Dimension 8100 Power on reset

No way to teat but to install another PS.

Hi, Considering that this motherboard/model is a couple of years, it may be possible that: 1. Components have changed value seriously affecting performance. Predominant are capacitors near the CPU that have blisters, swollen or lost part of or completely its storage capacity. Next in line would be resistors and regulators specially those close to the memory slots. 2. If you have any USB device connected, try removing them while booting; 3. BIOS may be outdated/corrupt, flash the BIOS to the latest firmware if and when you were able to boot it up using the fdd (pls be informed of the inherent possible failure when flashing). On your other concerns: a. "...reset jumper..." - temporarily short the RTCRST pins near the battery. You may also try moving the PSWD from its default position (enabled) to disabled; b. "...pinouts on front panel ribbon cable connector..." sorry even the Dell site that I have access does not have info. It might be a bit difficult getting a replacement motherboard being a socket 423. Another item to be taken into consideration is that your motherboard still uses PC800 RDRAM 184-pin RIMM Memory. To sum, if you will replace the motherboard, chances are you will also have to replace the processor and memory. Hope this be of some help/idea. Pls post back how things turned up or should you need further information. Good luck and kind regards.

Sounds like it to me. Could also be motherboard, or CPU fan, or PS. I would guess PS.

1. check the CMOS battery and replace it
If it shows 3.5 or lower then it is in need of replacement and you board should work
if not a new mother board is needed.
2. check your power supply unit it may need replacement as well.
I hope this helps. Have a great day!

When you boot your computer, spam the F2 key to enter the BIOS setup. Select the Drives/Drive Configuration menu, make sure PATA-0 and PATA-1 are enabled. (or whatever is listed for your physical drive ports, the Dimension 8100 doesn't use SATA so those shouldn't be listed). Save settings and restart. XP should now be able to detect the new hard drive.

One of two things.
A) The Power Supply
B) the Motherboard.

The power supply is easy to troubleshoot. For little to nothing you should be able to take the power supply into a computer repair place and ask them to hook it up to a tester. It's real quick and simple. All they do is plug your 20 or 24 pin power cable that attaches to the motherboard to a box. It checks the power outputs of the power supply to let you know if any of the voltages are not present or way out of wack.

The things to check are - is it connected to power? Is the power strip on? Is the power supply on? Reseat all components you can on the inside of the computer. If it still won't start you'll need someone to look at it in person.

the connectors are labeled.power switch is labeled PS.reset, RS.you can reattach them by following the labels.

230 Watts.
Here are specs and replacement:
230W ATX Power Supply - PS-5201-5D - HP-233SNF ...You can also replace it with a compatible 300 W psu.

there are fuses inside psu`s some are solderd and some pop out it i would suggest that u throw the psu away and buy new chances are that it will only cause continues and may even result in 
complete mobo failure problems heres a link to a cheap psu   http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(3649)400W-P4AMD-quiet-PSU-with-PFC-20-pin-24-pin.aspx or a more upmarket more powerfull http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(11879)ThermalTake-TR2-500W-Black-Silent-ATX-12V.aspx the choice is yours.