What cpu will it except

that's easy.
1 beep? you said BEEPS, so tell me its not one beep then leave off how many beeps in a bundle.
1 beep is RTC Coin cell dead. replace. it. page 7 in the manual
2 beep no RAM found
3: beeps. mobo bad. (or?)
4 beeps. 1 ram bad or more. try 1.
5: beeps same as 1 above usually. bad battery for sure.
6 beeps video chip failures. remove card if in PCI-e slot.
7: CPU cache mem. failures, rare but if VRM bad, not rare.
i guess you meant this, ?
Vostro 230 Mini Tower Desktop Computer this is really what it is.
That beep tells you , it sees something very serious wrong.
There are 2 possibles and many tests. do you want to learn?
forget the HDD, unplug it first , focus on FANS first.
both fans, PSU and CPU must run and stay running. my guess not.

• PSU Bad.
• or
• MOBO has overloaded the PSU.

so all tests are to prove 1 or 2. out.
easy no?, a binary choice.
what a tech does next is strip the PC down.
pull out the cards that are in PCI (or express) slots. run now? fans?
pull the power cables from all SATA devices, hdd ,dvd, all.

unplug all USB devices, (overkill but is done for 1 odd case )
test the mobo with CPU in and 1 stick or DDR ram'
only then try each stick of ram 1 by 1.
this is all SOP, standard op. procedures in any shop.
if a module of any kind shorts the PSU sees that and shuts it self off.
the CPU if overheated, too shuts the CPU off, dead saving its own bacon.

if stripped down PC,
just mobo, CPU and any stick of ram makes the PSU shut off
we test the PSU by itself
it that passes the MOBO is bad.
never seen any CPU short ever, VRM's lots.


the power lamp has 5 states of color.
page 7 in your manual if you want to look.
solid blue is normal others bad, black or flashing color.
RTM pg 7.
here it is, at Dell, cost nothing to read.

https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_vostro_desktop/vostro-230_service%20manual_en-us.pdf

When powering on the PC and you get no beeps, but you are getting power to the fans and hard drives, this may indicate either a bad power supply or bad memory. You can take the machine into a pc repair shop and have them test the memory and PSU for you.

Yes - both MOBO are same form factor.
You will need to remove the backplate (that is the part that surrounds the ports) from the case.
You will need to insert the backplate for the new MOBO in the case.

The CPU and RAM should be direct swap.

Make sure that you have the correct mobo and not the g33m02 that dell ships with a duel core cpu's. If in fact you have the 03 model then you will need to upgrade your bios to the latest version from Dell and then you can go with a 45nm Quad core.

Again make sure you are running the correct mobo before you spend the money on the cpu and then cuss this post out that this guy said it will work when in fact the mobo does not support it.

Listed below are a few places where you can buy a refurbished Dell Optiplex GX280, part number M9475;
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=Buy+refurbished+Dell+Optiplex+GX280+M9475&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=HPQ1TIGfEMH-8Abz5IT0Aw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CD0QrQQwAg

https://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/pid_lookup.asp?pid=117738

Cheers'
Mike

The spray on the MB should not be a problem - unless it was plugged in when you did it. Yes, you should be able to put in a new Dell motherboard. As long as the processor is of the same class, the Dell license should work fine. However, you may need to download new drivers for the machine to run.

If you really want to check the power supply, I would suggest you buy a tester. They are fairly cheap: $10-50. You want to be sure that your board is getting the right power at the right places. 12 V to the fan is fine. However, 3.3 v or 1.5 v?

It sounds like you have done a fairly good test of the motherboard. I've definitely seen bad Dell motherboards with the light on with/without a bad power supply.

If you have another case (an ATX), I would buy an Asus or other motherboard and put your equipment in it. The cost of a Dell motherboard is excessive. Of course, you will have license problems with XP.

If the cpu was bad- nothing would turn on--be sure the cable is good-- also be sure the VGA is enabled in the bios- since you cant see the video you have to reset the cmos setting--unplug the unit and remove the cmos battery-reinstall after one minute and check for video

check power cords. swap power cords from monitor to cpu. check the power supply if it is on. check cpu fan if spinning. check if power flea from mobo lit on. if all fails replace the power supply and mobo.

go to gell .com and get the specs for your processor if yours is not compatible you will have to buy one but having the specs you will know which processor to buyy.

Usually you can use Northwood-core CPU-s on mobos with Willamatte-core CPU. But is important (exept core) - FSB support of your new processor. Which model of your CPU? What the mainboard use (model)?