On the back there is a yellow light on A and D and green lights on B and C. I checked the connections on the ide cable to the hard drive and they're not loose. I am trying to reinstall windows XP using the cd rom. The cd rom works and is connected with the ribbon-orange. The hard drive was tested- I connected it to my other computer as slave drive - and it was recognized. I connected it to the blue ribbon. Is the motherboard dead? Is the cpu dead? During the BIOS the message is-'' several attempts have been made to boot--call dell support''. Error message for check Hdsk.
Is the drive bad even though it was recognized on another computer?
Is the IDE controller bad? I'm confused.
If the dianostic lights A & D are yellow an IDE bus failure has occurred. Reseat the IDE cables at the motherboard and drive(s). If this does not resolve the issue you may need to contact Dell for a motherboard repair or replacement.
Suggested Resolution
Solid green
Power is on, and the computer is
operating normally. On the desktop computer, a solid green light
indicates a network connection.
No corrective action is required.
Blinking green
The computer is in the suspended state (Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Windows XP).
Press the power button, move the mouse, or press a key on the keyboard to wake the computer.
Blinks green several times and then turns off
A configuration error exists.
Check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified.
Solid yellow
The Dell Diagnostics is running a test, or a device on the system board may be faulty or incorrectly installed.
If the Dell Diagnostics is running, allow the testing to complete.
Check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified.
If the computer does not boot, contact Dell for technical assistance.
Blinking yellow
A power supply or system board failure has occurred.
Check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified.
Solid green and a beep code during POST
A problem was detected while the BIOS was executing.
See "Beep Codes" for instructions on diagnosing the beep code. Also, check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified.
Solid green power light and no beep code and no video during POST
The monitor or the graphics card may be faulty or incorrectly installed.
Check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified. See "Video and Monitor Problems" in your Owner's Manual.
Solid green power light and no beep code but the computer locks up during POST
An integrated system board device may be faulty.
Check the diagnostic lights to see if the specific problem is identified. If the problem is not identified, contact Dell for technical assistance.
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It is a Dell Dimension 8200. It goes through POST and shuts of by itself when trying to load windows xp. I will try and replace the ribbon cable and see what happens.Thanks to everyone.
Have you had your computer open? If so, then make sure that all the cards on the left hand side of it are pushed in tightly. There could be a loose card or something could be wrong with your motherboard. Let me know if this helped.
It is also possible it is just a bad ribbon cable.
what's the harddrive manufacturer?
also is machine turning off when doing POST or it goes through POST and then reboots when trying to load windows?
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