have had many frustrations and there is the old dog, new tricks phenomena.

If you do decide to go with Apple, by all means check with www.macofalltrades.com you can get some really decent refurbs. for a decent price and I think you will be happy with it and like you say her iPhone iPad will mate nicely with it. There are however a few as you put it new tricks for old dogs to learn but, I understand there is a copy of I think M/S works that is downloadable for and usable with Mac. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.

quote:

I worry about moving her to W10, as I have had many frustrations and there is the old dog, new tricks phenomena.

I hated the interface with Windows 10 with a passion. I found a free program that can be set up to make Win 10 look and act just like XP. It is called Classic Shell and I like it a lot.

http://www.classicshell.net/

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
This is an old machine, albeit with a new large hard drive replaced within the last year or so. Thinking about these things, since it has either gone bad or is at risk of doing so any time,

And it's MS-WinXP, which has been EOL'd for three years.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
and as my wife uses iPhone and iPad, might it make sense to replace this XT machine with an Apple?

<waggles hand> Maybe. You say, below, y'all aren't power users, thus, I'm not certain the improved integration will mean much. Then again: Perhaps it will. Only one way to know, really.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
What would be an appropriate base system? She uses the desktop to keep our household accounts, write checks, print stuff, etc. We’re not gamers, power users by any means.

I can't help you with that, as I'm not immersed in the World of Apple. If you're seriously considering that route, suggest you start another thread, with an explicit subject line, to attract those here who are.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Does that lessen the risks of viruses, etc?

Does what lessen the risks? Going Apple: Yes, but "lessen" is the key word. That it's used only for household account stuff? Well, if you don't use it to access things on the 'net, save software updates: Yes. TBH: Even an MS-Win box, if used only for that kind of thing--no web-browsing, email, external media access (thumb drives, etc.), etc.--would be pretty damn safe.

Then again: Note the slew of security and privacy issues with MS-Win10 and their subscription-based software. So keep that in mind.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
I worry about moving her to W10, as I have had many frustrations and there is the old dog, new tricks phenomena.

Personally, while I've never been fond of MS products, I found MS-WinXP, and especially MS-Win7 tolerable. I wouldn't touch MS-Win10 with a ten foot pole.

When my wife's MS-Win7 Pro system is EOL'd, it'll be replaced with an Apple desktop of some type. I'll likely replace my Linux desktop with the same thing so I'm thoroughly conversant with it and can lend guidance.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Collins:

quote:

I worry about moving her to W10, as I have had many frustrations and there is the old dog, new tricks phenomena.

I hated the interface with Windows 10 with a passion. I found a free program that can be set up to make Win 10 look and act just like XP. It is called Classic Shell and I like it a lot.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Windows 10 is really no big deal now days, seriously.
A LOT has happened since the original shell (desktop) change in W8.1.
Most everything is pretty much the same except the "settings" area that most do not need to touch and even that is self explanatory.

The Mrs and I lived through upgrading to Win10 with no permanent damage. I'm old so I don't even remember what changed in the process. I liked XP and Win7, but I don't remember why. Win10 has been working great for us on desktop, laptop, and tablet.

It would seem like changing to Apple might be a larger difference than moving to Win10.