Suggestions for troubleshooting intermittent power failures <DELL Dimension Desktop>

Suggestions for troubleshooting intermittent power failures <DELL Dimension Desktop>

I have an aging Dell Dimension 4700 (Windows XP SP3) that reports a Dell 0M3918 motherboard with a Prescot Pentium 4 (2.8GHz) CPU. After several power outages, the machine is not stable. It will run for 2 - 12 hours at a stretch after which, it will reboot (not clear whether CPU usage correlates to reboots). The reboots occur without warning (no blue screen or similar) and are not logged in System Events.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 248

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

this is a hardware issue. something on the mobo is fried. i have my 2 laps exactly like yours and i have dumped them... in the storage room.

Guest [Entry]

"If wiggling the VGA plug causes your system to shut down, then you probably have a short on the plug or on the motherboard connector. Inspect both to make sure there are no bent pins and the shield has the correct shape.

Have you tried reinstalling the OS? Most hardware can handle power outages (but have problems with power surges), but the hard drive data can get corrupted during unexpected power failures."