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[Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherboard

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    [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherboard

    Hello.

    I've had this Dell Demension 8400 a long time and it is the best dell product I've ever owned. Here is the story:

    This computer was shut down wrongly it's first years in the home by kids ages 0-5. Two years after my father got it, it picked up a virus and he had to re-install xp. The computer ran fine up to a crictical disk corruption, which was fixed by me and my dad. Things where smooth sailing for a long time after that.

    Then, one the Halloween of 2011, One of the computers ram chips blew and I detected that using a system test and I replaced the faulty chip with a new one. This also was combined with a crictical disk curruption, and I had to re-install the OS. That was the day that a new problem began: One week after the computer was fixed, I had noticed it was starting to shut off at random times with a blinking amber light left at the power button, I fixed this by pressing the button until the blinking amber light disappered, and unplugged the power supply, which reset something (internal battery I'm guessing) and left it unplugged all night for best results. Eventually, the problem disappered for long periods of time and would come back and that would be fixed by reparing windows through the recovery console.

    About 2 months ago, My father was using the computer, and the fan went wild: Spinning rapidly making the extremely loud noise and I had to unplug the computer to get it to shut off. The next day we turned it on and: Steady amber light, computers beeps and it fails POST, and the dell logo does not come up, No image on the screen, fan not heard and then silence, along with a steady amber light.

    Do I need a new motherboard, or do I just need to replace the caps on it?

    Thank you for your time.
    Proud owner of the Dell Demension 8400 that when one of the two ram chips blew while the computer was running, it continued to run until reboot.

    #2
    Re: [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherbo

    Hi and welcome to Badcaps!
    Yes it's very likely that it is the caps that have gone bad.
    You should be able to see it by doing a visual examination of the board, see these threads for guidance:

    https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5295
    https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...?t=8750&page=2
    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

    Comment


      #3
      Re: [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherbo

      Snip
      Last edited by jca2323; 07-10-2012, 04:59 PM. Reason: Double post: Sorry.
      Proud owner of the Dell Demension 8400 that when one of the two ram chips blew while the computer was running, it continued to run until reboot.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherbo

        Originally posted by Per Hansson View Post
        Hi and welcome to Badcaps!
        Yes it's very likely that it is the caps that have gone bad.
        You should be able to see it by doing a visual examination of the board, see these threads for guidance:

        https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5295
        https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...?t=8750&page=2
        Thanks, but I have one more question:
        I didn't know anything about motherboard caps at the time, me and my dad thought the hard disk was going bad, and my question is: Did me and my dad accidentally ruin the board if the caps went bad or exploded?
        Proud owner of the Dell Demension 8400 that when one of the two ram chips blew while the computer was running, it continued to run until reboot.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherbo

          The longer a board is operated with bad capacitors the more likely it is to get other damage.
          For example the CPU's VCore MOSFET's will try to compensate for the bad capacitors but in the end they will become so hot that they crack and the coils nearby might even catch fire!
          https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=211

          But a visual inspection should reveal this aswell, most boards can be brought back to life simply by doing a recap...
          "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

          Comment


            #6
            Re: [Dell Demension 8400] Suspected bad caps, but Dell wants me to get a new motherbo

            Ah, I see. I'm gonna hope for the best, cause the day it stopped working the fan went crazy (140%!), and the people (not employees, the employees told me I need a new fan, and I was told not to listen..) told me it was because of bad caps, and this computer has been though alot, but it's never let me down.
            Edit: I'm probably going to send to board into repair, because I've never attempted to work on the motherboard, and this is not the computer I'm going to accidentally blow up. I really don't want to replace it because it's an OEM board.
            Last edited by jca2323; 07-11-2012, 06:38 AM.
            Proud owner of the Dell Demension 8400 that when one of the two ram chips blew while the computer was running, it continued to run until reboot.

            Comment

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