Dell Dim 8300 Freezes in Standby Mode

[Guest Charliec]

I have a bit of a problem. I have my Dell Dim 8300 set to go into

Standby Mode when idle for 30 minutes. Most of the time, it wakes up

fine when I click the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard. Lately,

sometimes it will not wake up and I have to do a hard boot to get it

back up.

 

I'm running WinXP SP3 with all the latest updates. Anyone has

experienced this have a possible solution to it. Would appreciate any

advice to heal this. If you need more information, please let me

know.

 

I'm also going to post a message in the Dell Computer Newsgroup, but

wanted to try here as well.

 

Thanks

Charliec

******************************************************

Charliec

[Guest MowGreen [MVP]]

Re: Dell Dim 8300 Freezes in Standby Mode

 

If Standby Mode has had this issue all along then suggest you visit

Dell's site to see if updated video display adapter drivers are available.

If this issue started occurring *after* installing a newer display

adapter driver then suggest you roll the driver back to the previous

Version.

Open the Systems applet in the Control Panel, click the Hardware tab to

access Device Manager, then click the plus sign next to Display adapters.

Double click the device, click the Driver tab to access the Rollback

driver button.

 

MowGreen [MVP 2003-2008]

===============

*-343-* FDNY

Never Forgotten

===============

 

 

Charliec wrote:

> I have a bit of a problem. I have my Dell Dim 8300 set to go into

> Standby Mode when idle for 30 minutes. Most of the time, it wakes up

> fine when I click the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard. Lately,

> sometimes it will not wake up and I have to do a hard boot to get it

> back up.

>

> I'm running WinXP SP3 with all the latest updates. Anyone has

> experienced this have a possible solution to it. Would appreciate any

> advice to heal this. If you need more information, please let me

> know.

>

> I'm also going to post a message in the Dell Computer Newsgroup, but

> wanted to try here as well.

>

> Thanks

> Charliec

> ******************************************************

> Charliec

[Guest Charliec]

Re: Dell Dim 8300 Freezes in Standby Mode

 

None of what you suggested applies. No updates, or anything. It has

not be happening all along, it only started occurring a few days ago,

and only happens a few times - not every time. So, apparently, there

is something else in play and that is what I am trying to find out. Do

you need more info on my setup?

 

Charliec

>On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:54:55 -0700, "MowGreen [MVP]" <mowgreen@nowandzen.com> wrote:

>If Standby Mode has had this issue all along then suggest you visit

>Dell's site to see if updated video display adapter drivers are available.

>If this issue started occurring *after* installing a newer display

>adapter driver then suggest you roll the driver back to the previous

>Version.

>Open the Systems applet in the Control Panel, click the Hardware tab to

>access Device Manager, then click the plus sign next to Display adapters.

>Double click the device, click the Driver tab to access the Rollback

>driver button.

>

>MowGreen [MVP 2003-2008]

>===============

> *-343-* FDNY

>Never Forgotten

>===============

>

>

>Charliec wrote:

>

>> I have a bit of a problem. I have my Dell Dim 8300 set to go into

>> Standby Mode when idle for 30 minutes. Most of the time, it wakes up

>> fine when I click the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard. Lately,

>> sometimes it will not wake up and I have to do a hard boot to get it

>> back up.

>>

>> I'm running WinXP SP3 with all the latest updates. Anyone has

>> experienced this have a possible solution to it. Would appreciate any

>> advice to heal this. If you need more information, please let me

>> know.

>>

>> I'm also going to post a message in the Dell Computer Newsgroup, but

>> wanted to try here as well.

>>

>> Thanks

>> Charliec

>> ******************************************************

>> Charliec

******************************************************

Charliec

[Guest Paul]

Re: Dell Dim 8300 Freezes in Standby Mode

 

Charliec wrote:

> I have a bit of a problem. I have my Dell Dim 8300 set to go into

> Standby Mode when idle for 30 minutes. Most of the time, it wakes up

> fine when I click the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard. Lately,

> sometimes it will not wake up and I have to do a hard boot to get it

> back up.

>

> I'm running WinXP SP3 with all the latest updates. Anyone has

> experienced this have a possible solution to it. Would appreciate any

> advice to heal this. If you need more information, please let me

> know.

>

> I'm also going to post a message in the Dell Computer Newsgroup, but

> wanted to try here as well.

>

> Thanks

> Charliec

> ******************************************************

> Charliec

 

Do you have any problems with a cold boot ?

 

I started having problems with my home-built computer, and

coming out of standby, I could hear the hard drive make

multiple attempts to start up (the spinup sound and some

clicks). Eventually, it got bad enough, that when returning

from standby, it rebooted instead. When playing games, the

games became jerky (presumably the video card was doing

"VPU recovers", although there were no messages in Event

Viewer). Also, I could hear a soft "arcing" sound coming

through the computer speakers, just at startup (which

helped give me the idea it was a power problem).

 

It turned out to be the power supply that was bad.

 

On opening the power supply (don't touch stuff inside!),

I saw brown deposits on the tops of four capacitors, just

like this picture.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/PSU_Caps.jpg

 

So the problem may be related to hardware.

 

In doing a check in Google, the few power supply failures I've

found for the 8300, are from 2005 or so. In those articles,

they mention the supply is a standard ATX, but the computer

case has no provision for a power switch hole. So if you buy

a standard ATX, it may meet the electrical requirements, but

mechanically may not mesh with the back panel of the computer.

 

http://groups.google.ca/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware/msg/cd417a964733fd3e?dmode=source

 

Power supply pinout is here. I checked, and the colors match

a standard ATX 20 pin. The small four pin shown here, is probably

the floppy connector (P7).

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/techov.htm

 

PCPower sells replacements, so their unit would likely have

no power switch on it, to match the original. In the picture

of the harness, I see a 1x6 connector used on other systems,

but that would not need to be connected in this case. Since

this is a generic replacement for more than one model of

Dell, not all the connectors would be used when this is

installed.

 

http://www.pcpower.com/Dell/Dimension/Dimension-8300.html

 

http://www.pcpower.com/images/products/b/410_Dell2_Harness_3838.jpg

 

http://www.pcpower.com/downloads/products/diag_S41D.gif

 

In terms of diagnostic procedures, I'm not sure that a multimeter

is going to give definitive proof of a bad supply. (It is nice when

it does - supplies are supposed to stay within 5% of nominal, so

the acceptable operating range is relatively large.)

 

One thing I've noticed, that is a "lead indicator" of trouble, on

the two supplies I've had fail on home computers, is the fixed fans

in the computer start to develop more variation in fan speed, when

the power supply is getting flaky. That can happen, before you get

to the point of crashing or rebooting. If a computer has a variable

speed cooling fan, then it may be difficult to notice this. But

I've noticed that you can hear small variations over a matter of a

few seconds (because human pitch detection is pretty sensitive),

even when the hardware monitor measurement of fan speed doesn't seem

to be out of the ordinary.

 

Paul

[Guest Charliec]

Re: Dell Dim 8300 Freezes in Standby Mode

 

>On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:37:46 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

>Charliec wrote:

>> I have a bit of a problem. I have my Dell Dim 8300 set to go into

>> Standby Mode when idle for 30 minutes. Most of the time, it wakes up

>> fine when I click the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard. Lately,

>> sometimes it will not wake up and I have to do a hard boot to get it

>> back up.

>>

>> I'm running WinXP SP3 with all the latest updates. Anyone has

>> experienced this have a possible solution to it. Would appreciate any

>> advice to heal this. If you need more information, please let me

>> know.

>>

>> I'm also going to post a message in the Dell Computer Newsgroup, but

>> wanted to try here as well.

>>

>> Thanks

>> Charliec

>> ******************************************************

>> Charliec

>

>Do you have any problems with a cold boot ?

>

>I started having problems with my home-built computer, and

>coming out of standby, I could hear the hard drive make

>multiple attempts to start up (the spinup sound and some

>clicks). Eventually, it got bad enough, that when returning

>from standby, it rebooted instead. When playing games, the

>games became jerky (presumably the video card was doing

>"VPU recovers", although there were no messages in Event

>Viewer). Also, I could hear a soft "arcing" sound coming

>through the computer speakers, just at startup (which

>helped give me the idea it was a power problem).

>

>It turned out to be the power supply that was bad.

>

>On opening the power supply (don't touch stuff inside!),

>I saw brown deposits on the tops of four capacitors, just

>like this picture.

>

>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/PSU_Caps.jpg

>

>So the problem may be related to hardware.

>

>In doing a check in Google, the few power supply failures I've

>found for the 8300, are from 2005 or so. In those articles,

>they mention the supply is a standard ATX, but the computer

>case has no provision for a power switch hole. So if you buy

>a standard ATX, it may meet the electrical requirements, but

>mechanically may not mesh with the back panel of the computer.

>

>http://groups.google.ca/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware/msg/cd417a964733fd3e?dmode=source

>

>Power supply pinout is here. I checked, and the colors match

>a standard ATX 20 pin. The small four pin shown here, is probably

>the floppy connector (P7).

>

>http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/techov.htm

>

>PCPower sells replacements, so their unit would likely have

>no power switch on it, to match the original. In the picture

>of the harness, I see a 1x6 connector used on other systems,

>but that would not need to be connected in this case. Since

>this is a generic replacement for more than one model of

>Dell, not all the connectors would be used when this is

>installed.

>

>http://www.pcpower.com/Dell/Dimension/Dimension-8300.html

>

>http://www.pcpower.com/images/products/b/410_Dell2_Harness_3838.jpg

>

>http://www.pcpower.com/downloads/products/diag_S41D.gif

>

>In terms of diagnostic procedures, I'm not sure that a multimeter

>is going to give definitive proof of a bad supply. (It is nice when

>it does - supplies are supposed to stay within 5% of nominal, so

>the acceptable operating range is relatively large.)

>

>One thing I've noticed, that is a "lead indicator" of trouble, on

>the two supplies I've had fail on home computers, is the fixed fans

>in the computer start to develop more variation in fan speed, when

>the power supply is getting flaky. That can happen, before you get

>to the point of crashing or rebooting. If a computer has a variable

>speed cooling fan, then it may be difficult to notice this. But

>I've noticed that you can hear small variations over a matter of a

>few seconds (because human pitch detection is pretty sensitive),

>even when the hardware monitor measurement of fan speed doesn't seem

>to be out of the ordinary.

>

> Paul

Ok, Paul,

I will look into this.

Charliec

******************************************************

Charliec