Dell 2350 diagnostic LED question

I am "rejuvinating" a Dell 2350 used as a system monitoring tool.

It had been exhibiting boot failures for a few months.
diagnistic LEDs were:
a b c d
y g y g

or video failure.

After consultation with Dell support, it was decided to replace the
motherboard, power supply, and RAM with parts ordered from Dell.

The rebuilt machine ran for a week or so, then failed. All LEDs dark -
most of the time. After consultation with Dell support, a new
motherboard was shipped and installed. After installation, I am now
back to:

a b c d
y g y g

When I unplug, drain power, and power up

OR

a b c d
dark dark dark y

And that code isn't listed.

The above is with all IDE/floppy device cables and power cables
disconnected.

And I have swapped the memory with a known good stick.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I am reluctant to give up as I am $300 in to Dell on the project (for
a municipality) and their 90 day parts warranty is running out. I am
running on an eBay 2350 box (mine) at the moment (and I would like to
get it back).

Thanks.

Lee

"Lee Frette" <frette@rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:bpa2c31d9tt3f5rbnecn2j7opo1ep64klo@4ax.com...
>I am "rejuvinating" a Dell 2350 used as a system monitoring tool.
>
> It had been exhibiting boot failures for a few months.
> diagnistic LEDs were:
> a b c d
> y g y g
>
> or video failure.
>
> After consultation with Dell support, it was decided to replace the
> motherboard, power supply, and RAM with parts ordered from Dell.
>
> The rebuilt machine ran for a week or so, then failed. All LEDs dark -
> most of the time. After consultation with Dell support, a new
> motherboard was shipped and installed. After installation, I am now
> back to:
>
> a b c d
> y g y g
>
> When I unplug, drain power, and power up
>
> OR
>
> a b c d
> dark dark dark y
>
> And that code isn't listed.
>
> The above is with all IDE/floppy device cables and power cables
> disconnected.
>
> And I have swapped the memory with a known good stick.
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> I am reluctant to give up as I am $300 in to Dell on the project (for
> a municipality) and their 90 day parts warranty is running out. I am
> running on an eBay 2350 box (mine) at the moment (and I would like to
> get it back).
>
> Thanks.
>
> Lee


Processor. Swap one if you can.

It's all you have left unless the motherboard is shorting out on the case
( bent tab underneath, loose screw under the board, etc...)

I wouldn't, however, put much more money into the thing.

if you want to troubleshoot it then disconnect all components and add them
in one at a time.
power supply and motherboard and case fan should produce one long beep and
one short beep (memory not installed).
add the memory and you should get yygy (microprocessor failure).
add the processor, then the floppy, and then try to boot... then add a cd
drive and try to boot from that... and so on.
could also be as silly as the power switch being defective but ask yourself
what your time is worth. probably better off buying a repalcement machine,
even if used.

"Lee Frette" <frette@rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:bpa2c31d9tt3f5rbnecn2j7opo1ep64klo@4ax.com...
>I am "rejuvinating" a Dell 2350 used as a system monitoring tool.
>
> It had been exhibiting boot failures for a few months.
> diagnistic LEDs were:
> a b c d
> y g y g
>
> or video failure.
>
> After consultation with Dell support, it was decided to replace the
> motherboard, power supply, and RAM with parts ordered from Dell.
>
> The rebuilt machine ran for a week or so, then failed. All LEDs dark -
> most of the time. After consultation with Dell support, a new
> motherboard was shipped and installed. After installation, I am now
> back to:
>
> a b c d
> y g y g
>
> When I unplug, drain power, and power up
>
> OR
>
> a b c d
> dark dark dark y
>
> And that code isn't listed.
>
> The above is with all IDE/floppy device cables and power cables
> disconnected.
>
> And I have swapped the memory with a known good stick.
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> I am reluctant to give up as I am $300 in to Dell on the project (for
> a municipality) and their 90 day parts warranty is running out. I am
> running on an eBay 2350 box (mine) at the moment (and I would like to
> get it back).
>
> Thanks.
>
> Lee

I finally got the machine to boot by thermal stressing the CPU for a
few cycles and ran (Dell) diagnostics. The FPU section of the CPU
failed. I replaced the chip with a 2GHz Celeron from the scrap bin of
a local PC shop and it's up and running. Burn in testiing it ever
since with no errors.

The repeatable LED codes for this failure were:

YGYG

from a power drained state and

dark dark dark Y

from a power off, power on state.

Thanks for the help.

Lee


On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:22:16 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
<muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>if you want to troubleshoot it then disconnect all components and add them
>in one at a time.
>power supply and motherboard and case fan should produce one long beep and
>one short beep (memory not installed).
>add the memory and you should get yygy (microprocessor failure).
>add the processor, then the floppy, and then try to boot... then add a cd
>drive and try to boot from that... and so on.
>could also be as silly as the power switch being defective but ask yourself
>what your time is worth. probably better off buying a repalcement machine,
>even if used.
>
>"Lee Frette" <frette@rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
>news:bpa2c31d9tt3f5rbnecn2j7opo1ep64klo@4ax.com.. .
>>I am "rejuvinating" a Dell 2350 used as a system monitoring tool.
>>
>> It had been exhibiting boot failures for a few months.
>> diagnistic LEDs were:
>> a b c d
>> y g y g
>>
>> or video failure.
>>
>> After consultation with Dell support, it was decided to replace the
>> motherboard, power supply, and RAM with parts ordered from Dell.
>>
>> The rebuilt machine ran for a week or so, then failed. All LEDs dark -
>> most of the time. After consultation with Dell support, a new
>> motherboard was shipped and installed. After installation, I am now
>> back to:
>>
>> a b c d
>> y g y g
>>
>> When I unplug, drain power, and power up
>>
>> OR
>>
>> a b c d
>> dark dark dark y
>>
>> And that code isn't listed.
>>
>> The above is with all IDE/floppy device cables and power cables
>> disconnected.
>>
>> And I have swapped the memory with a known good stick.
>>
>> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>>
>> I am reluctant to give up as I am $300 in to Dell on the project (for
>> a municipality) and their 90 day parts warranty is running out. I am
>> running on an eBay 2350 box (mine) at the moment (and I would like to
>> get it back).
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Lee
>

"Lee Frette" <frette@rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:snabc3pb66rfa2gh40rd9s7dbi0mq18aop@4ax.com...
>I finally got the machine to boot by thermal stressing the CPU for a
> few cycles and ran (Dell) diagnostics. The FPU section of the CPU
> failed. I replaced the chip with a 2GHz Celeron from the scrap bin of
> a local PC shop and it's up and running. Burn in testiing it ever
> since with no errors.
>
> The repeatable LED codes for this failure were:
>
> YGYG
>
> from a power drained state and
>
> dark dark dark Y
>
> from a power off, power on state.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Lee
>


Thanks for posting back with the results. Well done.