I got collared into upgrading my mates Dell dimension C521 with a new SATA Seagate 300gb hdd.
All I did was unplug the old & connect the new (after powering down & clearing capacitor juice).
When rebooting, there is no video output. The monitor shows "auto adjust in progress", the casing & processor fans are both running, the HDD is clicking away. But no boot sequence displayed.
I replaced the original drive & am now getting the same problem.
I have rebooted about 15,705,53,423 times (i think). I have removed & replaced all cables, processor, memory, cleared bios with jumper & by removing the battery.
The one thing I cant confirm for sure is if it is booting properly, (I think it is).
These Dell's have a temp controlled casing fan which runs fast at boot up & then slows down. I assume thats normal.
Before I cleared the bios the diagnostics lights on the front of the casing indicated the pc was running fine & the hdd indicator light was flickering. After clearing bios lights 1,2 & 3 are lit indicating " Routine system activity subsequent to video initialization". I imagine if I could see the display, it would require some input for the bios.
The spec is as follows: AMD Athalon 64, 1gig ram, 120gig hdd, onboard nVidia integrated video & Windows vista (for what it's worth). This whole point of this palava was to put XP on the new HDD as he couldnt get his head round VISTA.
Your assistance would be appreciated.

Hi and welcome to D-A-L

were you careful about ESD?

this is a fairly new machine that you've just invalidated the warranty

have you tried the drives in any other machine?

I'm not sure but did the drive come with any driver discs?

I would be honest & say I wasnt too concerned about ESD. But as you mention it, I realise I should have been.

There are the usual driver discs & a recovery disc too but none of them will run. The CD light flashes & disc spins but I cant access bios because nothing appears on the screen.
I have repeatedly pressed F2, F8, F11, F12, ctrl&F11 and the delete key during bootup but nothing is working.

Regarding the warranty..... I didnt want to hear that!
But must add that in their supplied manual, it details the process of changing components so I assume that they assume someone is going to change them & would suggest (or like to think) the warranty is still valid?
One other thing, I notice that the monitor does not stay completely black when the PC is on. It has a kind of "hue" to it. Kind of silvery black?
Again, assistance is appreciated.

Should also just say that I havent tried the discs in another machine. My own uses IDE.
I'd be reluctant to touch anothe SATA machine!

Originally Posted by kipperdido

Regarding the warranty..... I didnt want to hear that!
But must add that in their supplied manual, it details the process of changing components so I assume that they assume someone is going to change them & would suggest (or like to think) the warranty is still valid?

it may well be they give details how to change components but that may be for a Dell dealer.

has the board got an IDE connection you can try an IDE drive?

As a Dell reseller (and frequent upgrader of used Dells), I can confirm that Dell UK are pretty generous in that they acknowledge that their customers will open up their PCs and fit more RAM etc and that won't invalidate the warranty on the existing parts. However, I expect that, just before the bit that you were looking at in the manual, there was probably a significant disclaimer about taking appropriate ESD precautions!

Although monitor problems are rare and you'd always assume first that something inside the PC was at fault, I would recommend trying a different screen - particularly as you suggest that the display does seem to be putting out some kind of signal. I'm assuming that the monitor power/signal LED is green rather than amber? Green means a signal from the graphics card, even if you can't see what it's trying to show you.

Also, re: your comment about the fan - yes, many Dells sound like they are about to take off when you switch them on. Expect it to last for two to three seconds maximum. More than that points to a faulty temperature sensor, which will be a warranty call-out job.

Thanks for your responses. Sorry I'm letting getting back on. During this palarva, I have just changed from Orange to BT & wanted a clean pc to start of with. Formatting & reinstalling takes time.
You will recall I was doing a favour for a mate. He now thinks im a plonker!!!
Dell very kindly picked up the PC today & assured me it would be back for Friday. I even told them what I had done!!!
I wont be touching it again.
I took the HDD back to SCAN to have it tested & it was ok, so now I'm lumbered with a 300gb SATA HDD I cant use. Any offers? ;-)
Cheers

Originally Posted by kipperdido

I'm lumbered with a 300gb SATA HDD I cant use.

List it on D-A-L Trader - it's free! :-)