Possible bad mobo, need advice Dell 1640

[xanatos]

Few weeks back my cd drive went bad on my Dell sxps 1640. Computer ran fine until last week when I replaced the drive. On first boot after I installed the new cd drive the screen flickered for a split second, I think I remember seeing a green patch flash. After that computer sat at a black screen.

I have tried everything I can think of to diagnose the problem. Reflashed the bios, pulled the cd drive, HD, memory, monitor, tried every possible combination to see if I can pin point what went wrong. I have tried holding the function key on boot to get the error codes from the quick launch keys, but there is little to no documentation on what the error codes mean. The code I got was: blinking volume down key, solid mute, and solid wifi key.

Let me know what you guys think.

[jamiejohn]

Sounds to me as a hardware config. problem for sure, so i would say that just have a proper check with the config of your system. There is a possibility that the new hardware that you have installed might now work with the existing system. So i would advise you to properly check your hardware.

That would be the ideal suggestion for you from my side.

[xanatos]

I have removed the cd drive and tried to boot. No other hardware was changed.