[Cialug] Slightly OT: Stupid computer problems

[Kevin C. Smith]

> Bailey, Jonathan C wrote:
>> I've got this computer which is giving me headaches. It's a Dell
>> Opteplex GX series that just shuts off on its own. Well, kinda shuts
>> off. When it goes down, the screen blanks (no video signal), the power
>> supply fan stops, the power light stays on, and the drives keep
>> spinning. The only way to get it out of this state is to unplug/plug it
>> back in. Here's what I've done..
>>
>> * swapped power supplies with a known good one
>> * ran memtest86+ - passed
>> * ran DFT - passed
>>
>>
>> I don't want to restore, but is this the realistic next step? Anything
>> else to check out?
>
> Go into bios and disable the power saver stuff. Also check the
> temperature threshold... is it possible that it's overheating? Some
> Dells have a status page in BIOS that shows current temps.
>
> -dc

>From my experience the computer will shut completely down when overheating.
This has the look of a power saving issue. I would download and flash
the thing with the latest bios. And does this Dell run the "Quickset"
program. If so, I would go get the latest version and install it also, or
if it is the latest reinstall it. I've had trouble with Quickset on my
laptop before. Turning off power saving in the Bios and/or shutting down
the Quickset service may help diagnose this problem.


--
Kevin C. Smith