Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
BIG COMPUTER PROBLEMS |
DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 13:28 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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Hi everyone. My computer has just crashed. I did not install or tweak ANYTHING!!!! It just shut down one day, and whenever I try to restart it, it just shows me a small blinking line at the top left corner. PLEASE HELP MEE!!!
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 13:33 ET by Lloyd Arms
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First off Mahmuod is what type of computer? Brand and Model will help. Do you even see the Bios? Does it complete the POST? With that info we can get you alot more help.
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 13:38 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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OK. My computer is a Dell, with an Inspiron tower(do no know exact model-I am at a public library to type this). It is a windows Vista 64 bit operating system with about 4GB or RAM(once again, not entirely sure). Will this help?
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA5919
Captain, MD-11
Joined on May 13 2008
Everett Century Club
50 State Club
Quatercentenary Club
Commuter Conquest
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
"...and don't call me Shirley" Hillsboro, OR USA
494 legs, 1,357.8 hours
4 legs,
3.7 hours online 493 legs,
1,355.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 13:45 ET by Jack Vogel
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Some problems are better handled by a computer service person. This sounds like
a serious failure in your hardware but it needs hands on analysis by someone that
knows what they are doing.
The only magic fix you might try is to make sure you completely power it down,
this means pull the power cord for a minute, and then try again. This probably
won't help but its worth a try.
Otherwise, as Lloyd says, if it never gets even a BIOS splash screen then you
have a motherboard problem and should take it to a tech for repair.
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 13:50 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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What is BIOS? BTW, I already unplugged it(turned off the power strip). Plus, i dont feel like spending $60 to fix it.
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA1763
Senior Captain, B757-200
Joined on June 29 2004
Everett 250 Club
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Seven Century Club
Oklahoma City, OK
723 legs, 2,015.0 hours
645 legs,
1,824.0 hours online 585 legs,
1,608.7 hours ACARS 10 legs,
44.8 hours event 740 legs, 2,044.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 14:04 ET by Steve Pickle
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If you don't know what BIOS is, you're not going to be able to fix it yourself.
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DVA6695
Captain, MD-88
Joined on November 26 2008
Century Club
Online Century Club
"We are....Penn State" Phoenixville, PA USA
153 legs, 206.0 hours
108 legs,
149.6 hours online 149 legs,
200.2 hours ACARS 11 legs,
20.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 15:45 ET by Jack Urie
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If you don't want to spend $60 to have it checked out by the Geek Squad (or some other tech service), you're probably going to have to buy a new computer, because this does not sound like a simple problem. But, here goes.....
As the other folks asked, does anything at all happen when you turn it on? A POST (or Bios splash screen) is usually a couple lines of black and white lettering on the screen before it goes blank in preparation for going to the hard drive for kicking off the operating system. If this does not happen, then its most likely a fried motherboard. If you do see some messages and then it goes down, it could be RAM (but I doubt it, because you would get some kind of blue screen of death message) or possibly an issue with your power supply.
Given that you have a Dell, fixing them can be a challenge due to their use of non-standard parts....especially if your PC is several years old.
The fact that it just died without any prior warning really gets me thinking motherboard. Graphics cards, disk drives, power supplies and sometimes even RAM tend to give you some warning with strange behavior or by intermittently shutting down.
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DVA7373
Captain, B757-200
OLP
Joined on May 31 2009
"Howdy" Southeastern United States
72 legs, 187.6 hours
32 legs,
85.4 hours online 67 legs,
153.2 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 15:47 ET by Nicholas Taylor
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A good troubleshooting technique is to disconnect everything one at a time and trying to start it up until it works, if it never does work, it's most likely the mobo.
Nicholas TaylorCaptain, B757-200
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:24 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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OK... My computer is not even a year old, so I dont think age is a matter. Actually, the cumputer DID give a few warning signs. two days before it crashed, the mouse turned into a couple of vertical lines. r-e starting the computer fixed the problem. thiswas just after my small brother installed a vide game called Vudeo Game Tycoon Gold Edition, made by a companey called Game sweet(anyone ever heare about it?). I dis-installed the software. Then, two days later, I am on FSX, and the coputer automaticaly reboots itself. then, a few minutes later, the screen turs black, then urns on again. About an hour later, it turns off, and when it re-starts iself, I just get a small white blinking bar on the top-left corner in front of a black sceen, nothing else. This is about as deatiled as it is gonna get :). Please Help! I would really appreciate it!
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA1038
Captain, B737-800
E-MAIL
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Celer, Silens, Mortalis" Summerville, SC USA
169 legs, 1,008.2 hours
56 legs,
288.5 hours online 25 legs,
221.2 hours ACARS 1 legs,
5.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:30 ET by Kevin Cornish
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So all your seeing is the cursor, right? It never goes any farther than that when you're booting up? I'd say either your mobo, HD, or video card. But the video card would be the least likely and either mobo or HD your probable culprit. Have you spoken with Dell tech support about it?
Kevin CornishCaptain, B737-800
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:32 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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No, I have not realy talked to dell YET. I am not seing the courser, just a small - on the top-lef corner of the screen. nothing else.
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:48 ET by Lloyd Arms
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Ok so it is booting up to windows or just a black screen? This could simply be a matter of a corrupted driver or a little more. Did it come with recovery disks? At this point thats what I would advise. reinstalling your windows and flightsim stuff just takes a bit of time and certainly won't cost anything if you do it yourself. If its just a black screen with one small white line blinking at the top I can guarentee its the bios. Dell's are known for that. I have 3 Dell towers in the corner stacked up for parts because of that. If you can get me a model number I'll tell you the next step.
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:54 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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OK its an inspiron 530S. Just the bar blinking at the top. No windows, no programs, just a bar, and a black screen. (tried function keys, alt+f4, ctrl=alt=delete, nothing.)
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:55 ET by Luke Kolin
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My bet is that the motherboard is shot. If it's under a year old, I assume it's under warranty?
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA7630
First Officer, MD-88
Joined on February 21 2009
Midwestern United States
5 legs, 6.9 hours
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 20:56 ET by Mahmoud Nofal
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By the way, what on earth is BIOS?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Mahmoud NofalFirst Officer, MD-88
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 21:01 ET by Lloyd Arms
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Ok Common issue. First disconnect every cable.. Open up the case and remove the battery. Its about the size of a nickel. Wait about 5 minutes. Put the battery back in. Plug in all the cables except for the mouse. If you use any aftermarket keyboards or mouse let me know. You should hear a couple of beeps because it won't see a mouse but would normally boot into windows anyways. If you have the same problem then its certain that your bios has taken a extended vacation. If I remember correctly that computer was designed about 3 years ago and does not come witha floppy but is able to boot to a CD or DVD. You can flash the bios from either. When you first power up do you see the Dell screen and prompts saying to click F2 for setup and F12 for boot options?
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 21:03 ET by Lloyd Arms
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BTW BIOS means built in operating system. Its a chip on the motherboard that tells it what to do. Sorta like a wife except it has more issues LOL
And as Luke said it should still be under warranty if its less then a year old. I think Dell covers some parts for 3 years but you pay shipping and labor. Not certain on that however.
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DVA1044
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 12 2003
Century Club
"Fly Delta Jets" Roswell, NM USA
127 legs, 388.8 hours
62 legs,
199.3 hours online 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 21:26 ET by Lloyd Arms
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One other thought came to me. Are you using all Dell parts? Have you changed the video card, Monitor or other? Dell's are finicky. Sorta like my Bobtail cat. He doesn't like change and neither do Dell's. I have two of them right now. I went back to my Dell 19 inch monitor because it doesn't like my Samsung Flatscreen. I'm going back to building my own systems. Dells IMO suck if you want to try and hotrod them.
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DVA7729
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP
Joined on September 09 2009
50 State Club
Triple Century Club
Online Triple Century Club
Globetrotter
"Roar like GE-90s!" Mississauga, ON Canada
396 legs, 1,741.6 hours
380 legs,
1,692.7 hours online 391 legs,
1,702.2 hours ACARS 46 legs,
113.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
November 15 2009 21:58 ET by Shahzeb Bhutto
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Try this: Unplug and replug your hard disk(s). Make sure it is plugged in properly.
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