[trishycamp]

HI-
I just got a Dell GX-150(used) and while booting up it says Alert Previous attempts to boot this system at checkpoint(size). Then it immediately switches off. In order to read the above sentence I had to reboot like 10 times just to read it as that is how fast it shuts off. The fans seem to both be working??
Please help!

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One of the first things i check when buying computers made around the time yours was made is the CAPS that are on the motherboard. If they have bulges in the tops or are leaking the puter may or may not bootup. They get very weird and have all kinds of problems. If its not bad caps it is a hardware problem. I first replace the memory with known good sticks, then try a different video card. After that i will see if i have the parts to replace each piece of hardware until i find the cause. Sometimes this is not possible as i do not have the right parts. At this point i usually cut my losses and strip the machine down and save all good parts. I am very leary of buying puters off Ebay and at auctions since you never know what your getting. I had a athlon 650, and a H-P E-PC 933 and a regular tower p3-1.0 Gig computers i bought off Ebay that were very flaky. It took me a year to find out they all had bad caps in them.

SRX660

[SRX660]

One of the first things i check when buying computers made around the time yours was made is the CAPS that are on the motherboard. If they have bulges in the tops or are leaking the puter may or may not bootup. They get very weird and have all kinds of problems. If its not bad caps it is a hardware problem. I first replace the memory with known good sticks, then try a different video card. After that i will see if i have the parts to replace each piece of hardware until i find the cause. Sometimes this is not possible as i do not have the right parts. At this point i usually cut my losses and strip the machine down and save all good parts. I am very leary of buying puters off Ebay and at auctions since you never know what your getting. I had a athlon 650, and a H-P E-PC 933 and a regular tower p3-1.0 Gig computers i bought off Ebay that were very flaky. It took me a year to find out they all had bad caps in them.

SRX660

[trishycamp]

This computer has worked since I got it so I know it wasn't doa. Anything else I could check?

[SRX660]

After checking the memory and video card, i next look at the power supply. Speedfan is a stand alone program That not only reads your temps and fan speeds it will also read the voltages of the PS. If you do get it to boot install speed fan and see if the voltages are low. I found a puter i was working on crashed after 15 minutes every time i turned it on. I found it had a low 12 volt line( 11.73 volts). Switching to a PS that had over 12 volts stopped the lockups. Once you have checked the PS, it is time to disconnect all the cdrom drives, sound cards, floppy drive, etc. I usually try booting with the MB on a box with only a stick of memory, video card, processor and hooked to a power supply. You should get to the bios this way(clicking the proper key to get to the bios). If it still crashes, either the MB or processor is bad or going bad.

SRX660