I've tried googling and found some relevant links that didn't really help.

I bought this from a friend a couple months ago and at his house when he was putting it together for me I remember it had the same problem but I don't know how he fixed it..

Anyway, it happened again this morning. AFAIK there was no thunder storm ( see http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthr...=190922&page=4 lol)

I'm pretty noob at hardware stuff.. so if anyone can explain in more detail how to fix this I could appreciate it so much..

I feel like a part of me is missing with my PC not working - -;

I'd have a word with your friend who put it together

i'll talk to him when i get the chance and ask what to do.. but he went off far away to college so he can't even look at it =(

you have any solutions??

it could be heat related that's why the fan is noisy, do you get any sound from the hard drive trying to spin?

i hear a noise..

so i've tried plugging in the power cord in varoius states with monitors keyboard/mouse unplugged and this time i got lucky it turned on with both monitor and keyboard plugged in

and it says Alert! PCI Express card is operating in x1 mode. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

i googled the error message and i guess my nvidia card might not be 'seated' fully - - i wonder if i have to turn off the power before touching things.. lol..

alright, i 'touched' the card a little and everything appears to be working normally now..

I would check all the cards to see if they are seated properly.

is all working OK now?

Hi,

Check the steps provided in the link: "Alert! PCI Express Card is operating in X1 mode" - Desktop Video Forum - Desktop - Dell Community

For addtional reference: Documentation

Hope it helps.

Serve..