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01-28-2013, 07:12 AM
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#1
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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desktop computer issues
Computer is a dell inspiron 546 and is about 3 years old
Problem: will not boot up, no display, power light continuously flashes and is giving beep codes. The code is a series of 4 short beeps over and over again.
Does anyone have an idea of what's going on or does someone know of a computer repair place that's reasonable, reliable and local to northern ocean county
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Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 08:19 AM
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#2
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Ebearnezer Scrooge/Power Member/Lips
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hamilton, Mercer county
Posts: 4,141
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You can download the manual from Dell and that should tell you what the beeping code is and what the failure should be.
**EDIT***
Did it for you
Quote:
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Four beeps — RAM Read/Write failure
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Depending on your configuration its about $13-$20 per gig of RAM for that, depending what you buy or if you want
2 x 1GB
4 x 1GB
2 x 2GB
4 x 2GB
Those are the amounts you can add
Last edited by PolarBear; 01-28-2013 at 08:30 AM.
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01-28-2013, 08:48 AM
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#3
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Before you buy anything, pull the sticks that are in there now and re-seat them.
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01-28-2013, 08:54 AM
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#4
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Ebearnezer Scrooge/Power Member/Lips
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hamilton, Mercer county
Posts: 4,141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
Before you buy anything, pull the sticks that are in there now and re-seat them.
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Good call, actually pull them out, then turn it on. Should beep twice to indicate no RAM. If it doesnt, then the motherboard is likely bad
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01-28-2013, 09:22 AM
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#5
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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the setup i have is 4 2GB RAM cards. and its full at that. I ordered it that way. I will try it when I get home and report back.
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Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
Last edited by greenformula92; 01-28-2013 at 09:22 AM.
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01-28-2013, 09:55 AM
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#6
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Ebearnezer Scrooge/Power Member/Lips
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hamilton, Mercer county
Posts: 4,141
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The 546 model said it had 4 DIMM slots, if you only h ave two you either have the lesser model number, or you got screwed
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01-28-2013, 12:26 PM
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#7
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PolarBear
The 546 model said it had 4 DIMM slots, if you only h ave two you either have the lesser model number, or you got screwed
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i have 4 slots. heres the deal. I removed all the cards and got the 2 beeps. then put them back in one by one. what i found is that whenever I put any memory in the two center slots I got 4 beeps. but if I use the two outside slots I am up and running. but it will use up the RAM quick since I am running windows 7 on only 4 GB on ram now instead of the 8 I have been. I am going to keep trying with the 2 center slots. Do I need to have both filled for it to work or can I fill just one slot and see what happens. I know if I put anything in the one it will give me the 4 beeps
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 12:38 PM
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#8
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
i have 4 slots. heres the deal. I removed all the cards and got the 2 beeps. then put them back in one by one. what i found is that whenever I put any memory in the two center slots I got 4 beeps. but if I use the two outside slots I am up and running. but it will use up the RAM quick since I am running windows 7 on only 4 GB on ram now instead of the 8 I have been. I am going to keep trying with the 2 center slots. Do I need to have both filled for it to work or can I fill just one slot and see what happens. I know if I put anything in the one it will give me the 4 beeps
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If the outer slots work with all of the sticks (every combination of them) then your mobo is probably damaged.
If you can put higher capacity ram in it, try putting 2 4GB sticks in the outer slots.
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01-28-2013, 12:50 PM
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#9
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Will it support 4gb sticks? Would it be worth it to replace the mobo and put 4 4gb sticks in it. The mobo is like 50 bucks off amazon for a direct replacement
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 12:55 PM
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#10
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Will it support 4gb sticks? Would it be worth it to replace the mobo and put 4 4gb sticks in it. The mobo is like 50 bucks off amazon for a direct replacement
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Neg on that, sorry. Can't use 4GB sticks.
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01-28-2013, 01:10 PM
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#11
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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well now all the sudden its working with all 4 in there, WTF!?
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Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 01:13 PM
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#12
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
well now all the sudden its working with all 4 in there, WTF!?
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Could be a ton of stuff, from thermal failure to dusting to slight corrosion due to copper and humidity. Who knows.
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01-28-2013, 01:16 PM
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#13
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
Could be a ton of stuff, from thermal failure to dusting to slight corrosion due to copper and humidity. Who knows.
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yeah it was working then it wasn't then it wou;dn't work with any of them in the 2nd slot then for the hell of it I snapped the 4th one in there and she fired right up like always. I'll leave the side off the case for now incase I have to mess with it again
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 01:22 PM
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#14
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Ebearnezer Scrooge/Power Member/Lips
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hamilton, Mercer county
Posts: 4,141
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Computers suck, don't try to understand it.
When it becomes unbearable I recommend trowing from a tall structure, or a hammer
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01-28-2013, 01:25 PM
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#15
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PolarBear
Computers suck, don't try to understand it.
When it becomes unbearable I recommend trowing from a tall structure, or a hammer
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I'll need to get all my music and pics off of it first. I can't lose that lol
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 01:35 PM
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#16
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
yeah it was working then it wasn't then it wou;dn't work with any of them in the 2nd slot then for the hell of it I snapped the 4th one in there and she fired right up like always. I'll leave the side off the case for now incase I have to mess with it again
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Story of my life.
# of laptops I've had to cover in frozen peas to recover a crying college student's data, so far in 2013? 3
With more processing power comes more heat- just like with horsepower. Today's stuff runs so hot it can melt tabletops if you block the exhaust fan.
I would not count on it to last like this, but use it while you can. Get a nice name brand external HD and back up what's important.
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01-28-2013, 01:41 PM
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#17
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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just for the record this thing has a PSU fan, a case fan and a processor fan. and it was off for days when the issue occured
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 01:42 PM
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#18
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PolarBear
Computers suck, don't try to understand it.
When it becomes unbearable I recommend trowing from a tall structure, or a hammer
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One of my greatest days at work was when I had to "dispose" of a Dell Poweredge 2600 server. I took it all the way out to our empty dumpster, climbed up on some dirt next to it, lifted it up over my head with my arms extended and slammed it into the dumpster hard enough to accordion the case. When I got back in the building my ears were ringing, and people were asking if a transformer or something exploded outside because the windows all rattled.
I wish I took a picture. That thing got ****ed up.
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01-28-2013, 01:43 PM
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#19
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
just for the record this thing has a PSU fan, a case fan and a processor fan. and it was off for days when the issue occured
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Again, I'm just speculating.
But for the record, just because it has a fan doesn't mean it's spinning fast enough, or not stalling out.
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01-28-2013, 01:56 PM
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#20
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brick, NJ
Posts: 1,868
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
One of my greatest days at work was when I had to "dispose" of a Dell Poweredge 2600 server. I took it all the way out to our empty dumpster, climbed up on some dirt next to it, lifted it up over my head with my arms extended and slammed it into the dumpster hard enough to accordion the case. When I got back in the building my ears were ringing, and people were asking if a transformer or something exploded outside because the windows all rattled.
I wish I took a picture. That thing got ****ed up.
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Office Space much!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
Again, I'm just speculating.
But for the record, just because it has a fan doesn't mean it's spinning fast enough, or not stalling out.
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That is true. I will keep an eye on it
__________________
Formerly known as blk95formula
86t/a_ram_air on TGO
2018 Silverado 1500
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01-28-2013, 01:57 PM
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#21
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Delran
Posts: 6,785
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenformula92
I'll need to get all my music and pics off of it first. I can't lose that lol
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just save the hard drive. get a new computer. 3 year old dell isnt worth buying crap for  you can always get an internal drive casing to run it as an external
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01-28-2013, 02:00 PM
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#22
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon
just save the hard drive. get a new computer. 3 year old dell isnt worth buying crap for you can always get an internal drive casing to run it as an external |
Hard drive enclosure. One of the best repair tools you can get, too.
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01-28-2013, 02:07 PM
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#23
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Delran
Posts: 6,785
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
Hard drive enclosure. One of the best repair tools you can get, too.
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just a side note, wondering what you meant by one of the best repair tools you can get?
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01-28-2013, 02:24 PM
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#24
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Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla / Admin
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 12,573
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If the machine goes way south it is frequently the only way to recover data.
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01-28-2013, 02:42 PM
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#25
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Delran
Posts: 6,785
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildBillyT
If the machine goes way south it is frequently the only way to recover data.
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oh yeah deffo, i thought you knew something super secret they were able to do
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