Dimension 4400 in Coma or Dying

Weird problem. Plain vanilla Dimension 4400, solid since I bought it
Spring 2002.
XPPro. Added 512M RAM (Crucial), and later a 2nd 80G HD, both early
on. Flawless until it died four months ago.

POST said no video. Replaced orig AGP card with new one. Revived.
For three months. Failed again last week.
Same POST - no video. 2nd new AGP card did not revive it this time.

Not in a position to buy a new computer for a couple of months, but
have workaround for the interim. Will be able to buy a new computer
in late winter/early spring.

Curiosity abounds however. Is it worth paying the Geek Squad, or the
CC equivalent a couple $100 bucks to check out the D4400 to see why
it's eating video cards, whether the two new cards are bad, or whether
it's not eating the cards and there's a more serious internal
problem? After five years of faithful service, I've grown attached to
it. And I *really* don't need a _more capable_ machine. {And at my
age, don't have the inclination to try to deal with Vista.] If it's
simple, I'd rather get it fixed. Have any of y'all experienced a
problem like this, and can possibly give me advice?

If not, I'd appreciate a few recommendations for a Dell replacement
for the D4400 - mid-level, 2-HD bays (redundancy appeals to me), don't
need gaming, multi-media (WMP, Realplayer, QT, etc, freebies, handle
my limited needs). WP, accounting, data-base work, email, usenet
newsgroupsand some non-adventuresome web-surfing is all I do. Which
is why I'm lamenting the current coma/death of my D4400. It's been
all I've needed for the past five years. Which is also why, although
I regularly frequent this newsgroup, I am totally out of touch with
the details of current Dell (or other vendors) offerings. [And this
just *had* to happen just after Dell ditched the Dimensions for,
what?, Vostros and Inspirion /desktops/? Murphy's Law working
overtime.]

Thanks in advance.

"OJ" <> wrote in message
news: ps.com...
> Weird problem. Plain vanilla Dimension 4400, solid since I bought it
> Spring 2002.
> XPPro. Added 512M RAM (Crucial), and later a 2nd 80G HD, both early
> on. Flawless until it died four months ago.
>
> POST said no video. Replaced orig AGP card with new one. Revived.
> For three months. Failed again last week.
> Same POST - no video. 2nd new AGP card did not revive it this time.
>
> Not in a position to buy a new computer for a couple of months, but
> have workaround for the interim. Will be able to buy a new computer
> in late winter/early spring.
>
> Curiosity abounds however. Is it worth paying the Geek Squad, or the
> CC equivalent a couple $100 bucks to check out the D4400 to see why
> it's eating video cards, whether the two new cards are bad, or whether
> it's not eating the cards and there's a more serious internal
> problem? After five years of faithful service, I've grown attached to
> it. And I *really* don't need a _more capable_ machine. {And at my
> age, don't have the inclination to try to deal with Vista.] If it's
> simple, I'd rather get it fixed. Have any of y'all experienced a
> problem like this, and can possibly give me advice?
>
> If not, I'd appreciate a few recommendations for a Dell replacement
> for the D4400 - mid-level, 2-HD bays (redundancy appeals to me), don't
> need gaming, multi-media (WMP, Realplayer, QT, etc, freebies, handle
> my limited needs). WP, accounting, data-base work, email, usenet
> newsgroupsand some non-adventuresome web-surfing is all I do. Which
> is why I'm lamenting the current coma/death of my D4400. It's been
> all I've needed for the past five years. Which is also why, although
> I regularly frequent this newsgroup, I am totally out of touch with
> the details of current Dell (or other vendors) offerings. [And this
> just *had* to happen just after Dell ditched the Dimensions for,
> what?, Vostros and Inspirion /desktops/? Murphy's Law working
> overtime.]
>
> Thanks in advance.

Don't spend $200 on a machine worth only $200. You can go to the Dell
Outlet website and pick up a decent, refurbished machine for about $250 to
$300. And it will be running XP. You can pick and choose various options
to pare down your search of the outlet inventory, and the operating system
is one of the choices.

Hi!

Start by looking at the video cards. Do they show signs of having
cooked...blown capacitors? Scorched or blackened components? Does the
underlying board look like it's been hot? If the card has a fan, does it
turn freely/at all?

The failure of the card could have killed the AGP slot. You might see if you
can find a PCI video card. It wouldn't be as fast as an AGP card, but you'd
never notice from a Windows desktop/word processing/spreadsheeting/etc
perspective.

Check the power supply. Make sure it is clean and working properly.

Finally, you might try unplugging the system and pulling the CMOS battery
out overnight. That could fix it.

William

"OJ" <> wrote in message
news: ps.com...
> Weird problem. Plain vanilla Dimension 4400, solid since I bought it
> Spring 2002.
> XPPro. Added 512M RAM (Crucial), and later a 2nd 80G HD, both early
> on. Flawless until it died four months ago.
>
> POST said no video. Replaced

<snip>

I'd go over to ebay and search for a Dimension 4500 (a slight upgrade and
very nearly the same machine) from a reputable seller.

You should be able to get the entire tower for $100 /$150 round about with
shipping.

You very likely will be able to simply swap your hard drive into the 4500,
let Windows install any new hardware devices, and be back in business.

Also, all of your RAM and any other cards/drives will work in the 4500.

That's what I'd do.

Example: http://tinyurl.com/3yl4m6


Good luck,

Stew


PS - I'm not the seller, nor do I know the seller. Link is just for purposes
of pricing example only.

Well, scratch the Geek Squad. They are overpriced and often incompetent.

If you are somewhere near the northwest Boston suburbs, come on by. I've
collected Dell spare parts, enough to get your system back up and running fairly
inexpensively.

There would seem to be three possibilities: power supply, motherboard, AGP card.
Without a selection of spare parts, it is pretty hard to figure which has
failed. In addition, if you continue on with the present system, replace the 3v
C2032 battery, which is probably nearly dead and due to be replaced. C2032
batteries are inexpensive and often cause wild and crazy symptoms when failed or
failing.

.... Ben Myers

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:16:39 -0800, OJ <> wrote:

>Weird problem. Plain vanilla Dimension 4400, solid since I bought it
>Spring 2002.
>XPPro. Added 512M RAM (Crucial), and later a 2nd 80G HD, both early
>on. Flawless until it died four months ago.
>
>POST said no video. Replaced orig AGP card with new one. Revived.
>For three months. Failed again last week.
>Same POST - no video. 2nd new AGP card did not revive it this time.
>
>Not in a position to buy a new computer for a couple of months, but
>have workaround for the interim. Will be able to buy a new computer
>in late winter/early spring.
>
>Curiosity abounds however. Is it worth paying the Geek Squad, or the
>CC equivalent a couple $100 bucks to check out the D4400 to see why
>it's eating video cards, whether the two new cards are bad, or whether
>it's not eating the cards and there's a more serious internal
>problem? After five years of faithful service, I've grown attached to
>it. And I *really* don't need a _more capable_ machine. {And at my
>age, don't have the inclination to try to deal with Vista.] If it's
>simple, I'd rather get it fixed. Have any of y'all experienced a
>problem like this, and can possibly give me advice?
>
>If not, I'd appreciate a few recommendations for a Dell replacement
>for the D4400 - mid-level, 2-HD bays (redundancy appeals to me), don't
>need gaming, multi-media (WMP, Realplayer, QT, etc, freebies, handle
>my limited needs). WP, accounting, data-base work, email, usenet
>newsgroupsand some non-adventuresome web-surfing is all I do. Which
>is why I'm lamenting the current coma/death of my D4400. It's been
>all I've needed for the past five years. Which is also why, although
>I regularly frequent this newsgroup, I am totally out of touch with
>the details of current Dell (or other vendors) offerings. [And this
>just *had* to happen just after Dell ditched the Dimensions for,
>what?, Vostros and Inspirion /desktops/? Murphy's Law working
>overtime.]
>
>Thanks in advance.

how did you determine that the problem was the video card the first time,
and this time?
it could be the monitor. did you try to connect an different monitor to
this system?
if it is the monitor then look on craigs list for free 17" crt's that are
regularly being given away.

"OJ" <> wrote in message
news: ps.com...
> Weird problem. Plain vanilla Dimension 4400, solid since I bought it
> Spring 2002.
> XPPro. Added 512M RAM (Crucial), and later a 2nd 80G HD, both early
> on. Flawless until it died four months ago.
>
> POST said no video. Replaced orig AGP card with new one. Revived.
> For three months. Failed again last week.
> Same POST - no video. 2nd new AGP card did not revive it this time.
>
> Not in a position to buy a new computer for a couple of months, but
> have workaround for the interim. Will be able to buy a new computer
> in late winter/early spring.
>
> Curiosity abounds however. Is it worth paying the Geek Squad, or the
> CC equivalent a couple $100 bucks to check out the D4400 to see why
> it's eating video cards, whether the two new cards are bad, or whether
> it's not eating the cards and there's a more serious internal
> problem? After five years of faithful service, I've grown attached to
> it. And I *really* don't need a _more capable_ machine. {And at my
> age, don't have the inclination to try to deal with Vista.] If it's
> simple, I'd rather get it fixed. Have any of y'all experienced a
> problem like this, and can possibly give me advice?
>
> If not, I'd appreciate a few recommendations for a Dell replacement
> for the D4400 - mid-level, 2-HD bays (redundancy appeals to me), don't
> need gaming, multi-media (WMP, Realplayer, QT, etc, freebies, handle
> my limited needs). WP, accounting, data-base work, email, usenet
> newsgroupsand some non-adventuresome web-surfing is all I do. Which
> is why I'm lamenting the current coma/death of my D4400. It's been
> all I've needed for the past five years. Which is also why, although
> I regularly frequent this newsgroup, I am totally out of touch with
> the details of current Dell (or other vendors) offerings. [And this
> just *had* to happen just after Dell ditched the Dimensions for,
> what?, Vostros and Inspirion /desktops/? Murphy's Law working
> overtime.]
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:34:24 -0600, "S.Lewis" <> wrote:

>I'd go over to ebay and search for a Dimension 4500 (a slight upgrade and
>very nearly the same machine) from a reputable seller.
>
>You should be able to get the entire tower for $100 /$150 round about with
>shipping.
>
>You very likely will be able to simply swap your hard drive into the 4500,
>let Windows install any new hardware devices, and be back in business.
>
>Also, all of your RAM and any other cards/drives will work in the 4500.

When I couldn't figure out my Dimension 4550, that's what I did.

The one I bought was actually cleaner than mine and mine was close to
spotless.
Plus, I have a spare processor, etc now.

On Nov 12, 9:58 pm, "Kevin" <webm...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "OJ" <oj3u...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
[Saga snipped

> > Thanks in advance.

> Don't spend $200 on a machine worth only $200. You can go to the Dell
> Outlet website and pick up a decent, refurbished machine for about $250 to
> $300. And it will be running XP. You can pick and choose various options
> to pare down your search of the outlet inventory, and the operating system
> is one of the choices.- Hide quoted text -

Thanks for reminding me about Dell Outlet, Kevin. I'll be exploring
that option. IIRC, it didn't exist in 2002 when I first bought the
4400, but I've noted recent discussions here about it. One of the
few, given my plain vanilla computing, I actually fully understand
nowadays given the ever-onward technology march in PCs. ;->

OJ

On Nov 12, 10:30 pm, "William R. Walsh" wrote:

> Start by looking at the video cards. Do they show signs of having
> cooked...blown capacitors? Scorched or blackened components? Does the
> underlying board look like it's been hot? If the card has a fan, does it
> turn freely/at all?

None of the three cards, the original nVidia Geforce 2MX, the Radeon
X1050 that worked for three months, nor the brand new VisionTek Radeon
HD2400 that didn't "work" out of the box showed any signs of component
damage.

> The failure of the card could have killed the AGP slot. You might see if you
> can find a PCI video card. It wouldn't be as fast as an AGP card, but you'd
> never notice from a Windows desktop/word processing/spreadsheeting/etc
> perspective.

Other than the fact that the second AGP card worked fine for three
months, I don't discount some sort of AGP slot problem.

> Check the power supply. Make sure it is clean and working properly.

Regular part of PM, and no signs of PS problems outside cards.

> Finally, you might try unplugging the system and pulling the CMOS battery
> out overnight. That could fix it.

That I didn't think of. But, given that I have an employer's Dim
4600C that was never used in the store, for use at home right now,
immediate replacement is not needed. I've picked up an external USB
hard drive housing to retreive needed info off the 4400 drives and put
it on the 4600; and the advice I'm receiving here, I'm inclined to let
the 4400 quietly go off into the night, to wherever computers go after
long and faithful service. (After, of course, stripping out anything
that might be handy to have in the spare parts closet. ;->)

Thanks, William.

On Nov 12, 10:34 pm, "S.Lewis" <stew1...@mail.com> wrote:

> "OJ" <oj3u...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

[Snipped]

> <snip>
>
> I'd go over to ebay and search for a Dimension 4500 (a slight upgrade and
> very nearly the same machine) from a reputable seller.

Heh. Not a month after I bought the 4400 the 4450 came out, and, a
few months later the 4500.

Thanks for the suggestion - given my usage it's an option I'll
seriously consider.

[snip details]

> PS - I'm not the seller, nor do I know the seller. Link is just for purposes
> of pricing example only.

I'd never think otherwise. I might do Craig's list - local - vice
ebay, but it won't be because I think you're flogging yours. ;->

Thanks, Stew.