Hi all. I have a Dell Dimension 3100 for the past 2 and half years. I recently moved house and now it is only being used once every week or so. This problem has only started happening since then. When i power on the pc, it will not boot into windows. Nothing comes up on the monitor, and the lights stay on in the front of the hard drive (numbers 3 and 4). I rang dell support and they wanted to charge me to fix it, so I thought I would try myself. Please please help. Not very technical, but will try anything.

So when the power button is pressed, nothing (not even a BIOS splash screen) shows up?
Try looking at the screen from an angle and try to see something.

Also try hooking up your laptop to an external monitor and check if it works.

You can try waiting too (try an hour of waiting)

Slookie,
When you push the power button for your Dimension 3100, does the light on the power button stay an amber color, or does the system actually startup, but it just doesn't boot into Windows?

When I turn it on it makes the usual noise as if the computer is running, Lights no's 3 and 4 stay on. The power button stays green. The amber light stays on the monitor and nothing at all comes up on it. please help!!

On the back of the tower (processor) are there 4 led's abcd in a row down near the USB plugs?
What color are these if you have them?

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...t.htm#wp1124612

Go here for some quick learning, let us know what youre finding

This post has been edited by rosiesdad: Jul 1 2009, 04:35 PM

There are 4 led's on the front and lights numer 3 and 4 stay on after powering on.. Should there be more at the back?

Go to http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...t.htm#wp1124612 link and there will be a trouble shooting guide. (I think all 4 should be green-but read it) then post back.

According to the manual, lights 3 and 4 being lit indicate a memory/ram problem.
There are a couple things you can do. You will need to open the case to get at the memory sticks. I do not know how many you have. The default size at shipping is 512mb and this could be 1 stick of 512 or 2 sticks of 256mb.

Warning: be sure power is off and computer is unplugged. Try to ground yourself before touching any computer parts. Keep an arm or hand on the case while you swap the ram. This will dissipate static so it does not harm the components.

If only 1 stick, then try reseating it. Try rebooting
If 2 sticks, remove the 1 furthest from the processor (from bank 2). Try rebooting
Swap the 2 sticks. Again place in bank 1. Try rebooting

If only 1 stick of ram, I can have you run MemTest86.
You will need to extract/unzip the file to get the iso file. Then burn (use Burncdcc from my signature) the iso file to a cd. Burncdcc is a small no frills burner strictly for iso files.
You may need to change the bios to boot from CD. The MemTest cd should be in the drive and the computer will start testing the memory. Please post the results here when done. Let the test run as long as possible. We recommend a minimum of 2 hours, longer will be better.

123runner

According to the diagnostic lights, you have a RAM problem. Try reseating RAM modules... your laptop's manual should tell you how to get the to the RAM modules in your laptop. Here is a rough guide: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-...our-laptop.html
The Dell troubleshooting guide tells this:

When you boot up, listen to the beeps and tell us the beep code.

edge2022... the manual for the Dell dimension shows it as a desktop and not a laptop. I found no reference to laptops for this model in a google search.

rosiesdad.... Are we talking a desktop or laptop??

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...t.htm#wp1124612

A Dell Dimension 3100 is a desktop, the above link is to the manual and there is a list of troubleshooting aids there.

Look at the link here http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...t.htm#wp1124612
go to troubleshooting aids, found by the index.
Lots of info on the location and hints with the led's.
My mistake earlier I posted the leds were on the back, (on my older Dell they are) but on your model they are on the front it says in the manual. Good catch..Makes it easier to see on yours, on mine I have to pull the processor tower out and bend over and look at the back.

This post has been edited by rosiesdad: Jul 2 2009, 05:08 PM

I am bad. My mistake. I was questioning slookie to be sure we were talking desktop.

rosiesdad... I knew it was a desktop by the search and the manual, but edge2022 kept saying laptop.
I wanted to be absolutely sure.

123runner

I was looking at another topic and got confused.
Reseating RAM with a desktop is very easy.

Yes it's a desktop. I hope it's easy to do this. Gonna try this evening and see how I get on.