I have long had a preference for Dell computers because Dell has provided high quality technical support. That has changed. Now consultations seem inevitably to lead to the sole solution: Replace some component with something outrageously expensive.
     This week, as an example, I grew weary of the noisy fan in the power supply of my Dell Dimension 8200. eBay offered a replacement, made by Kentech, for only $25 with free shipping. I installed one, but was distressed because the computer wouldn't boot at all: All I got was a yellow-blinking LED in the computer's on/off button and a few green-glowing LED's, scattered here and there.
     I had a chat with Dell Support and the technician took several minutes to narrow a spate of possible problems down to a single one: My motherboard was defective! However they could provide a new one for $186, could he help me purchase it? I declined because I thought that price was more than the computer could be worth. The chat ended amicably. Since the computer worked well before I installed the new power supply, I had doubts about the diagnosis of "faulty motherboard."
     Back on eBay I found a company named Red Planet Trading, based in TX, that earns its keep by dismantling unsold Dell computers and retailing the salvaged parts. They charged me $25 total for a power supply identical to the one I was replacing. I installed it and my computer booted normally and is working just as well as ever.
     Out of curiosity I priced the motherboard although I do not need it. They'll sell me one for $40 if and when I do.
Seán

Curiously, I worked on a Dell two days ago with a blinking amber light--a similar Optiplex GX280 tower. The light started blinking after a memory upgrade, but the memory was fine. I replaced the power supply and all is well.

The obvious thing to do is what you did. You replaced the power supply and the machine failed to start up. Putting back the original power supply would have the machine start up, albeit with the original noisy power supply fan. Obviously, the replacement power supply you got from Dell was either the wrong one or it was defective. Solution is to get another power supply. I'd have asked that Dell replace the defective power supply you bought at no cost to you.

The GX280 uses the same power supply as the Dimension 8200. I keep a few in stock. I ordered two more yesterday for $17.95 each with free shipping from a recyclerinc, a seller on eBay. They were used.

I notice one seller offering an entire Dell Dimension 8200 P4 2.0Ghz 1024MB Ram 40GB HD CD with floppy tower for $29.99 plus $20 shipping on eBay right now; the item number is 280467085847.

You shouldn't expect to get good support from Dell on ancient machines like this out of warranty. The tech support is usually in India, and although they're infinitely patient they don't have much experience actually working with the machines. They look things up and read a script. You can solve problems yourself better and faster by using Google or the Dell support site's knowledge base.

I keep saying there's no point wasting time repairing these machines when replacements are so easily available. I've sold a lot of Dells to my customers over the years and I keep replacement computers on hand just in case anything goes wrong with any of them. The business workstations are very easy to work with--they open without any tools being needed, and you can swap hard drives, memory, add-on cards very easily if anything goes wrong.

Jeff/CompGuy

quote:

...there's no point wasting time repairing these machines when replacements are so easily available.—CompGuy

Jeff,
     The difficulty of repairing a computer is offset by the bother of bringing its replacement into service. I bought this Dimension 8200 in November 2001 and have upgraded it to the maximum. It has all the memory that XP supports and no slot nor bay is empty. Except for booting slowly, it runs fast enough to suit me. To deny it a quiet new power supply is unthinkable. My only hardship came from unseating all those connectors; doing that is very hard on fingers.
     Searching for repair advice by Google and Knowledge Base is helpful, but the information offered there should be used cautiously. In point, a depleted CMOS battery is often cited as the cause of a yellow-blinking On/Off switch; replacement of the 3-volt cell at 3-year intervals is advised. Almost always the presiding guru fails to mention that system settings should be recorded before the battery is removed.
     By the way the cell in my machine still functions after 9 years of use. Is there any reason to replace it before it really fails?
Seán

quote:

The difficulty of repairing a computer is offset by the bother of bringing its replacement into service.

For a machine that ancient, I was talking about buying the same machine and keeping it around as a replacement. If the first one dies, pop its hard drive into the second one, attach the two cables, and you're done--you've replaced ALL the hardware except for the hard drive itself, so you don't have to bother figuring out whether the problem is memory or the motherboard or the power supply or something much more subtle. And you don't have to fiddle with those connectors either.

Now, I'm exaggerating a bit by saying that. My basic point is that with a spare machine you COULD do that. But at the very least you'd have a bunch of spare parts for the original machine on hand if anything went wrong with it. And if you wanted to get back in business fast working with your stuff, you could do it literally in five minutes by doing the drive swap. (With these Dells, the drive swap doesn't even require a screwdriver.)

I agree changing to a different computer involves more time, but that's fairly standard these days as well. You'll be so much happier with a more modern machine. It's worth a couple of hundred bucks to replace a machine bought more than 9 years ago!

As for the CMOS battery, no reason to replace it until it fails. But, of course, the time to note all the settings is NOW, assuming you've tweaked the default settings in some way. Some older machines can't recognize their own hard drives; you have to set those parameters in the BIOS. But today's machines have a BIOS that autorecognizes the peripherals. You don't have do anything more than set the date again when you replace the CMOS battery. That's another reason to upgrade--you don't have a painful task ahead when the battery dies. Oh--and don't keep the info about your CMOS settings on your computer; I know someone who did that and hadn't realized that he couldn't read the file that had his settings if the computer couldn't boot his hard drive!

Jeff/CompGuy

quote:

You'll be so much happier with a more modern machine.—CompGuy

Jeff,
     Perversely I am not. I bought a HP Pavilion, last November 29. Its performance is spectacular with respect to speed and the supporting staff is almost slavish in its eagerness to help when I encounter a perplexity. Excepting Aantares and a few sites where my drawings are displayed or stored, my computing efforts are essentially restricted to the kinds of things one does with Excel and Word.
     Therein lies the rub. The computer came equipped with the very latest Office, which has so many novel functions that it is difficult to use. With it I spend more time seeking help than in making useful entries from the keyboard. A secondary problem is aesthetic: The new Office software is rendered ugly by a plethora of gaudy little icons and swarms of obfuscatory verbal labels. In time I'll surely overcome these difficulties; meanwhile Office 2002 and my decrepit Dimension 8200 serve me very well.
Seán

If you prefer Office 2002, install it in the newer computer. No one forces you to use different software than the software you like (mostly).

When I'm not in an adventurous mood, I'll grab the drivers from a new machine, then clone my regular computer's drive onto the drive of the new machine, replacing all its software, and then put the drivers back. I've then got everything I need set up exactly the way I want--but with a newer, faster machine.

Jeff

quote:

I'll grab the drivers from a new machine, then clone my regular computer's drive onto the drive of the new machine, replacing all its software, and then put the drivers back.—CompGuy

Jeff,
     That interests me. How do you remove and then replace the drivers?
Seán

I usually use a software program called Driver Magician:

http://www.drivermagician.com/

I also like Driver Genius Pro:

http://www.avanquest.com/USA/s...rofessional-9-124897

Both are $29.95.

The programs let you backup/restore/update/uninstall drivers for whatever you have in your machine. This month I bought an e-SATA PCIe card which came with a confusing disk of drivers with versions for a group of operating systems and different versions of the product--I didn't even know which of the versions I had installed. So I used Driver Genius--it identified the hardware and downloaded and installed the right driver for me.

Either program saves plenty of time. You can always, instead, go to Device Manager and note the devices you have and the drivers used. But such programs are much more convenient! Plus they're a very good way to keep your drivers completely up-to-date.

Jeff/CompGuy

Thank you Jeff,
Driver Magician it will be.
Seán