Dimension E521 boot problems

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
mem an ATI Radeon™ X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
still having the same intermittant boot problems. Did the restore to
factory defaults thing and both didn"t solve the problem. Thought it
was the bios but, It's not. Corrupted restore partition? No
support from Dell for 30 days till warrenty is transferred? Should I
wait that long? NO! I'd rather build one with my preferred components
but the girlfriend want's a Dell logo on the hardware and the desktop.
It's a gift for our son. Maybe I'll stuff an aftermarket motherboard
in it and use one of those "boot logo" programs with XP Pro and have
better results. Any thoughts about my current problem? Read too many
newsgroup and forum problems to be of any further help. I'm burnt out
about computers and this Dell. Dell support at this point sucks and
I'm lookin for a quick way out to get this thing runnin.
ZaXXoN

Hey!
As stated it's a refurb, not new. Just won't boot on a regular basis.
Boots when it wants to. No incident to relate to. When it won't boot I
do see he HD led seeking whatever it's looking for but, it might
"LOOK" for 5 to 55 minutes till the HD led cools down. Lately it's
closer to 5 minutes on the Hard Drive LED seek time. I'm frustrated.
I've always built my own and only bought this because it was a gift.
ZaXXoN



On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 20:04:24 -0600, "S.Lewis" <>
wrote:

>
>"ZaXXoN" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>> Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
>> mem an ATI RadeonT X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
>> that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
>> still having the same intermittant boot problems.
>
><snip>
>
>Could you please be more specific about any errors or symptoms? And, no,
>you don't want to even consider putting a third party board in it.
>
>Also, if purchased new you have at least 21 days from purchase to return it
>to Dell no questions asked. If the machine has not been right since
>purchased, return it.
>
>

Hey!
Thanks for all your thoughts. At this point I'll try to get Dell or
the buisness I bought it from to take it back. If no results there i'd
take out the major components and build my own with a stable OS like
XP Pro.
Again thanks for your thoughts:
ZaXXoN






On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:58:35 -0800, ZaXXoN <>
wrote:

>Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
>mem an ATI Radeon™ X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
>that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
>still having the same intermittant boot problems. Did the restore to
>factory defaults thing and both didn"t solve the problem. Thought it
>was the bios but, It's not. Corrupted restore partition? No
>support from Dell for 30 days till warrenty is transferred? Should I
>wait that long? NO! I'd rather build one with my preferred components
>but the girlfriend want's a Dell logo on the hardware and the desktop.
>It's a gift for our son. Maybe I'll stuff an aftermarket motherboard
>in it and use one of those "boot logo" programs with XP Pro and have
>better results. Any thoughts about my current problem? Read too many
>newsgroup and forum problems to be of any further help. I'm burnt out
>about computers and this Dell. Dell support at this point sucks and
>I'm lookin for a quick way out to get this thing runnin.
>ZaXXoN

"ZaXXoN" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
> mem an ATI RadeonT X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
> that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
> still having the same intermittant boot problems.

<snip>

Could you please be more specific about any errors or symptoms? And, no,
you don't want to even consider putting a third party board in it.

Also, if purchased new you have at least 21 days from purchase to return it
to Dell no questions asked. If the machine has not been right since
purchased, return it.

not sure what you're seeing.
when it doesnt boot, what does that exactly mean to you?
it could be spyware or other malware causing your system to not come
fully up. it could be a bad hard drive, or heat related.

did you try calling dell tech support? i assume this is still under
warranty.

what ever made you upgrade the bios?
was the problem having before the bios upgrade?



ZaXXoN wrote:
> Hey!
> As stated it's a refurb, not new. Just won't boot on a regular basis.
> Boots when it wants to. No incident to relate to. When it won't boot I
> do see he HD led seeking whatever it's looking for but, it might
> "LOOK" for 5 to 55 minutes till the HD led cools down. Lately it's
> closer to 5 minutes on the Hard Drive LED seek time. I'm frustrated.
> I've always built my own and only bought this because it was a gift.
> ZaXXoN
>
>
>
> On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 20:04:24 -0600, "S.Lewis" <>
> wrote:
>
>> "ZaXXoN" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>> Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
>>> mem an ATI RadeonT X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
>>> that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
>>> still having the same intermittant boot problems.
>> <snip>
>>
>> Could you please be more specific about any errors or symptoms? And, no,
>> you don't want to even consider putting a third party board in it.
>>
>> Also, if purchased new you have at least 21 days from purchase to return it
>> to Dell no questions asked. If the machine has not been right since
>> purchased, return it.
>>
>>

"ZaXXoN" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hey!
> As stated it's a refurb, not new. Just won't boot on a regular basis.
> Boots when it wants to. No incident to relate to. When it won't boot I
> do see he HD led seeking whatever it's looking for but, it might
> "LOOK" for 5 to 55 minutes till the HD led cools down. Lately it's
> closer to 5 minutes on the Hard Drive LED seek time. I'm frustrated.
> I've always built my own and only bought this because it was a gift.
> ZaXXoN
>
>

If you bought it from Dell outlet as a refurb, you have 14 days to return
it. If you're beyond that, then you still have warranty.

I prefer the online chat:
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...=19&l=en&s=dhs

You mention HDD LED activity, you pretty sure it's not booting to Windows
but with no video? Turn up the speakers......

Also, you could also check the diag LEDs if it's not POSTing:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...PY349A03MR.pdf
(page 49)


-Stew

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:16:17 -0800, ZaXXoN <>
wrote:

>Hey!
>As stated it's a refurb, not new. Just won't boot on a regular basis.
>Boots when it wants to. No incident to relate to. When it won't boot I
>do see he HD led seeking whatever it's looking for but, it might
>"LOOK" for 5 to 55 minutes till the HD led cools down. Lately it's
>closer to 5 minutes on the Hard Drive LED seek time. I'm frustrated.
>I've always built my own and only bought this because it was a gift.
>ZaXXoN
>
>
>
>On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 20:04:24 -0600, "S.Lewis" <>
>wrote:
>
>>
>>"ZaXXoN" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>> Got a refurb Dell E521 Amd Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000 with 2gigs of
>>> mem an ATI RadeonT X1300 Pro with 256 megs mem Vista home premium here
>>> that I just managed to get bios to the current 1.1.11 state and i'm
>>> still having the same intermittant boot problems.
>>


Since it's intermittant, I wonder if some connections are not
connected well?? I'd first disconnect the HD and then reattach it.
Later I might do the same for the other components and boards.
Perhaps a bad guess on my part but what do you have to loose?

If you really can't solve it, I'd return it within your warrantee
period and get a different pc.

I have an Inspiron 4000 Pentium 3 that has had similar problems
recently. I finally found that when I removed the mini-pci modem/nic
the computer boots perfectly every time. When I reinstall the card it
boots perhaps one out of every twenty times.

I have no idea if the problem lies in the card itself or if it is a
motherboard issue, but since I connect to the internet with a wireless
USB device, leaving the card out solves the problem.

On the 4000, the card is accessed from underneath the unit next to
the RAM.

Jim

"blockster" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>I have an Inspiron 4000 Pentium 3 that has had similar problems
> recently. I finally found that when I removed the mini-pci modem/nic
> the computer boots perfectly every time. When I reinstall the card it
> boots perhaps one out of every twenty times.
>
> I have no idea if the problem lies in the card itself or if it is a
> motherboard issue, but since I connect to the internet with a wireless
> USB device, leaving the card out solves the problem.
>
> On the 4000, the card is accessed from underneath the unit next to
> the RAM.
>
> Jim
>

Jim -

The OP has an AMD-based Dimension desktop here. While he bought this
re-furbed, many of these units are the budget systems initially sold at
Wal-Mart and Sam's during Dell's transition to retail.

System uses a hacked-up OEM version of the NVidia chipset and many of these
models are poorly behaved and generally unstable.

I've never recommended nor placed a Dell AMD system to this point for that
reason. I've steered people who've asked to the Intel version of this box,
the Dimension E520.

If he's within the return window, he needs to exchange it or get a refund
imo.


Stew

I had a C521 from refurb with the same video card. That machine would act
crazy and not boot and blue screen at will. I messed around with it for a
week and decided the video card was at fault. When I called for a RMA I was
asked once if I would like to replace the video card. I declined and that
was the end of it. UPS picked it up the next day and I found another
machine quickly. In other words, don't mess with it. Send it back.

The return period is 21 days in the USA http://tinyurl.com/lvufl... Dean

"S.Lewis" <> wrote in message
news:vhiZi.1648$...
>
> "blockster" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>>I have an Inspiron 4000 Pentium 3 that has had similar problems
>> recently. I finally found that when I removed the mini-pci modem/nic
>> the computer boots perfectly every time. When I reinstall the card it
>> boots perhaps one out of every twenty times.
>>
>> I have no idea if the problem lies in the card itself or if it is a
>> motherboard issue, but since I connect to the internet with a wireless
>> USB device, leaving the card out solves the problem.
>>
>> On the 4000, the card is accessed from underneath the unit next to
>> the RAM.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>
> Jim -
>
> The OP has an AMD-based Dimension desktop here. While he bought this
> re-furbed, many of these units are the budget systems initially sold at
> Wal-Mart and Sam's during Dell's transition to retail.
>
> System uses a hacked-up OEM version of the NVidia chipset and many of
> these models are poorly behaved and generally unstable.
>
> I've never recommended nor placed a Dell AMD system to this point for that
> reason. I've steered people who've asked to the Intel version of this box,
> the Dimension E520.
>
> If he's within the return window, he needs to exchange it or get a refund
> imo.
>
>
> Stew
>