No POST issue in Dell Dimension 4600

[Gandhik]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600 system.When I was working last night I had a power failure in my house. When it came back I turned on my system, after loading something on the screen, nothing appears on my monitor as the screen goes blank.My system does not even boot to windows. My system tower produces strange beep sounds. I do not have any clue what is wrong with my computer. My friend says it is No POST issue. What does POST means ?

[Sn0w-Le0p@rD]

POST stands for power on self test. A test that the system goes through itself. If it passes the test then the kernel loads the operating system and the system is booted to windows. The test is run on the CPU, RAM and other i/o devices to check whether they are working fine. The POST is run by the start up BIOS. Before trying anything, make sure that the issue you are facing is a no POST issue. Many POST issues are resolved only after operating system re installation is done. Try few basic steps because operating system re-installation leads to data loss.

[Russell]

As you mentioned that you have Dell Dimension 4600 , there are ways of isolating the No POST issues from other issues like NO video, No Boot and No power issues in the Dell systems. To diagnose whether it is a No Post issue restart the system and if the screen gets stuck at the Dell logo then it is a No POST issue. If the system the powers on ,nothing appears on the screen but you can listen the windows booting then it is a No Video issues. If the POST gets complete i.e the Dell logo appears and vanishes then it is a No Boot issue operation. Once the issue is diagnosed then correct troubleshooting measures can be taken accordingly.

[MattyBoy]

A No POST issue can be due to hardware failures also. Corrupted OS can also lead to a No POST issue, Failure in internal hard drive, RAM chip, and the video card failure can lead to a No POST issue. First of check whether all these devices are detected in the BIOS.Open the system tower and reseat he memory chip, unplug n plug the data cable from the hard drive, if you have a graphic card installed on the mother board, then pull out the VGA cable from the video card and and plug it in the integrated port. This will help in diagnosing the video card. If the video card is faulty then after turning on the system, it will POST. If still the problem persists do the operating system re installation, but there will be a data loss. Install the drivers from the drivers and utility cd.